I recently wrote a post about the best Hyatt Properties Worldwide to use your 2 Free Nights from the Hyatt Card. Well, guess what, I also have the Citi Hilton Reserve Card, and that also comes with 2 Free Nights once you meet minimum spend. So it’s back to the drawing board, and time to cross reference the hotels on offer from Hilton to use these free nights.
Hilton, during their last massive devaluation decided to change their hotel Categories to 10, and also include a seasonal range for point redemption –for Category 10 Hotels the range is 70,000-95,000 per night, for Category 9 Hotels it is 50,000-80,000. I decided, that based upon the delineation that Hilton created when they moved to a 10 Category System to include both Category 10 and Category 9 Hotels (in a follow up post for the sake of brevity) because there are only a few Category 10 Hotels, and whilst these do seem to offer the best overall value per cent in general, the difference between the Cat 9 and Cat 10 is quite narrow.
The Citi Reserve Hilton Visa 2 free nights are more restrictive than the Hyatt 2 Free Nights in that they are only good for weekend use, which Hilton deems to mean Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Also, they have a list of excluded properties, which further trims the field; and yes, of course these are going to be some of the most expensive and exciting hotels within the chain. However, there are a lot of options remaining.
Excluded Properties
All Inclusive Properties:
DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Central Pacific -Costa Rica
Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku Resort & Spa
Hilton Dalaman Sarigerme Resort & Spa
Hilton Hurghada Long Beach Resort
Hilton Hurghada Plaza Hotel
Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort
Hilton Nuweiba Coral Resort
Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa
Hilton Puerto Vallarta
Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa
Hilton Sharks Bay Resort
Distinctive Properties:
Conrad Koh Samui Residences
Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach Walk
Kingston Plantation Condos
Hilton Surfers Paradise Residences
Royale Palms Condominiums
Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacations Hotel-Center Strip
Grand Waikikian Suites by Hilton Grand Vacations
Hilton Club New York
Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Waikoloa Beach Resort
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites – Las Vegas (Convention Center)
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites at Hilton Hawaiian Village
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites at SeaWorld
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites at South Beach
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites at the Flamingo
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites on International Drive
Hilton Grand Vacations Suites on the Las Vegas Strip
Hokulani Waikiki by Hilton Grand Vacations Club
Kings Land by Hilton Grand Vacations Club
Parc Soleil Suites by Hilton Grand Vacations
Park City Hilton Grand Vacations
Valdoro Mountain Lodge by Hilton Grand Vacations Suites
West 57th Street by Hilton Club
Ho’olei at Grand Wailea
Las Casitas, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
Qasr Al Sharq, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel
The list, despite appearing quite lengthy really isn’t that painful.. Many of the properties on the ‘distinctive’ list are actually sub properties within a larger hotel –E.G. you can still stay at the Grand Wailea, just not on the Ho’olei side of the property, the same with Las Casitas (linked to El Conquistador in Puerto Rico) so you are still able to visit these locations, just your bedding might be different as you are staying in the regular hotel. This is true also of one of the top redemption options, the Conrad Koh Samui – this hotel is still bookable using these vouchers for free nights, just not at the ‘Residences’ side of the property.
With the removal of the Iru Fushi Resort Maldives from the Hilton Family there are now only 9 hotels in the Category 10 Level. These do offer some of the best value per dollar (within the chain at any rate..) of any of the hotels.
Hilton Category 10 Properties by Price
Just like with the Hyatt Review, I decided to start sorting by Price, this provides us with the purest ‘bang for your buck’ however I remain concerned that these large chain properties do over inflate their prices, so have included an alternative option for each property using the TripAdvisor score and cost – in other words, according to other travelers, what would be considered the best per location based on price.
From the above, this year I have personally stayed at the Rangali Island Conrad – here is my review with a video walkthrough of the King Villa for perspective. On that same trip I also stayed at the Conrad Tokyo.
The two properties highlighted, Tokyo and the Maldives are both very good options for your two free nights. I personally view them differently in that I would fly to the Maldives JUST to stay at the Conrad Rangali Island, because that hotel is such an aspirational property. Tokyo on the other hand I would not visit because of the Conrad Tokyo, but it is a decent place to stay there when visiting. Price wise I would certainly pick the Park Hyatt in place of the Conrad, in other words I would never pay for a stay at Conrad Tokyo.
I’ll also mention the Conrad Koh Samui, as it is often touted as one of the premium properties within the chain, and I have to agree it does look like a great place to stay. My negative towards it is that the island itself is a little crummy in my opinion. We have traveled to Thailand on several occasions and the sex trade is a little too in your face for me when traveling with family. As such, you should consider the stay to Koh Samui to be a very much resort oriented stay, rather than one where you can really enjoy the island. If you are one for exploring more I highly recommend its neighbor to the North, the less developed, and much less sleezy Koh Tao.
Hilton Category 10 Properties by TripAdvisor Score
The Odawara Hilton Leads the pack, but that is because there was only one real hotel in Odawara. I really wouldn’t recommend going there either. Odawara is a seaside town to the South of Tokyo, it is the perfect escape for the Oyagi Businessman and whilst I have never ventured into the property I have visions of an aged, and smoky building aimed at aged and smoky clientele. I opted to compare this property with Shimoda, which is somewhat further down the coast, but a very nice journey via train and the entry point to the Nana Shima Island Chain (7 Islands off the coast of Tokyo that are great for camping).
Hilton scored highly in the Seychelles, but I also find this data a little confusing, since it was listing the Northolme and Labriz as No.1 in their relative towns, but there are over 85 hotels spread out throughout the Seychelles and the way TripAdvisor lists them it is almost like everyone is No.1… personally, if I was to stay at a Hilton here I would keep my eye on a new build property, the DoubleTree (a Cat 8 Property ) that looks like is open for booking in October 2013 for 70,000 HHonors per night, or $429. The other two properties on this island seem a little dated from the reviews I saw.
Hilton Category 10 Properties by Location
I decided to sort by what I felt were the most exciting locations here, Bora Bora beat the Maldives only because I haven’t been there yet. I think again, despite not an amazing TripAdvisor score the Bora Bora Hilton is one of those places that you would fly to just to stay at that hotel, in other words that is your Tahiti experience. As such, you need to consider how many nights you will be staying, just as you would in the Maldives, and look at the two free nights as a discount on your overall stay – probably looking at adding at least 2 more nights to make the journey worthwhile, or as many as you need to find your relaxed grove.
Conclusion
I found it a lot harder to identify a real winner by using the TripAdvisor data, for some reason when I did this same analysis for The Best Hyatt Properties Worldwide – to use your 2 Free Nights from the Hyatt Card it was easier for me to work with the data. However, based upon my experience of visiting several of these properties, or knowing the towns they are in, such as Koh Samui, Odawara and New York I can get a good grasp of where the value is.
My winner, for the perfect use of the Citi Hilton Reserve Two Free Nights is the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Runner up, Hilton Bora Bora, and in third place. I am actually, based upon this report, picked the Seychelles and the Category 8 DoubleTree. If it is high season and you are being asked for 70,000 per night it is worth using the Two Free Night Vouchers, in low season, if you can catch a cheaper points per night rate then I would hold onto the vouchers.
However, I believe that the finalists for the best Category 10 Hotel are all in the realm of ‘dream trip’ so they may not be useful. Furthermore none of the above three finalists really work with my travel plans, so I dug into the Category 9 Hotels to see if I can find something that I can actually use these nights on before they expire in April 2014.
Part 2 – Examining Category 9 Hotels for the best value
Matt – I disagree with your approach on this (and the Hyatt post). You start off by looking at price, in other words your number one driver is simply getting the most (artificial) bang for buck. You should start by listing out the places you ACTUALLY want to go to. And then within those I would then rank by pricing to ensure you are maximizing the value. And even then I would not pick my No 10 bucket list place over my No 1 bucket list place just because at 10 I am theoretically getting better value. This whole “get the maximum dollar per point” makes people chase things on price alone.
Hmm.. how do I delete this dissenting comment? 🙂
It is funny, because I do agree entirely (with regard to the artificial nature of the price), but it is a place to start from. The reason I go onto explore TripAdvisor score is to test if the price is artificially high and if the property seems to be ‘good value’ for the money. At the end of the day though, I think a lot of readers will be unhappy picking a category 3 property over a category 10 property just because they didn’t get the right ‘price per point’ out of it.
Also, I disagree with it being about a place you ACTUALLY want to go, the real selfish purpose of these two (soon to be three) posts are for me and the mrs to pick two places to spend up our free nights with Hyatt and Hilton. We had never thought of going to Carmel but when we saw it was expensive, and therefore caught our ‘perceived value’ attention we looked further and decided it looked great too.
We also went to Rome this year using this methodology when we picked the Cavalieri to burn up our last AXON7.
Our problem is that we would go anywhere in the world. If I ask my wife would you like to go to X she says ‘Yep, sort out the miles’ so we have no limits, nor really a bucket list at the moment. As such when looking for inspiration I would start at the top of the list and work down til we find a town we haven’t thought of, look it up to see what it is all about, and get going! I think a top down approach, from a price and rating is a more efficient way to work through the list, since we HAVE to stay at a Hyatt and a Hilton.
I have heard this argument a few times, but for me, I like to chase the deal. It has taken me to places that I would have never considered.
Matt, I picked both the Northolme and Labriz for my next February Seychelles stay (10 nights total booked pre-deval). Had 8 nights at Conrad Maldives in Feb and 4 at Samui in November. Have Cavalieri and Venice booked for next month on pre-deval AXONs, and using Hyatt certs at Park Hyatt Milan.
You have a pretty amazing set of trips coming up! I actually have distant family in the Seychelles, I think its time for a visit!
Seychelles is incredibly beautiful. Honeymooned there in 2000 staying in a couple of places (Praslin and private Denis Island) and then went back with the kids in 2011 using points. Also have good friends from London who went there to open up a hotel (Raffles on Praslin – amazing place). The Hilton properties are actually pretty good, the SPG ones not so much. If you like exceptionally beautiful beaches it’s a great place to go. Also pretty good diving and exceptionally good deep sea fishing. My wife caught an incredible 55kg sword-fish, took about an hour to reel in.
Conrad Koh Samui is classic example of “chasing the deal”. I mean let’s face facts – Thailand is an absolute dump. Unless you are a kiddie-fiddler, need a dial-a-bride or an 18 year old American who doesn’t have friends who can get them a fake ID, Thailand is a wasteland. Koh Samui was cool like maybe 20 years ago. But hey you get a nice room with a pool. Well I have a nicer pool in my backyard so no need to schlepp it out to Thailand. The other places you list are nice but it’s irrelevant to the point… while for sure it makes sense to look at the list to see places you might not otherwise have thought of (so for me Hyatt has opened my eyes to the idea of Siem Reap/Angkor – even though the $ “value” is not “good”) the idea of just chasing a deal to maximize redemption value I think is utterly crazy.
I love Thailand. We have been there 9 times and to Samui 4 times. Driven all over Thailand. I love driving to or from Samui on the ferry and to Krabi/Phuket/Khao Lak. To each his own. Also went to Lombok, Indonesia once because there was a Cat 1 SPG there. Why not ? P.S. I also have a nice pool.
We did have a great time down there too, there are a few places that I disliked in the busier towns, but the countryside and beaches are great.
Thailand isn’t for eveyone, though I had a really nice time when we when from the National Park Khao Sok to Koh Tao. I think the people can be nice and the country is beautiful but I agree that there is a lot of sleaze there too which gives it an off color.
I think its not crazy to chase the deal, it is what you did with Siem Reap too, just you went further down the list on Hyatt than I did before finding a place that you found attractive. I stopped at Big Sur (becuase it really does look lovely in Carmel). It really is just a different way to find inspiration.
Personally, I have already been to Siem Reap (and do highly recommend it) when I traveled through Vietnam and Cambodia, so it wouldn’t have the same appeal to me – but if I had not I wouldn’t use it for the Hyatt post because it is available for 15,000 Hyatt points per night, where as these vouchers are worth up to 22,000 per night. Therefore I would still go, when I have these vouchers in hand, but I would pay for the hotel using a different currency to maximise value.
Also should add weekend night = Friday, Saturday or Sunday
Great point, confused it with my SPG Award which is only Fri/Sat
Wow, some amazing properties there. The travel there alone would drain me, as I am not the international travel ninja that your are, sir. Bora Bora would be my choice…..but mostly because it’s freaking Bora Bora!
Yeah, we wanted to go to Bora Bora for just that reason, but flights for free are a bit of a PITA unless you have Delta (we always avoided Delta) so we had to settle for Tokyo, the Maldives and Sri Lanka for our spring trip this year.
Wow, you couldn’t be more wrong about Odawara Hilton. Beautiful, sprawling property with lots to see and do. The spa zone is first class. And it’s gotta be the only Hilton with its own bowling alley!
Thanks for the comment – good to know! I certainly haven’t been there and am just making an arbitrary decision on it based on what I see. Personally I would rather stay at an Ryokan in a place like Odawara but it if is as good as you say then people should maybe take it more seriously than I did in this post.
I’ve been to almost every hotel in Tokyo, and this one did remind me of the nastier ones, but I am happy to be wrong. Thanks for stopping by!
Odawara is just a stone’s throw from Hakone (certainly less than the distance from one side of Tokyo to the other), where lots of other good hotels exist. So I would liken this more with The Prince Hakone.
Nice, a good comparison. I did this several times but always felt odd comparing when in different cities, but sometimes it just makes more sense to do so. I have stayed in several Price hotels in Tokyo, thought they were not fantastic, but good enough for business, much like a Sheraton in the US. Do you think that the Hilton in Odawara is justified in its pricing when compared to the Prince?
I see rooms from $120 per night at the Prince, and the Hilton is averaging 5x that price.
Is the Conrad Koh Samui Resort bookable with the 2 Hilton free nights? It says Residences on the exclusion list, not sure if that includes the resort?
Thanks
That’s the way I interpreted it, but I’d give them a call to confirm just to be 100% sure (before you book your flights!)
Yes, that’s right. The “residences” (which are excluded) are not the same as the standard rooms (which are INCLUDED in the free nights you can redeem).
My brother recommended I would possibly like this website.
He was once totally right. This submit truly
made my day. You cann’t consider just how a lot time I had spent for this info!
Thank you!