Tag Archives: Hilton Hotels

a black and white logo

PSA: Check Existing Hilton Honors Award Night Reservations for Price Drops & Rebook Online

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am heading up to Sacramento for a wedding this weekend (sorry, no Sacramento travel meetup like last time), but I have a quick post to share that could save you some precious(?) Hilton Honors Points.  Back in August, my girlfriend and I booked a 2 night stay at the DoubleTree San Diego Downtown hotel for 39,000 Hilton Honors Points per night (78,000 points total).

Recently, I was looking through my existing Hilton reservations.  I decided to see what the current paid and points rate were for the same hotel on the same dates.  To my surprise, the price went down to 35,000 Hilton Honors Points per night (70,000 points total). I canceled the original reservation and 78,000 Hilton Honors Points were refunded back to my Hilton account.  I then rebooked the same hotel for the same dates using only 70,000 Hilton Honors Points. I know saving 8,000 Hilton Honors Points is not a tremendous amount of points, but that is 8,000 fewer points I need to MS for my next Hilton stay.

Continue reading

a black and white logo

Purchase Hilton Honors Points at 50% Off (Expires October 5)

If you have any Hilton stays planned, or have been looking at Hilton properties and comparing hotel chain award stays, this sale will interest you! Hilton Honors promotion of 50% savings when you purchase points is ending on October 5th. To receive the 50% discount, you must purchase a minimum of 5,000 Hilton Honors points. This means $5.00 per 1,000 Hilton Honors points. Hilton members are allowed to purchase up to 80,000 Hilton Honors points a year. So if you need to add to your stash of Hilton Honors points for some planned stays, or are tapped out and need some points, this is as good a deal as Hilton offers. Your points will post to your account within 24 hours.

My favorite use of Hilton Honors points was for a 5th night free stay in Budapest where I enjoyed 5 nights for the cost of 4 nights worth of points. They have my favorite Hilton lounge! I’ve also learned a lot about how to maximize my Hilton points from reading Ric at Loyalty Traveler. He’s great at creating category charts that show the Hilton properties around the world. I particularly enjoy the value of Hilton points in Europe.  Here are some pics of the Hilton Budapest lounge:

Continue reading

a close-up of a credit card

3 Ways to Track Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card Spending Toward Free Weekend Night Certificate & Diamond Elite Status

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  During my OC Travel Meetup last weekend, I learned that there are several ways to track your spending on the Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card.  I was only aware of the old school way (exporting data and opening Excel to add up the charges), so I am happy to share the much simpler and faster ways to track your spending.  There are 2 main reasons for tracking your spending on this credit card – you get a free weekend night certificate when you spend $10,000 during your cardmember year; you will earn Hilton Diamond Elite Status when you spend $40,000 during your cardmember year.  Unfortunately, American Express will be the sole issuer of Hilton credit cards starting on January 1, 2018, so it is still unknown what will happen to Citi Hilton credit cards.  If your annual fee is billed before January 1, 2018, you should still get the perks of spending on your Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card.

With all the said, let’s get started with the first and probably the easiest way to track your Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card spending.  Sign into your Citi online account and click on your Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card account.

a screenshot of a account

Continue reading

a black and white logo

Hotel Del Coronado Status Update: 1 Month After Joining the Hilton Family

Have you been wondering how the Hotel Del Coronado is doing now that rooms can be booked using Hilton Honors Points? Here’s the latest update! I’ve been curious about The Del as it’s been just over a month since rooms were bookable using Hilton Honors Points. So I stopped in yesterday to talk with the front office / guest services folks who I spoke with earlier in the summer.

I appreciated their time and honesty. They said the first couple of weeks were rough. Procedures were confusing and the lines at check-in were really long. They put out a small Hilton Honors sign on the side of the check-in desk, but Hilton members weren’t sure if they were supposed to go to a separate line, or cut in line to the front, or what. Of course, no one likes to be the one to cut in line when others in line don’t know what’s going on.

a large white building with red roofs

Hotel del Coronado view from the beach.
Image source: http://curiocollection3.hilton.com/en/hotels/california/hotel-del-coronado-curio-collection-by-hilton-SANQQQQ/index.html

Continue reading

a logo of a walrus

Amazing Stay at DoubleTree Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle (Historic Building Built in 1917)

Good afternoon everyone.  Two weekends ago, my girlfriend and I had the pleasure to stay the beautiful and historic DoubleTree Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle, WA.  According to the hotel’s bio, the Arctic Club is a “AAA 4-Diamond Award-winning hotel in Seattle, WA. This tastefully decorated hotel in Seattle, WA offers a unique experience, echoing the post-Klondike gold rush days of the early 1900s.” According to Wikipedia, the Arctic Club was built for the Arctic Club in 1917 for the successful veterans of the Klondike Gold Rush and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.  Needless to say, this is not your average DoubleTree hotel (but they did have chocolate chip cookies on demand at the front desk).  I spoke with the front desk agents a few times during my stay and they were very helpful and friendly.  As we were checking out, the front desk agent told me that the hotel would most likely transition into a Conrad Hotel in the near future.  In this post, I will share my experience staying in the hotel.  I hope you enjoy the hotel review.

a man and woman standing at a counter

DoubleTree Arctic Club hotel front desk. Image source: http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/washington/the-arctic-club-seattle-a-doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-SEAACDT/index.html

Continue reading