Bits: 100% bonus buying Hilton points, no more Heathrow Express First upgrades for Star Gold

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News in brief:

100% bonus when you buy Hilton HHonors points

Until 21st October, Hilton HHonors (the new Hilton Tallinn Park, recently reviewed here, is pictured below) is offering a 100% bonus when you purchase 20,000+ points.

The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here.

Regular readers of Head for Points will know that I tend to value Hilton points at 0.3p each. You are paying 0.40p ($800 / £643 for 160,000) here so the maths does not look good, especially given the current state of the £.

(Of course, the cost of booking hotels priced in $ or € for cash has also gone up due to the weakness of Sterling. It may be time to start giving points a higher value if you plan to spend them outside the UK.)

Five star Hilton, Conrad and Waldorf-Astoria hotels typically run to 80,000 points per night. In this sale you would be paying $400 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, is 10,000 points per night. At 0.40p per point you would be paying roughly £40 per night if you bought the points. That is a 60% discount on the typical nightly rate of £100. Hampton properties include free breakfast as well.

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.

No more free First Class upgrades on the Heathrow Express

Without telling anyone, Star Alliance has removed its perk of free First Class upgrades on Heathrow Express.

I have had a couple of emails this week from HfP readers who were unceremoniously booted out of First Class when they flashed their Star Gold card and a Standard Class ticket at the train guard.

The offer is still showing as available on the Star Alliance website here. Trust me, it is dead.

There are still some codes for free First Class HEx upgrades, shared by fellow HfP readers after Heathrow Express emailed a lot out two weeks ago, in the comments section to this HFP article.

Category

Hilton Honors

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Jovanna says:

9 Oct9 October 14:24

Do day rates count toward requalification?
Genghis says:

9 Oct9 October 14:58

OT Hertz points transferred to IHG points count towards elite qualifying points
- Tilly71 says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 15:07
  
  Have you managed to transfer hertz gold points to ihg successfully? I keep trying but they never transfer, asked Hertz CS to assist but they take forever to reply.
  - Genghis says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 15:18
    
    Yep. Took ages for the points to leave Hertz acct tho but they left last week and posted yesterday evening
    - Tilly71 says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 17:49
      
      When you say ages, how long roughly as my first attempt at redeeming was probably 2 months ago?
      Also, did you accounts points go down when you redeemed as mine always stays the same amount when i check back.
      The clueless CS even told me on the phone you couldnt transfer points and only use against a hire car redemption.
Boris says:

9 Oct9 October 16:56

For some reason the Hilton computer has informed me I have just been upgraded to the Diamond I have now held for 5 months.

This bit of wording was of interest though. Had not noticed the 10% off BAR for booking 15 days in advance on w/e stays.

“Members booking 15 days or more prior to their stay will receive 3% off BAR for stays Sunday – Thursday and 10% off BAR for stays Friday – Saturday. “
Roger says:

9 Oct9 October 17:03

OT_ on my BAEC account under special offer.

Collect at least 6,000 Avios when you book and stay with IHG® before 15 December 2016.
- Roger says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 17:07
  
  To be eligible for this promotion, members must enrol with IHG® Rewards Club and select British Airways Executive Club Avios as their earning preference.
  - Genghis says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 17:20
    
    Thanks Roger. It’s on my acct. Shame I hadn’t seen it earlier as would have used tonight in Paris.
    
    If I change earning preference to BAEC, are existing IHG points safe (i.e. They won’t be transferred)?
    - Roger says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 17:41
      
      Hmmm… I am wondering that too.
      I am expecting a big pile landing to my IHG account anytime now due to creation premium card.
      - Roger says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 18:04
        
        Ignore this. Doe not sound as generous as I first thought.
        I think the offer is to complete IHG accelerate challenge of 30000 IHG points which will then convert to 6000 Avios.
        
        DO NOT USE.
      - Mr Dee says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 19:51
        
        Oh right a bit deceptive in their marketing there!
      - Mr Dee says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 18:07
        
        Should be safe as you need to phone up by the looks of it:
        Members will earn IHG Rewards Club with Accelerate promotion, which they will be able to convert into Avios by calling the IHG Rewards Club Service Centre at 020 33 49 90 33.
      - Rob says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 19:45
        
        This is the ‘new member’ version of Accelerate which gives you a 30,000 points challenge, which converts to 6,000 Avios.
      - What's the Point says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 20:43
        
        Don’t hold your breath Roger, I am still waiting for 2 statements worth of IHG points to appear in my IHG account from Creation.
        Suffice to say that they must have one of the worst CS team going, and after 2 months still can’t give me a definitive date when I will see them…….
      - Roger says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 20:52
        
        When I spoke to a far east based IHG Rewards Club helpline I was told it might take 6 to 8 weeks for the points to be posted to my IHG account.
        As far as Creation is concerned they seem to think they have done their due and points should appear. Every time you end up wasting 15 minutes or so on the phone only to be told that points are definitely transferred.
        
        Utterly shambolic….both IHG and Creation.
        They must get their act together.
        Was considering getting one for the Mrs, but not unless they improve.
      - Roger says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 20:55
        
        Also after verifying my number twice (as is the case with Creation) I was told the other day that the “girl who posts the point is on holiday and will chase up and will get back to me” Needless to say nothing has happened.
        
        On the other hand equally poor IHG customer services told me that “Chase (JPM) are slow to post points” in spite of me just telling her that this is UK based IHG Rewards Premium CC.
        
        I fail to understand how can some companies do the business and exist with such poor CS in this day and age. They can’t beat AMEX after all!
      - Sohan says:
        
        10 Oct10 October 22:21
        
        I’m referring Creation to the Ombudsman as they haven’t given me bonus, gave me half earning rate, and took 2 months to answer email.
LEE says:

9 Oct9 October 17:58

Hi off topic but can someone tell me how many Amex gold/plat Referral points you can earn in one year ?

thanks in advance
- Roger says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 18:05
  
  Allowance per calendar year: You can earn up to a maximum of 90,000 Membership Rewards® points per calendar year by referring approved friends or family members.
  - LEE says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 18:05
    
    thanks Roger
wyvern says:

11 Oct11 October 13:56

The HEX Star Gold upgrade offer is back on. I was told by a HEX station manager today that there had been ‘issues’ with Star Alliance leading to the offer being suspended last week but that it resumed again on Sunday and would be running indefinitely. I found no problems using the offer on the train.
- Rob says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 14:14
  
  Thanks, good to know