Bits: targetted 80% bonus buying Hilton points, Starwood improves its Spring promo

News in brief:

Hilton HHonors launches targetted 80% ‘buy points’ bonus

Hilton HHonors emailed many members yesterday with an offer of an 80% bonus if you buy 5,000+ points.

You can check if you are targetted by logging in to the ‘buy points’ page here.

Regular readers of Head for Points will know that I tend to value Hilton points at 0.3p each.  You are paying 0.39p ($800 for 144,000) here so the maths does not look good.

Five star Hilton, Conrad and Waldorf-Astoria hotels typically run to 80,000 points per night.  In this sale you would be paying $444 for 80,000 points which is often more than you would be paying for a five star in a major city.  This is not a bargain.

However, Hilton HHonors IS a decent deal at cheaper point levels.   The Hampton by Hilton in Sheffield, for example (photo below) is 10,000 points per night.  At 0.39p per point you would be paying roughly £39 per night if you bought the points.  That is a 61% discount on the typical nightly rate of £100.  Hampton properties include free breakfast as well.

On the other hand, the Hilton Sheffield is 30,000 points per night.  You would be paying around £117 for those points which, whilst a bit less than the typical £125 cash cost, is not a fantastic deal – especially as you would earn points and miles back on the cash rate.

Remember that if you have Hilton elite status, and you get Silver status just for taking out their free credit card, you get 5 redemption nights for the price of 4.  This brings down the numbers above.

If you just buying a handful of points to top off your account, the price per point doesn’t matter anyway.  If you a few thousand short of a redemption then this is a decent opportunity to buy them.

The offer runs until 9th February.  You can check if you are targetted here.

Starwood Preferred Guest improves its Take Two promotion

Back in December I wrote about Take Two, the Spring promotion from Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien, W, St Regis, aloft, Luxury Collection etc.

You can register for Take Two here.  The original offer was double points on stays of two nights or more plus an extra 250 points for staying in certain major cities.

Starwood seems to have decided that this was not good enough.  The following was posted on Flyertalk yesterday by a Starwood representative:

We’ve added an extra 10,000 Starpoints bonus to SPG Take Two, created to reward road warriors like you above and beyond the Double Starpoints + 250/night bonus you are already earning.

With this additional bonus, members who reach a total of 15 nights will earn an extra 2,500 Starpoints. In addition, members who reach 25 nights will get an additional 7,500 Starpoints for a total of 10,000 Starpoints. This is in addition to any Double Starpoint or 250 Starpoint bonuses you earn during this time.

If you’ve already registered for SPG Take Two, you’re all set and no further action is required. Just book your stays and start earning! If you haven’t registered, visit SPG.com/TakeTwo. The registration experience will be updated to reflect these changes shortly.

I value Starpoints at 1.5p each so the additional 10,000 points for hitting 25 nights is worth around £150.  This is modest in itself but, when added to the existing double points promotion and 250 ‘major city’ points, it begins to look more compelling.

That said, for most Head for Points readers, the IHG Accelerate offer will be more compelling.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card usually comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)