You may want to use your hotel rewards soon

[manning]

Just read an article saying they are in the process of devaluing the points.

 

[worm761]

What hotel chain are you referring to?

 

[manning]

What hotel chain are you referring to?

So far Starwood and Hilton have made changes according to article with more coming.

Their belief is there is a rebound coming.

Article says to complain to chain and the credit card companies that give points. Also not to be as loyal. Go where you can get the best deal.

 

[Tiger926]

Hilton has some good and bad...they have created some new hotel categories, and rewards needed have gone down to redeem for free nights.

eg. Level 1 used to be 7,500 points and it has now gone down to 5,000 points to redeem for a free night.

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/promotions/program-changes/english.html

On the other hand, it has created peak seasons, so rooms at some hotels will cost more points depending upon the season of travel, but most hotels have seasonal pricing (Disney, anyone?), so I wonder how it will shake out?

All of this will take effect in the next few days, so most people aren't going to be able to take advantage of the old levels at Hilton.

I haven't received any upcoming changes for Marriott as of yet, so wonder if any other hotels will follow suit?

Tiger

 

[mrsklamc]

Marriott too.

http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rewards/usepoints/programchanges.mi

 

[jls886]

Hilton has some good and bad...they have created some new hotel categories, and rewards needed have gone down to redeem for free nights.

eg. Level 1 used to be 7,500 points and it has now gone down to 5,000 points to redeem for a free night.

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/promotions/program-changes/english.html

On the other hand, it has created peak seasons, so rooms at some hotels will cost more points depending upon the season of travel, but most hotels have seasonal pricing (Disney, anyone?), so I wonder how it will shake out?

All of this will take effect in the next few days, so most people aren't going to be able to take advantage of the old levels at Hilton.

Tiger

Unfortunately the number of properties that Hilton has at the lowest categories is very small. They do have a few (I think 37 hotels in the entire US are category 1). I am a points hoarder and have only used my points on hotels I couldn't afford with cash (like the Doubletree on Times Square for 50,000 points when a cash reservation was $850) this is a huge blow for me. All of the properties I have stayed at are going up in general, and going up even higher during 'peak' times. I can't say that I totally blame them as I did feel like I was getting quite a steal from them during some of my stays. As long as you book before March 28 you get the old redemption rates. I just helped a friend book a 2 week trip to California so she could hurry up and get in on the old rates since all of the hotels she chose will be more points after March 28.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Starwood does an annual adjustment of category levels based on expected revenue for the coming year. This year may have had more hotels increasing in category as hotels are pulling out of the slump they experienced in the Great Recession.

The change was effective March 5. I made 11 reservations using my points for hotels that were changing categories. -- Suzanne