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As we have previously highlighted, until 3 June 2016 Hilton HHonors is offering a 100% bonus on points purchases, which allows you to buy HHonors points for 0.5 US dollar cents (0.35 pence) each.
So what?, I hear you say. Given the generally extortionate cost of buying miles or points directly, a lot of people will of course argue that Hilton points even at this price are questionable value.
Well what if we told you that via this deal, you can get 4 nights at a Hilton hotel plus the excellent HHonors Gold status for a quite remarkable £70? Better? Then read on…
Step 1: Buy 10,000 (+10,000 bonus) Hilton HHonors points for US$100 (£70).
Step 2: Sign up to a Hilton Gold fast track, through which you will get Gold Status for 4 separate one night stays in the 90 days after you register.
Step 3: Seek out a workable Category 1 hotel, which you can stay at for just 5,000 points a night. Note that if you can’t find a workable Category 1 hotel (there is only one in the UK) then you can still take advantage of this tip through Category 2 (or indeed any other) Hilton properties, but the effective cost will change (the headline price is £140, not £70, where you progress this entirely through Category 2 hotels).
Step 4: Use your 20,000 Hilton HHonors points to book 4 separate stays of one night at the Hilton Category 1 hotel, ensuring that they are all within the required 90 days of signing up to your Hilton Gold fast-track.
Step 5: And you are there! 4 Hilton nights plus Gold status for an outlay of just £70.
To take real advantage of this offer, you obviously want to try and use your 5k point redemption nights at Hilton hotels that you actually want or need to stay at. With that in mind, here’s some suggestions:
Hilton Salalah Resort, Oman – almost certainly the most impressive Hilton property on the Category 1 list.
Hampton By Hilton Newport East – ok, not enormously glamorous, but the only UK option in the Category 1 list (Category 2 UK options are substantially increased).
Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort – as with many of the Hilton Egypt options, the very well regarded Hilton Sharm Waterfalls resort is just 5,000 points a night.
Hampton by Hilton Krakow – not least given the often fantastic price of flights between the UK and Krakow, this is a great weekend option. Krakow is, of course, a beautiful city.
You can of course take advantage of the Category 1 + fast-track trick with existing points in your Hilton HHonors balance. As such, if you have more than 20k points already in your account, then you can of course skip Step 1 above.
Tom says
I like the Hampton in Newport. Was very pleasantly surprised by a stay there… great service and a nice little hotel. And a total bargain to boot!
Andrew H says
The problem with that hotel is the distance if you don’t live near Newport. Any idea what the public transport is like?
Ben Coyle says
Alternative route to Hilton Gold:
Sign up to Business Traveller for £27.49
Claim GHA platinum status
Status match to to Hilton Gold.
Worked for me!
Tom Sumner says
Another nice little trick, thanks Ben.
Andrew H says
Really?!
I just had a look at statusmatcher, you’re right!
Well that seems the best solution. I will have a go. Thanks Ben 🙂
Tom Sumner says
Instant Gold status here (till 31 August 2016 at least). You’ll also keep it for a year (i.e. through to 31 March 2018) if you complete 4 stays before 31 August 2016.
Ok it’s targeted at Accenture employees, but I have never heard of anyone having a problem signing up to these promos, regardless of their employer.
Andrew H says
Right, I am having a go at the Business Traveller option. Heathrow Rewards still offer it for £21.50 so I purchased a one year subscription.
I have access to the VIP BT section and I requested GHA platinum status yesterday. Let’s see how it pans out!
I was planning to do the ‘four stays in 90 days’ route but the BT option was too tempting to ignore.
Just says
Can i ask how do i request for the GHA platinum status after the BT Plus subscription?
Andrew H says
To get the hotel status, you need to email Business Traveller and they’ll sort it out for you. Once you have got your subscription, go to the Business Traveller Plus site and there’s a section that tells you who to email.
George A says
Is it possible to do 4 consecutive nights at the same place as 4 stays?
Tom Sumner says
Sadly no – a “stay” is any number of consecutive nights. As such, you could stay every other night 4 times and this would qualify as 4 stays, but if you stayed 8 (or indeed 800) nights in a row, this would qualify as 1 stay.
George A says
Thanks Tom. How about alternating between two hotels in the same city though?
Tom Sumner says
Yep, no issue at all (in fact quite a good idea). Per the terms and conditions (bold added):
A “stay” is defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, whether or not a guest checks out and checks back in again.