# Hilton Honors



## RailFanLNK (Sep 21, 2009)

Hello All, I'm just starting to get some ducks in a row for a hotel in Seattle September 2010. Will be taking the CZ, CS to SEA and then the EB from SEA to CHI then to LNK. I had completely forgot about hotels that are "Hilton" properties but not the Hilton name. I just found a Doubletree Artic Club Hotel in downtown SEA that looks perfect. It would set me back $1000 for 4 nights but is centrally located and "looks" (?) to be near the King St. Amtrak station. How many points would I receive from HH that I then can transfer to AGR? Also, is there different Hilton brands that are better for HH points? Thanks!


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## AlanB (Sep 21, 2009)

Al,

I almost stayed at that hotel this past July until my plans got turned upside down. It does look like a very nice hotel.

You'll get 500 AGR points immediately from Hilton. And if you like, you can always transfer your Hilton points over to AGR, but at a terrible price.

The best Hilton properties for AGR points are, Hilton, Doubletree, Hilton Garden Inn, and Embsassy Suites. They all pay out 500 AGR points. Hamptons and Homewood Suites only pay out 100 AGR points, unless you are on variable points. The afforementioned amounts assume that you've got things set to fixed points, which last I knew from talking with you is how your account is set.

And with 4 nights @1,000, you should probably change your HH setting to variable points, as then you'd get 1,000 points or 1 point for every dollar charged to your room.

Ps. It is right next to the light rail line, about a block walk IIRC.


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## the_traveler (Sep 21, 2009)

All Hilton "Family" hotels (such as Hilton, Double Tree, Embassy Suites and some others) give IIRC 500 AGR points *PER STAY*! (It doesn't matter if the stay is 1 night or 14 nights. But you can't check out at 10 AM and check back in at 4 PM that same day - it would count as 1 stay!) The exceptions are Hampton Inn and 1 other (I forget which) only give 100 points per stay!

What you can do h34r: - which I have done - is stay 1 night at Hilton (hotel A), check out the next morning, drive to the Doubletree in town (hotel B), stay there 1 night, check out in the morning and go to the Embassy Suites in town (hotel C), stay one night and then go back to hotel A for the 4th night. This way, you earn 2,000 points (500 * 4). If you stayed at hotel A all 4 nights, you would get 500 points!

And don't forget - with the Hilton family hotels, you can earn *BOTH* AGR points *AND* HiltonHonors points for the same stay!


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## the_traveler (Sep 21, 2009)

AlanB said:


> You'll get 500 AGR points immediately from Hilton. And if you like, you can always transfer your Hilton points over to AGR, but at a terrible price.


As I said, you get *BOTH* AGR points *AND* HH points! The 500 AGR points go directly into your AGR account. I save my HH points for when I need a hotel. I don't transfer them to AGR.


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## AlanB (Sep 21, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > You'll get 500 AGR points immediately from Hilton. And if you like, you can always transfer your Hilton points over to AGR, but at a terrible price.
> ...


Yes, but I said it first. :lol: :lol: :lol:



the_traveler said:


> The 500 AGR points go directly into your AGR account. I save my HH points for when I need a hotel. I don't transfer them to AGR.


I don't transfer them either, I use them to stay at Hilton family properties. But I wanted Al who doesn't use Hilton's all that often to know that it is an option. It's not a great option, as you need 10,000 hilton points to buy 1,000 AGR point. I believe that they just changed this too, it used to be a bit better. I think it was 10,000 for 1,500 in the past.

And again Al, since you're staying for 4 nights and expect to be paying more than $500 for your room, switch your Hilton Honors setting to variable miles, that way you'll get one point for every dollar spent. If you charge anything to the room, like breakfast, you'll also get points for that too, including the tip! No points for taxes on the room, but you will get points for taxes on things charged to the room.


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## RailFanLNK (Sep 21, 2009)

If I was travelling alone I think I could pull that one off, but with two people, luggage and the whole nine yards, that might be a chore, but thanks for the tip(s) Alan and Traveler.


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## the_traveler (Sep 21, 2009)

AlanB said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > AlanB said:
> ...


But I said it last! :lol: :lol: History sometimes remembers who said something last! (People have a short memory!  )


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## AAARGH! (Sep 21, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > the_traveler said:
> ...


Oy Vey! :blink:


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## pennyk (Sep 21, 2009)

RailFanLNK said:


> Hello All, I'm just starting to get some ducks in a row for a hotel in Seattle September 2010. Will be taking the CZ, CS to SEA and then the EB from SEA to CHI then to LNK. I had completely forgot about hotels that are "Hilton" properties but not the Hilton name. I just found a Doubletree Artic Club Hotel in downtown SEA that looks perfect. It would set me back $1000 for 4 nights but is centrally located and "looks" (?) to be near the King St. Amtrak station. How many points would I receive from HH that I then can transfer to AGR? Also, is there different Hilton brands that are better for HH points? Thanks!


I, too, am planning to be in Seattle (for 2 nights) next September (9/1 and 9/2) and will be taking the CZ then CS to SEA, then EB back east. I am considering the Doubletree Artic Hotel also. A friend of mine is from Seattle, and her high school prom was held at that hotel. She said the hotel was lovely then and assumes it has been refurbished since high school (she is 41). She also recommended the Alexis and the Edgewater Hotels. The Edgewater is on the water and is quite pricey, but my friend says it is the nicest place to stay, in her opinion.


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 21, 2009)

pennyk said:


> RailFanLNK said:
> 
> 
> > Hello All, I'm just starting to get some ducks in a row for a hotel in Seattle September 2010. Will be taking the CZ, CS to SEA and then the EB from SEA to CHI then to LNK. I had completely forgot about hotels that are "Hilton" properties but not the Hilton name. I just found a Doubletree Artic Club Hotel in downtown SEA that looks perfect. It would set me back $1000 for 4 nights but is centrally located and "looks" (?) to be near the King St. Amtrak station. How many points would I receive from HH that I then can transfer to AGR? Also, is there different Hilton brands that are better for HH points? Thanks!
> ...


The Doubletree Artic is pretty nice, I used to stay there when it was paid for on biz travel, now as a retiree I look for the deals on the reasonable places that are clean and convient!(not many in Seatlle in the Summer or any other time!) Book early just like for Amtrak, the streets or rail station are not a cool place to spend a night in any city! :lol:


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## the_traveler (Sep 21, 2009)

jimhudson said:


> the streets or rail station are not a cool place to spend a night in any city! :lol:


But the trains are  !


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## Ryan (Sep 21, 2009)

AlanB said:


> And with 4 nights @1,000, you should probably change your HH setting to variable points, as then you'd get 1,000 points or 1 point for every dollar charged to your room.


How often/easy is it to change from fixed to variable? I'm staying at a Hampton Inn this weekend and have the points set to variable (and I was able to get a "double points/double miles" rate online, so my 2 nights will net me 500 points. However, next month I'm staying at a doubletree for 2 nights, so I would want to be on fixed points for that one. Can you switch back and forth between the two? Does the setting matter at the time of booking or the time of the stay?


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## AlanB (Sep 21, 2009)

HokieNav said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > And with 4 nights @1,000, you should probably change your HH setting to variable points, as then you'd get 1,000 points or 1 point for every dollar charged to your room.
> ...


It's very easy to switch the setting, takes maybe 2 minutes, if that to sign in online and hit the correct page to make the change.

As for how often, it's like a light switch. You can turn it on and off to your hearts delight. The setting that matters is the one in place at midnight on the night you check out of the hotel. So for example you could be at a Hilton tonight on fixed miles and checkout tomorrow and into a Hampton tomorrow night for two nights. As long as you change the setting before midnight on Thursday, you would earn variable miles upon checking out of the Hampton.


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## the_traveler (Sep 21, 2009)

HokieNav said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > And with 4 nights @1,000, you should probably change your HH setting to variable points, as then you'd get 1,000 points or 1 point for every dollar charged to your room.
> ...


You can switch whenever and how much you want. You can have 1 setting for tonight, another for next week, another for the week after and back to the first one next month. Whatever the setting is when you stay is how it will post!

(I'll concede credit for this answer to Alan!  )


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## yarrow (Sep 21, 2009)

RailFanLNK said:


> I just found a Doubletree Artic Club Hotel in downtown SEA that looks perfect.


the artic building is incredibly cool (pun). it really is a beautiful and historic place complete with carved walrus for exterior decoration. go for it. looks like the huskies are going to win, however


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## RailFanLNK (Sep 21, 2009)

Uh....I wouldn't be going this far to see my Huskers lose. I think I remember Husky fans telling us we were going to lose in '97 and we proved them wrong!  The hotel is something that "both" of us are going to have to decide on but it sure looks nice. Yarrow, do you go to the games? Any helpful tips on Gameday atmosphere?


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## Ryan (Sep 21, 2009)

Speaking of which, you all deserved to win that game this weekend. Our offense was, well, offensive.

Sorry to intrude on your thread, and thanks to all for the answers (and to you for the tip on a good hotel in SEA, since we're going to be there a night on the honeymoon trip).


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## RailFanLNK (Sep 21, 2009)

Hey Hokie, was going to go to the game until I booked our singles trip to CHI via Amtrak. I was going to have to detrain and get into a car to drive to Virginia, decided that was nuts! Let me know what you think of SEA.


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## RailFanLNK (Sep 21, 2009)

Pennyk, thanks for the tip on the Alexis. Its a Kimpton Property and when I went to the Kimpton website you can get 20% off by showing your train ticket!  Its thier "rail promotion" so I thought that was pretty cool! Thats better than AAA. I love this forum!


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## Tony (Oct 1, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> The exceptions are Hampton Inn and 1 other (I forget which) only give 100 points per stay!


Did this change recently?

I am an HHonors member, and its automatically connected to my AGR. The last time I stayed at a Hampton Inn (May 2009), I got like one AGR point for ever dollar I paid. I paid like $298 for my stay and I got 298 AGR points transfered over from HHonors.


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## AlanB (Oct 1, 2009)

Tony said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > The exceptions are Hampton Inn and 1 other (I forget which) only give 100 points per stay!
> ...


Tony,

It depends on which setting you choose in your HH profile. If you choose points + fixed miles, then you only get 100 AGR points for a stay at Hampton or Homewood, 500 for all the other hotels. If you choose points + variable miles, then you get 1 AGR point for each dollar.

So one needs to evaluate the rate one has booked, along with how many nights to decide which is the better option to choose for that stay. If you've got a $80 rate at a Hampton for one night, then you should be choosing fixed miles. If you've got an $80 rate for 2 nights at a Hampton, then choose variable miles for maximum points.

The same is also true for the other hotels, one should always look at the rate X nights, and decide which setting earns you the most points.


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