So I have an account with Hilton's HHonors reward system and I am a Platinum Flier with American Airlines. Hilton offers what they call a 'double dip' system where they will give you points for your hotel stay AND also put free air miles into your frequent flier account. They are partnered with just about every major airline so finding yours is no big deal.

The HHonors program has 3 choices:

  1. HHonors Points and Variable Miles: 10 HHonors Base points + 1 airline mile per eligible U.S. dollar spent*
  2. HHonors Points and Fixed Miles: 10 HHonors Base points per eligible U.S. dollar spent + 500 miles per stay
  3. HHonors Points and HHonors Points: 10 HHonors Base points + 5 bonus points per eligible U.S. dollar spent

You can also transfer points from HHonors to the Airline and of course you can also do the opposite. So the Question is which of the 3 choices is better for me? Using the calculations below, here is my break down:

  1. HHonors Points and Variable Miles: Best if you spend more. So if most of your travel is one night then this isn't your best option.
  2. HHonors Points and Fixed Miles: Great if you need the air miles and each stay is less than $500 total.
  3. HHonors Points and HHonors Points: If you already get plenty of air miles then this is your best option to quickly rack up the free hotel rewards.

Here are a few of the details I got:

  • HHonors transfers 10,000 points into 1,500 AA miles. So 500 miles is worth 3,333 points or about 1 night stay at $200 (assuming that you use Double Point Rewards and then transfer them to AA).
  • If your average stay is one night and about $200 then:
    • Variable Miles gets you 2,000 points and only 200 miles
    • Fixed Miles gets you 2,000 points and 500 miles
    • Double Points gets you 3,000 points

Also, there does not appear to be a limit to the number of times you switch between the 3 programs. So find the one that is best for 80% of your travel and then just switch it for the 20% to get better rewards.

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