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How I Avoided Paying 159,000 Hilton Points for a Luxury Award Night!

  • Jasmin Baron

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    Greetings from the Philippines!

    Last week I shared how I booked an inexpensive award stay for my family at the beautiful St. Regis Abu Dhabi.  Next week, we’re spending a night in Tokyo on the way home.

    I had my eye on the luxurious Conrad Tokyo, which normally costs 95,000 Hilton points per night.  But there were NO standard award rooms left!  The cheapest available room with points was a “Bay View King” that comes at a premium price of 159,000 Hilton points per night.  

    While I’m all for a good splurge, that just wasn’t going to happen.

    Thanks, but NO Thanks! An Award Night at the Conrad Tokyo for Our Travel Dates Costs 159,000 Hilton Points

    The good news is, there are other ways to book a free stay at Hilton hotels.  And I’ll show you how I ended up getting a terrific deal!

    Citi ThankYou Points to the Rescue!

    Link:   Citi ThankYou Travel Portal

    Link:   The Smart Way to Use Citi ThankYou Points at Hilton

    Although Hilton is no longer a Citi ThankYou transfer partner, you can still redeem Citi ThankYou points for paid stays at Hilton hotels.  Including the Conrad Tokyo!

    I wasn’t about to spend 159,000 Hilton points for a room at the Conrad Tokyo.  Nor was I interested in paying the cash rate of $513 plus tax per night (~$638 total!).

    Sure, Children Are “Free” – but Both the Paid and Points Rate Was Just TOO Steep

    So I checked the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal.  Because I have the Citi Premier Card, my Citi ThankYou points are worth 1.25 cents each toward paid airfare, hotels, car rentals, and more.

    Surprise!  I was delighted to find a standard room, including a child discount, for less than 37,000 Citi ThankYou points per night.  In this case, the paid rate would have been ~$458.  That’s a substantial savings from the paid rate advertised by Hilton.

    Score! A Room at the Luxury Conrad Tokyo for Less Than ~37,000 Citi ThankYou Points per Night

    As always, it’s important to keep in mind that not all rewards currencies are created equal.

    Although you can sometimes get a better value, Hilton points are normally worth ~0.5 cents each.  And in this case, my Citi ThankYou points were worth 1.25 cents each.  But regardless of those values, I think ~37,000 Citi ThankYou points for a night in a top-ranked luxury Conrad hotel is a terrific deal!

    There are varying reports of whether or not folks have their Hilton elite status recognized when they book through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal.  I have Hilton Gold status, which gets you free breakfast at Conrad hotels.  I’ll report back after our stay and share whether or not they gave us our perks!

    Bottom Line

    I was originally discouraged when I went to book an award night at the Conrad Tokyo for my family’s trip home from Asia.  There were no standard award rooms available.  And the only option was a premium room for 159,000 Hilton points per night – ouch!

    Luckily, I was able to book a standard room for only ~37,000 Citi ThankYou points per night through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal thank to having the Citi Premier Card.  We’re very much looking forward to the stay, and I’ll share a full review afterwards.

    Have you found good deals using Citi ThankYou points for Hilton stays?  I’d love to hear about your experience!

    Come back each Wednesday for a new installment in our Family Travel series!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)