HHonors bonus points for Citibank PM transfers till 31 December

Citibank's Premier Miles recently updated its program to add new redemption / transfer partners, which I wrote about a few days back. This included transferring PM miles to HHonors, at the rate of 1 PM = 1.25 HHonors points. The interesting update to that, is a bonus 5k HHonors points when you transfer 10k Premier Miles to your HHonors account. This is valid for transfers done till 31 December 2013, which must be done over phone.

In effect:

So what's the deal and the value proposition here? Citi PM miles are redeemable for flights across airlines, when you book through their portal. The conversion rate is 1 PM = Rs 0.50 - since they actually buy the tickets by using up points. Therefore, 10k Citi PM miles is clearly valued at Rs 5,000. And so you're effectively buying HHonors points at 1 point = Rs 0.25, under this offer.

Now, you will need between 5k to 40k HHonors points for a one night stay at various Hilton properties in India, compared to a cash cost of Rs 5k and upwards. For instance,

• A one night stay in January 2014 at the Hampton by Hilton Vadodara-Alkapuri is 5000 HHonors points or Rs 5,100. Similarly, the Doubltree by Hilton at Goa will also price at 5k HHonors points or Rs 6,800. Therefore, under this transfer offer, this means that your stay is only costing you the equivalent of Rs 1,250 - now, that would be a really good deal. 
• On the other hand, a one night stay at the Hilton Chennai will set you back by 40,000 HHonors points, but the cash price of that room is only Rs 5,999. Same is the case with the Doubletree in Gurgaon (30k points or Rs 5,200). So by using this offer, you will be paying Rs 10k for a Rs 6k room (Chennai), or Rs 7.5k for a Rs 5.2k room (Gurgaon).

From a quick read of the promo, the offer of a bonus 5k HHonors points is for a transfer of every block of 10k PM miles to the HHonors program. So in theory, transferring 20k PM miles nets you 40k HHonors points.

So, as with most offers, I'm cagey on my recommendation. I would strongly suggest that if you want to make good use of this offer, you should first decide where you want to go, and price out your stay in terms of points and cash cost, separately, and then see if this offer works for you. Unless of course, you want to simply top up your HHonors account for that ever-elusive aspirational reward holiday!

PS: There's also the 20% bonus on transferring PM miles to SQ's KrisFlyer program. AA (Live From a Lounge) has written about it here.