What hotels transfer over?

[Andyflag4]

I know Hilton does but I didn't know I had to set up my Hilton Rewards account to include Amtrak before I booked so I lost 956 Hilton points for the Amtrak transfer in April. At what ratio does Hilton transfer? Any other knowledge out there about other Hotel programs and their ratios? Thanks. ~Andy

 

[AlanB]

Andy,

Be careful and proactive with Hilton. Hilton actually offers two options, point & fixed miles and points & variable miles. If you're staying several days at a Hilton or staying at an expensive one, and you know that your total bill will be more than $500 ($100 at a Hampton or Homewood), then you want to set your account for points & variable miles. If you're only staying 1 or 2 nights and expect a bill less than $500/$100, set your account for points & fixed miles.

When on fixed miles, Hilton pays 500 AGR points for any stay at all Hilton family properties, except for Hamptons & Homewood Suites where they only pay 100 AGR points. When on variable miles, Hilton pays 1 AGR point for each dollar on the bill excluding the room taxes. Hence the reason for the $500/$100 minimums. If your bill at a Doubltree totals $489 minus the tax, then you want to be on fixed miles so that you get 500 AGR points. If your bill at a Hilton is going to be $501 or more then you want variable miles so that you get more points. And of course watch out for the lower numbers from the Hamptons and the Homewoods.

The setting in your Hilton Honors account is like a light switch, you can flip it on and off as many times as you like. So if you have two upcoming reservations and the first is for only 1 night and the second is for 5 nights, set your account to fixed. Then prior to the second stay, go in and change your settings to variable so as to maximize your AGR points for the second stay.

The basic rule is that whatever setting is found in your account at the close of business on the day you check out, will be the one applied to that reservation.

Finally, I would not recommend transfering the Hilton Honors points over to your AGR account. You'll take a bath on those, which is why I use them for free hotels from time to time. IIRC it takes 10,000 Hilton points for 1,500 AGR points. So I only let them send me the miles points to my account, as described above.

I hope that's all clear, but if not please don't hesitate to ask further questions.

 

[AlanB]

As for other hotels that transfer to AGR, here's the list.

 

[Andyflag4]

Alan,

This is really clear thank you so much. Thanks for the link to the hotels too. ~Ann

 

[rrdude]

If you have points at Holiday Inn, (Intercontinental) you can, as The_Traveler pointed out in another thread, turn 10,000 Priority Club Points into 2,000 Continental Miles, then once you have at least 5,000 CO miles, convert those to Amtrak at a 1:1 ratio, a little better than Hilton's 10,000:1,500, but I agree with Alan, the "bath" you take on the conversion isn't normally worth it, unless you have "a random 10K or so" with a hotel that you aren't going to use, or aren't enuff for a free nite.......

CASE IN POINT: My wife has 10,335 miles with Virgin America. She most likely will never, (or at least for the foreseable future) not fly Virgin again. But I opened a HiltonHonors account in her name. We will then transfer those 10,335 Virgin miles into HiltonHonors, and then transfer them out of Hiltonhonors into her AGR account......and maybe if needed, then she will SHARE those points into my AGR account, for a small fee.

 

[AlanB]

CASE IN POINT: My wife has 10,335 miles with Virgin America. She most likely will never, (or at least for the foreseable future) not fly Virgin again. But I opened a HiltonHonors account in her name. We will then transfer those 10,335 Virgin miles into HiltonHonors, and then transfer them out of Hiltonhonors into her AGR account......and maybe if needed, then she will SHARE those points into my AGR account, for a small fee.

You'd probably get more value for those points by just leaving them in HH. Buy some more points as needed and get a free night in a Hilton one day.