Reduction in Transfer Rates to Velocity/Krisflyer

[Buzzard]

Brave person Buzzard! Also don't underestimate the value of the HHonors double points deal. Makes for some very good redemptions at the high end if you need excuses to stay in some fantastic locations for 'free'. Also combine with The Hilton Gold (if you have prestige) and get free breakfast for two.

Thanks for mentioning the HHonors deal - I'll have to look into it as I am unaware of it
Brave though may not be the word, it could be silly.
Before the month is out I'll shift 50/50 to KF and Velocity.

 

[LadyC]

The gentleman and I shifted all ours into Krisflyer. Now to start spending them!

 

[Mickeyj]

Would $1 spent on Prestige equal 0.6 AAdvantage mile at current promo?

$1 = 2 Citi points = 4 Hilton Honors points

4 Hilton points = 0.6 American AAdvantage miles (10 000 to 1500)

 

[quokka77]

Yes, 0.6AA points per dollar currently via HH.http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../citi-hhonors-promotion-2hh-points-71608.html

 

[lmere12]

I haven't moved with mine yet, too many to send to kris flyer with their expiry . Think I'll send some some to hilton though also and will move some to kris soon and shout my mum a F flight

 

[Danger UXB]

Was only sitting on 100K KF worth of citi so I just moved them and no danger of them expiring unless SQ completely remove all redemptions:shock: or they stop flying to Europe :shock: or even worse get rid J and F/R on all planes :shock::shock:.

My main warehouses are with AMEX and Westpac. Westpac have a good history of notification when devaluing lets hope AMEX have looked at the cough up Citi made a learnt a few lessons

 

[mark4217]

Hi Dave, little confused on your calculations. Where on earth can you find a 36k Citi points = to a $1400 per night. If it's a secret then I understand. Bora Bora is about $1400 per night or 360,000 HH points per night. This is driving me nuts .

 

[Cynicor]

Hi Dave, little confused on your calculations. Where on earth can you find a 36k Citi points = to a $1400 per night. If it's a secret then I understand. Bora Bora is about $1400 per night or 360,000 HH points per night. This is driving me nuts .

Nowhere is that pricey with hilton unless you are booking at the "any seat award" version. There should be a normal room rate, unless base rooms are booked out at the time your are looking.

Dave is referring to CM Rangali, 76k ish points per night with pay 4 get 5.

 

[mark4217]

Arrrr that makes sense. Bit of a newb at HH. I will look a little harder to see the normal award chart. Cheers

 

[Buzzard]

Brave person Buzzard! Also don't underestimate the value of the HHonors double points deal. Makes for some very good redemptions at the high end if you need excuses to stay in some fantastic locations for 'free'. Also combine with The Hilton Gold (if you have prestige) and get free breakfast for two.

Unfortunately I only have Citi Signature so no transfers to HH for me :-|

 

[daveozsydney]

@mark4217, as Cynicor alludes to, there are multiple ways of booking Hilton Redemptions. As you're probably aware, there are bands based on their categories - for example Category 1 hiltons are 5K points each (2.5K citi under the current deal). Hotels can also based the award on the cash stay rate (Hilton Sydney is terrible value from my research as they tend to only have these rates available). There is a cash and points option hidden in a dropdown field when you view flexible dates but I've not found many hotels have that as an option (the booking method determines how the revenue share is allocated to the hotel so a lot of hotels don't make this available).

The one I'm interested in is averages out at 76000 points per night as part of a 5 night stay (pay for four nights). I think it is 95K per night if you only do 4 nights or for additional nights over 5 so 5 is the optimal stay length to maximise points. There may be some dates where they are a gazillion points as then instead of an award it's based on the cash price of the redemption as if you were paying for the hotel at a fixed exchange rate. From doing my research on Hilton it appears the best value is in Cat 1 and 2 hotels or Cat 9 and 10. Conrads and the other luxury brands seem to be better redemptions.
Obviously if you go at mega peak dates it will cost a lot more.

Also I've found you do need to login to HHonors to get the real prices for Gold members versus the ones based on a fixed exchange of HHonors to $.

The other thing pointed out is if your points are in HHonors you can also transfer to other airline programmes and at a better rate than usual due to the Citi promotion so it works out at 0.6 per $ earn rate equivalent on most partners - not brilliant but at least you're not locked in.

A few top hotels in the programme are listed here:
8 Hilton Properties that Make for Awesome Award Redemptions

The only one I've stayed in thus far is The Conrad London (on a cash rate) and was an incredibly well equipped property in a great location with very large rooms for London, but not quite Moorea or The Maldives.

Now I'm trying to get to these places as part of a cheeky stopover to Europe - many airline options but I'm interested in the Etihad Apartments as they were fantastic last time and now I'm well and truly ruined flying anything else bar these and the lobster toting Singapore A380 Suites. But I may have to go business class instead on the flight to the Maldives or the ordinary 777 F (all first world problems of course).

 

[daveozsydney]

Unfortunately I only have Citi Signature so no transfers to HH for me :-|

Worth trying to upgrade if you can either direct or via the citigold route - involves depositing 100K in an account. Obviously better point earn and more airline partners... and they would probably transfer your signature balance across to the new account enabling the HH transfer.

 

[mark4217]

Thanks daveozsydney , excellent advise. Thanks for the link, Cheers.

 

[mark4217]

One last Q, do you have to be logged in to HH to see the option for Cat 1 to Cat 10. Many thanks

 

[serfty]

No, but you do need to log on to complete the booking.

 

[mark4217]

Hmmmm. I don't seem to be able to see the option on the front screen. I'll take another look. Thanks again

 

[mark4217]

Ok, what I see is in this order:
Find a hotel, city/airport/hotel, arrival , depart, find it, use honors points.

 

[serfty]

The cynic in me makes me think Citibank deliberately make it much easier to see how to buy 'toasters' than transfer points to other programs.

 

[Deleted member 6404]

That's for sure serfty, and the funny thing is alot out there do swap good points for junk. Amazing

 

[lmere12]

Bit worried to bulk transfer to Kris after trying to get 1 J seat Syd to EUR in August/Sept . Think I only found 1 or 2 avail.
anyone else noticed availability drying up?