Bonvoy points suck but hiltons are pretty good and they are BOGO free right now and even better if you have status and book 4 nights and get the 5th one free. I didn't think the sale went down until later in the year so thought I would pass it along. Just booked 2 family vacations later this year with points and used the sale to top it off and get the 5th night free on both.

I had several hundred thousand points and bought a few extra thousand to get 2 free 5 night hotel stays which I reckon actually cost me a few hundred bucks when you take in to account the points. If you have status and want to take a 5 night trip it makes sense to check out how much it would cost in points and just buy 4 nights worth and get the 5th night free. It only becomes worth checking out when they have the bogo sale though.

Some of their hotels will cost a lot per night in dollars and for some reason not cost much pointswise.

Are you referring to Hilton's buy 1 mile = $0.01 deal (minimum 5,000 points)?

no, currently it is .005 cents per mile because for every increment of 1000 you buy right now over 5000, you get the same amount free. It is a great way to get a cheaper vacation.

Can you send a link? I can't find it.

TP Ag '87 said:

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Can you send a link? I can't find it.

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https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-honors/login/?cid=OH%2CHH%2CBuyPointsPointsActionsLP%2CMULTIPR%2CCarousel%2CAboutUs%2CSingleLink%2Ci81199&forwardPageURI=%2Fen%2Fhilton-honors%2Fguest%2Fpurchase-points%2F%3Fcid%3DOH%252CHH%252CBuyPointsPointsActionsLP%252CMULTIPR%252CCarousel%252CAboutUs%252CSingleLink%252Ci81199

if that link doesnt work try this one.

https://www.hilton.com/en/p/hilton-honors/buy-give-receive-points/

Yep, my math was wrong. Looks like 10k points for $50, for example.

Marriott doing basically same thing?

TP Ag '87 said:

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Marriott doing basically same thing?

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there is something like get 45% free, but their hotel rooms cost WAY too many points per night compared to how much they cost and how many you earn at the hotels. Completely not worth it, but some folks might be roped in to usong bonvoy so i figured i would post that they were having a sale as well.

Has Hilton come to their senses on points? When they did a 2x devaluation a few years ago I basically swore them off and switched to Marriott. My stance has been validated several times recently when I tried to book reward stays and found that Hilton was always significantly more in terms of points for an equivalent property in the same city. Happy to re- examine though.

Good to know before chasing. I'm still a Hilton ***** but I'd like to transition as they've been pissing me off more and more lately.

that is funny to me, i found the opposite to be true. Maybe it was that i didnt earn marriott points at the same rate as I did hilton, but i stayed several months in marriott hotels and got the equivalent of like 3 nights worth of stays for free. im on vacation number 4 or so with hilton. I have platinum/diamond elite or whatever they are called with both.

I have never seen buying points make any sense. Please convince me.

Let's say you spent $50 to get 10k Hilton points... what does 10k points get you?

It only makes sense in certain situations like when they are bogo free and you need some small number to get a better room/free night because if you book 4 nights with points you get the 5th free. Additinally, many of their hotels seem to cost a significant amount of points less than it would if you were paying in dollars. You don't want to look in to it then fine, but there absolutely are situations where buying points makes sense.

Sea Speed said:

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It only makes sense in certain situations like when they are bogo free and you need some small number to get a better room/free night because if you book 4 nights with points you get the 5th free. Additinally, many of their hotels seem to cost a significant amount of points less than it would if you were paying in dollars. You don't want to look in to it then fine, but there absolutely are situations where buying points makes sense.

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I agree with those situations you mentioned above... but the problem is typically those sales don't coincide with when I am looking at points for what i need (like oops i am 1000 points short of a redemption).

As for your comments on hotels costing less with points than dollars... I would say it depends... I usually only redeem points on hotels that makes sense. Like for example, as a general rule i would say 25000 points is equivalent of $250 per night... so if a hotel needs 30000 points per night but costs $250, i would pay instead of using the points. The reverse is true too.

Completely agree. I haven't spent the time to try and figure out what drives the difference, but I have seen several instances where a room will cost say $400 and it only takes 31k points per night or something like that. It's not always that way but I've seen it often enough to know its possible. You also factor in that you can get the 5th night free of you book with points and that helps. Again, this isn't an every day thing, but I have the luxury of basically being able to go places year round as I get on average 5 -6 months off per year, so I can kind of book whatever whenever, so I may buy some points so I have enough to book q trip when I see a deal. Anyways, I understand this doesn't always work, but it can, which is why I posted it. This only really works for hikton though because bonvoys points per night are ridiculous.