I am never a big fan of buying hotel or airline loyalty points. I think the nerd in me sees it as cheating , but it's also rarely particularly good value even when big bonuses are offered. However, as I hope I have duly highlighted in this blog post, if you plan to stay at a lower end (Category 1 or 2) Hilton, you could save yourself a small fortune by buying the points in the current 80% bonus sale. And if anyone's ever stayed at the sole Hilton Category 1 hotel in the UK, I'd be very interested to know what it's like. If my experience of Hamptons is anything to go by, I'd imagine it was really quite good.
I assume that a point purchase will reset the clock on expiry accounts? My wife's points were due to expire in April, but I did an e-rewards transfer to revitalise them.
No activity in a 12 month period. But so easy to avoid that happening, e.g. buying a handful of points, transferring from Amex Membership Rewards into HHonors etc.
(hastily checks last activity on some family member's accounts)....Looks like we're ok for another few months, but that's good to know - cheers!
Best way to check about expiring miles is to use Award Wallet, and tell it about your accounts. It will notify you when they're coming up on expiring, as well as giving you an easy way to see when points have credited - it'll tell you about movements up and down. IIRC Award Wallet will normally email you about 2 months out from expiry, and a few more times in the runup to the deadline, so you get plenty of notice. Has saved me a few times! http://AwardWallet.com/?refCode=xfduswvufz is my signup referral code, but sadly I'm all out of free upgrade codes to go with it. Possibly someone else can post one to get you 6 months of Award Wallet Plus, which makes it easier to track expiry etc.
Thanks - yeah I seem to remember signing up with Award Wallet ages ago, but never got round to setting it up with any of my accounts. If anyone does have an Award Wallet Plus referral that would be great!
Does anyone know if it's possible to buy Hilton points in pounds? Or perhaps using Paypal? Trying to avoid my bank's foreign transaction fees.
Sounds like you need to get a better card then! Most Amex's will have a 3% flat fee, which while not great isn't too bad. If you wants points + no overseas fee, you need the Lloyds avios. If you don't mind no points, get something like the Halifax Clarity. Check the Head For Points credit card update for more info!
Thanks. I have yet to get a credit card other than a standard Lloyds one (issued some time ago with no rewards). I'm unemployed so getting a new CC is tricky atm, which is why I haven't applied for any of them. In the end I just used my debit card. 1800 points for 6 quid is a good deal, doesn't break the bank and has the added bonus of keeping my points alive for another year
