re: Hilton Honors for travel or something else

Same here. I got one of the credit cards that gives me automatic gold status. On most casual weekend trips, we stay at Hampton Inn. To me, Hamptons are the nicest, cleanest hotels in that range and have pretty good breakfast usually. At Doubletree in Little Rock we've been upgraded to the Presidential suite a couple times, whch was very nice. I use two Hilton Honors credit cards often and rack up a free weekend every couple months. Very happy with Hilton properties and their rewards.

I'm Marriott Platinum & Hilton Diamond.

Marriott requires fewer points for redemption than a comparable Hilton property in almost every case I've seen.

I do like the fact that Hilton offers additional point redemption values for larger rooms at some hotels though.

But I prefer Marriott because I get an upgraded room at no additional charge the overwhelming majority of the time. Doesn't happen quite as much with Hilton.

I use Hilton for work and the benefits for travel for personal are up there

Just stayed on the Palm in Dubai for 80k points, several other recent nicer locations doing the points and money options, makes sense for us because of where they are located and the options they have. That plus diamond members and access to the execuGive lounge at places like Bangkok and London when you are traveling is awesome

I'm almost diamond for life. Hilton used to be on top or at least level. The Hilton points system has gone to shite.

Lately, I'm starting to think Marriott and others are better. Once I hit that 1000 night mark, I'm switching over to Marriott and call to see if they can match statuses.

ETA: I say this as someone that goes to 95% major cities.

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The Hilton points system has gone to shite.

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Well this is just not true. Although there have been a number of changes (largely devaluations) I wouldn't go so far to say that its gone to shite.

And as far as status goes thats what I do. I am easily able to hit Hilton Diamond every year. Past that, I try to do as many promos as I can. Chains run quarterly promos so I try to hit each one to get bonus points. Be it IHG, SPG, Marriott or Hyatt. Currently I also have Marriott and SPG Gold, Hyatt Explorist and IHG Spire Elite.

In my personal experience, I feel like SPG and Hyatt give best treatment to members with status. Hilton much more so outside the US.

Again due to Hyatt's limited gloabal footprint its my least favorite chain. SPG has great properties and brands but until the Marriott takeover, it suffered the same problem. Hilton by far is the easiest place to earn and burn points. Need a place in the middle of Lubbock, TX? You're covered. Need a place in Bora Bora/Maldives that you can actually use your points for? Covered.

Gone to shite is a little overkill, but redeeming points these days are much worse all over the country. They have always done promotions and now 40k seems to be on the low end of a per night stay with them just about anywhere.

I used to exclusively use Hilton properties for work travel. Our company went that route just for ease on everyone. We all had personal CC's to use and were reimbursed. So I got a HH visa and HH Amex. Only got the Visa because some places didn't take Amex. I racked up enough points in 3 years of business travel to stay 6 nights in Hawaii and 4 nights in NYC. I never used them for a quick one night reward because it wasn't worth it, but for the packages you could redeem back then it was great. Of course I traveled 10-15 weeks a year, and at 4 nights per trip it added up.

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Not sure what Hilton's is.

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Hilton gold gets you free Breakfast which is pretty huge. Diamond gets you Exec lounge

Whoa i didnt know that..

Yeah, look for the 125K offer on the AmEx Hilton Surpass. And Hilton is always running promotions so make sure you are always signed up for that. When you have diamond status, you will earn 42+ points per $. For reference: top tier properties(tier 10 and very few on the list like Bora Bora, Maldives, Koh Samui) are maxed out at 95K a night. And 5th night is free. Others are lesser. At $150ish a night you need about 15 nights to earn 1 free night if you are maximizing Hilton earnings. Add to that the initial 125K bonus and the free anniversary night you are well on your way to a nice vacation within the year.

Here's how to max HH earnings:

1) 10: base points per $
2) +5: Choose Hotel and Hotel earnings (instead of Hotel and Miles earnings) in your profile for extra 5 points
3) +10: HH almost always has a double your (base) points promo running
4) +5: 50% more (on base points) points per $ for diamonds (25% for Gold, 15% for silver)
5) +12: Bonus points per $ spent at Hilton Hotels on AmEx Surpass

Total = 42 per $