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More on the monetary WORTH of Frequent Flyer Miles and Hotel Points
I wanted to title the subject, "Have you ever PAID to stay in a hotel
less than 5 miles from your home, which was in PERFECT shape and UNOCCUPIED by anyone during that paid hotel stay?" I have NOW, for the first time, and it's all part of the result of a cost-benefit analysis of the FFM and Frequent Hotel Points perks and their worth that most of you are probably unaware. That's why I am sharing this tale with a concrete $ figure. I have posted in "Frequent Flyer Miles Question" and "Who has the best frequent flyer program" this year, and several related threads in 2003 and earlier years, in rec.travel.air, rec.travel.cruises, and other ngs. My wife and I will be taking a cruise in January 2006, from Auckland NZ to Sydney, planning to stay 6 nights at the Auckland Hilton and 6 nights at the Sydney Hilton. The LEAST expensive room at the Auckland Hilton will be over $400 USD per night, and in the newly renovated Hilton at Sydney, $350 USD per night. The roundtrip air from LAX is about $1,800 pp, if booked by the cruise ship (usually less than self-booked). So, my AIR and HOTEL, if paid by cash, will cost approximately %3,600 (air) + $2,400 (Auckland Hilton) + $2,100 (Sydney Hilton) or $8,100 USD. It'll be all paid for by my CO Frequent Flyer Miles and I'll still have about 1,000,000 UNUSED CO FFMs after using about 350K of my miles for the $8,100 USD equivalent. But where does the hotel stay 5 miles from home come in? THAT'a actually the more interesting and lesser known facts about Hilton HOTEL POINTS -- which I hadn't known before. Here goes. I'll be using my Hilton Honor Points for my free stays in Auckland and Sydney. First of all, because of my surplus CO FFMs, I had exchanged about half a million of them for a milliion HH Points while the exchange was allowed (a couple years ago). I have fallen off the Hilton Diamond HH wagon earlier this year because of my much-curtailed travel and I had been put on Hilton's "fast track" to get back to the Diamond level, with only 5 more stays before the end of JULY or the same 5 before December, instead of the normal 30 or so more stays. I wasn't in any hurry to get back to the Diamond Level for its perks because my wife and I haven't resumed our travel in air/cruise/hotel yet. But when after I booked my freebie Qantas roundtrip for two (for only 80K CO FFM each), I learned (only accidentally from Hilton) that my 6-night stay at the Auckland Hilton will cost me over 400K HHilton Points if I am NOT a Diamond member at the time of booking, but ony $175K HHilton Point if I am Diamond! So, THERE's the motivation for me to get my 5 fast-track stays in Hilton hotels before the end of JULY. :-) The Hilton Points are worth roughly HALF the CO FFM, or the monetary equivalent of about $10 per 1000 points. So, my SAVING for being Diamond instead of Gold, for the Auckland stay will be worth about 225K points or $2,250 USD. It's almost the same saving for the Sydney Hilton. So, we stayed one night at a Hilton 5 miles from home, and another one 120 miles from home this past weekend. :-) I need only three more stays in July to get my Diamond status back, and save really big time on the POINTS and their monetary equivalents. Isn't the game of Frequent Flyer and Frequent Guest perks an interesting and worthwhile/rewarding game to play? -- Bob. |
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