100,000 Hilton Points And Cheap Hotel For Timeshare Presentation

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NowBoarding: The Official BoardingArea Podcast

Society & Culture


NowBoarding, your daily travel news in 7 minutes or less. This is your host, Ed Pizza, bringing you the latest travel news and deals you need to know Monday through Friday.  Tune in daily so you don’t miss any of the best deals!Look for links to all of today’s stories in the show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening.  And, please share the show with a friend!How about we start today with a 4-night stay at a pretty darn good hotel at Disney World for $350? Hilton has a pretty solid new offer if you’re willing to stomach a timeshare presentation.  And, there are other destinations, including Las Vegas, New York, Myrtle beach and a few more.  I’m generally skeptical of timeshare presentations, but it’s a really good offer.  One example of what Hilton is offering is a 4 night vacation in Orlando and 100,000 Hilton Honors points for $349.  The Hilton Lake Buena Vista is a solid property if you’re looking for a cheaper way to do Disney and still get all the benefits of staying onsite.  That property is what’s called a Good Neighbor hotel, meaning you can get access to the 60-day FastPass window and Extra Magic Hours, two pretty valuable benefits for families.  $349 is a great rate for pretty much any 4-day period throughout the year.  Getting 100,000 Hilton Honors points on top of it is icing on the cake for me.  As we mentioned in yesterday’s show, 100,000 Hilton Honors points isn’t worth as much as 100,000 Hyatt points.  But, it would still get you a couple free nights at a property like the Hilton Lake Buena Vista.Don’t forget you do have to sit through a 2-hour timeshare presentation. That part will suck, and you shouldn’t buy direct from Hilton.  You might find some value on the resale market, but timeshares directly from the developers are rarely a good deal, with Disney Vacation Club really being the lone exception.  Check the show notes for more news on this one.American Express has a new transfer bonus with Marriott Bonvoy.  Some folks have noted the offer is targeted but it seems pretty widespread.  The offer is for a 30% bonus on all transfers.  Given that I value American Express’ Membership Rewards points at roughly twice the value of a Marriott Bonvoy point, this isn’t the greatest deal in the world for a large transfer.  But, if you’re shy enough points to do something productive with your Marriott Bonvoy balance, then this can be a good fit.Sticking with Marriott, they’re currently running a promotion where you can earn 1,000 bonus point per night at a select list of hotels through the end of March.  Many of the properties are in California.  If you have a stay coming up in California you should definitely check this list out.  1,000 Marriott points isn’t worth quite as much as the 500 bonus Hyatt points per night that we talked about on yesterday’s show, especially when you consider that the properties at the top of the Marriott chart will set you back about 100,000 points per night.  But, the value of a per night promotion can be tremendous for business travelers with longer stays planned.  Check the shows notes for a full list of participating properties.For folks who use AwardWallet to check your various points balances, there may be a bit of bad news coming down the pike.  Chase has announced that they’re changing their security settings and that sites like Award Wallet likely won’t be able to access your balance the same way any longer.  It doesn’t mean you’re shut out from having AwardWallet track your balances right now.  But, that could be coming down the pike.  Stay tuned.If you hold the Citi Double Cash Card in your wallet (and you really should) Ben from One Mile at a Time has a great post that lays out the complete process to transfer your earnings to ThankYou points. I’ve held the Citi Double Cash Card for a number of years as my go-to cash back card for non-bonus spending.  Now, with the ability to transfer those earnings to ThankYou points, you can turn those points into miles on a variety of airlines.  JetBlue is on the list for domestic choices, with large international airlines such as Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific and Turkish Airways available as transfer partners.  These are airlines that all fly to far away destinations and in some pretty luxurious style if you can get a seat near the pointy end of the plane.Transferring your Citi Double Cash earnings to ThankYou points won’t be right for everyone. But, flexibility is the name of the game.  And, another option for your cash-back earnings, especially when you consider you’re getting 2 points per dollar on your every day spending, isn’t a bad deal at all.One quick hit to close out the show.  Hilton’s first promotion of 2020, where you can earn 2,000 points per stay ant 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights, is now open for registration.  If you haven’t registered yet, do it now so that you don’t forget.  We’ve got a link in the show notes.That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news.  If you’ve got a piece of travel news that you think I should feature on NowBoarding, you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram all at pizzainmotion.  And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.comIf you have a minute you can help us out by leaving us a review and a rating wherever you get your podcasts.  And, please tell a friend.  That’s your travel news in 7 minutes or less.  I hope you’ll join us again on a future flight!