# Hilton fast tract to Gold-how do I confirm this with Hilton



## Steve4031 (May 19, 2014)

I got to the point in Amtrak's guest rewards sight and clicked on the link for fast tract to gold. I signed in to Hilton, but I do not see where it is conformed that I am enrolled in fast track. How do i confirm this?


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## trainman74 (May 19, 2014)

If I recall correctly from when I was on a fast track a few years ago, enrollment doesn't show up on the Hilton website; if you want to verify that you signed up successfully, you need to call HHonors at 1-800-548-8690.


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## C&O RR (May 20, 2014)

If you want a hotel program that is 1,000 times better than Hilton (cash value per point) check out SPG.com (Starwood Hotels: Sheraton, Westin, Aloft, etc.) Sign up for the credit card and get some free points that will actually get you a few points. Note: Towards the end of August SPG has a special offer of 30,000 points.


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## jis (May 20, 2014)

The question around here though is, can you get double dip Amtrak AGR points from SPG?


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## PRR 60 (May 20, 2014)

jis said:


> The question around here though is, can you get double dip Amtrak AGR points from SPG?


Well, you don't _really_ "double dip" with Hilton either.

The choice with Hilton: Either earn 15 HH points per dollar (points & points), or earn 10 HH points and one partner mile/point per dollar (points & miles). The "double dip" cost you 5 HH points per partner mile or point, or an exchange ratio of 5:1. That is not much different than the typical exchange ratio of other hotel programs for converting points to airline miles (or AGR points). The advantage with the Hilton "Points & Miles" is that it happens instantly, not after accumulating 5000 points or some other minimum amount, but the a fact is that you are paying 5 HH points to get 1 AGR points - not really a "double dip" by my definition.


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## jis (May 20, 2014)

Irrespective of all the pedantia, the question asked on this board would be "do you instantly get AGR points?" That was my point.


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## Devil's Advocate (May 20, 2014)

It's probably still better to stop perpetuating the erroneous double dip claim, even if it's in jest or sarcastic. So far as I can tell most folks here are not frequent traveler experts. Incorrect information has more of a chance of being believed rather than dismissed on a forum such as ours. Then there's the OP who asked the same basic question years ago with no explanation as to what happened back then or since. Unless I'm mistaken most status matches are once in a lifetime affairs so did they just blow off the match back then?


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## jis (May 20, 2014)

This particular one apparently is for Select Plus members, and has to be presumably renewed each year as you gain appropriate status at Amtrak for the year.


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## Steve4031 (May 21, 2014)

I've gotten hilton points and amtrak points from stays that occurred in April of this year.


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## Gunnie (May 22, 2014)

One way that I double dip for Hilton HHonors and AGR is buy stuff from Staples through the shopping portal and pay with my Amex HHonors credit card. I get 3pts/$1 for AGR and 3pts/$1 for HHonors.


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## saxman (Jun 1, 2014)

So did any one figure for sure how to sign up for the fast track to Gold? I've been neglecting to try it even though I've been in several Hilton properties this year.


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## pennyk (Jun 2, 2014)

saxman said:


> So did any one figure for sure how to sign up for the fast track to Gold? I've been neglecting to try it even though I've been in several Hilton properties this year.


I signed up on line and then phoned HH to confirm that I was signed up. Allegedly if you have four HH stays within 90 days after registering, you will get gold status. It sounds too good to be true, but I am trying. I will have 2 stays this week and 2 stays in July.


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## trainman74 (Jun 2, 2014)

pennyk said:


> I signed up on line and then phoned HH to confirm that I was signed up. Allegedly if you have four HH stays within 90 days after registering, you will get gold status. It sounds too good to be true, but I am trying. I will have 2 stays this week and 2 stays in July.


I haven't done the AGR fast track, but I did a different fast track a couple years ago, and it worked exactly as advertised -- my Gold status showed automatically a couple days after my 4th stay at a Hilton family hotel.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 2, 2014)

Hilton Gold is also given away with some credit cards. There's a couple nice gold level benefits like fifth night free and 25% points bonus, but unless you've been socking away Hilton points already that may not mean so much. The rest of the benefits seem kind fairly minor for a level that otherwise requires twenty stays or forty nights.

Express checkout.

Spouse stays free.

Fitness room access.

Bottle of water.

Basic internet.

Late checkout isn't guaranteed and I didn't even know they typically charge for a spouse to stay with you. Hilton Garden Inn allows you to select breakfast instead of points so I guess that could be useful if you don't plan on earning enough points for a free night.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 2, 2014)

I have Hilton Gold status through a credit card -- I don't stay enough anywhere to earn status any other way. I find it worthwhile for three reasons:

1) Free breakfast

2) Free Internet

3) Occasional upgrades

I know, the first two are included if you stay at a Super 8 (and the breakfast at some hotels like the Palmer House is worse than that at an average Super 8), but expensive hotels charge for these things. #3 is spotty, but once at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice we were upgraded on a four night stay to a suite larger than the first apartment I shared with Mrs. Ispolkom. Even last week we were upgraded at the Hilton Miami Downtown. Nice papaya at their breakfast buffet, as well.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 2, 2014)

Ispolkom: Do you have a travel blog somewhere? It's not every day that you bump into someone who can properly compare Super 8 to the Palmer House. I'd also be curious to see how your social engineering angle works when you get Amtrak to route you from one end of the country to another on a half refunded one zone award. :lol:


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## Ispolkom (Jun 3, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Ispolkom: Do you have a travel blog somewhere? It's not every day that you bump into someone who can properly compare Super 8 to the Palmer House. I'd also be curious to see how your social engineering angle works when you get Amtrak to route you from one end of the country to another on a half refunded one zone award. :lol:


Super 8 is kind of high up on the hog. The most modest place I stayed at last year was a former brothel above a bar, where the toilet was across the hall and the railroad tracks were right next door.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 3, 2014)

LOL! Nice contrast!My travel nights range from sleeping on a cross country Greyhound from LAX to NYC to a working Mexican Brothel and threeday/two night trip in Coach on a Second Class Mexican Train to a Suite @ the Bellagio but that was back in the day!

Nowadays my travel accommodations range from Amtrak Roomettes to the Cheapest overnight room I can find on the travel sights! ( Retirement: Lots of Time, Little Money!)


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## jis (Jun 3, 2014)

The point that you lose for getting breakfast free at Hilton Garden Inn are the 750 bonus points per stay, not the base spend points.

IMHO unless you really need to stay 20 nights in Hiltons each year for other reasons, it is much more efficient to simply get a Amex HH Surpass Card for $75 per year, which is typically less than what it costs to stay at almost any Hilton property for one night. This gives you complementary Gold status for the year. Incidentally it also gives you an additional line of credit to beef up your FICO score too


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## JayPea (Jun 3, 2014)

Super 8 if possible is my hotel/motel of choice. When I fly out of Spokane I stay at the Super 8 a few miles from the airport. In order to get anywhere from Spokane and still have some of the day left one has to leave Spokane early in the morning. Most of my flights in years past have left Spokane in the 6-6:30 AM time frame. And, since I live an hour from the airport and like to get there early I'd rather spend the night at a motel that suits my needs rather than drive back roads in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, when deer and all sorts of other critters are out and about. This particular Super 8 comes with the highest of recommendations: my dearly departed aunt and uncle would stay there overnight before catching an early morning flight. And my aunt was very picky. And would whine, *****, moan,

and complain if something wasn't exactly up to her very lofty standards. Kinda like some AU'ers who shall aremain nameless.   :lol: At any rate, she loved this particular motel and if she liked it, it had to be good.

I look for inexpensive when it comes to lodging on the road. Clean, comfortable rooms are all that matter to me. I don't use hotels/motels often enough to earn status either. And as part of the Wyndham group I get AGR points for staying at Super 8. Doesn't say much for my lodging standards, perhaps, but it's my money, after all!


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## sechs (Jun 10, 2014)

jis said:


> Irrespective of all the pedantia, the question asked on this board would be "do you instantly get AGR points?" That was my point.


I believe that you can set up SPG to directly transfer points to AGR, if that's what you're asking.

Given how valuble SPG points are, however, I don't think that this would be a great thing to do.


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## jis (Jun 10, 2014)

I am not asking anything. Those that are into HH double dip know exactly what I am talking about. For others it really is not important. 

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 10, 2014)

Double dip implies double points to the same account, not fractional split points to different accounts as is the case here. Is there some reason we need to keep muddying the water over and over again on this issue?


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## xyzzy (Jun 10, 2014)

Hilton HHonors Gold is better than nothing, but there are a lot of Golds and furthermore a lot of Platinums (I'm one). Getting a room upgrade as a Gold is often difficult.


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