Hyatt Gold Passport and Hilton HHonors points purchase offers

We've seen various opportunities this calendar year so far, to purchase hotel loyalty points at promotional prices or substantial bonuses. And as of now, there are two such promotions running that we haven't written about yet - from Hyatt and Hilton. While Hyatt's offering up to 40% bonus on points purchased, Hilton's offer is for up to 100% bonus on points purchased. Here's more information on these promotions.


Hyatt's promotion

With Hyatt, you can get a bonus of up to 40% on points purchases, as follows:
  • up to 4,999 points: no bonus
  • 5,000 to 9,999 points: 30% bonus
  • 10,000 to 55,000 points: 40% bonus.

Hyatt sells points at $24 (~Rs 1600) per block of 1000 points, or at Rs 1.6 per point. After the 40% bonus, the cost of each point is Rs 1.14. While we haven't published a valuation yet for Hyatt points, my personal value for them is Rs 1.17 each, so this promotion makes a lot of sense. However, our per point value is generic for India - individual hotels will have differing points requirements, which may be above or below the Rs 1.17 per point threshold.

That said, it does seem to make a lot of sense to buy points under this promotion, as long as you know your exact stay requirements.

You can access this promotion here. The promotion is valid for purchases till 25 October 2016.

Hilton HHonors's promotion

Hilton HHonors is offering up to a 100% bonus on points purchased, as follows:
  • up to 9,00 points: No bonus
  • 10,000 to 19,000 points: 80% bonus
  • 20,000 points or more: 100% bonus.

Hilton HHonors sells points at $10 (~Rs 670) per 1000 points. With the 100% bonus, the effective cost per point comes down to Rs 0.335, from Rs 0.67 per point. 

We value Hilton HHonors points at Rs 0.19 apiece though you can get value higher than Rs 0.335 at several Indian hotels, and lots of international ones as well. For instance, for 24-25 December 2016, 
  • DoubleTree by Hilton Goa is available for Rs 14,725 or 20,000 points
  • Hilton Jaipur is available for Rs 9,000 or 20,000 points.

Both of these represent phenomenal value per point, when purchased under this promotion.

Also, rather than going by the hotel category, I suggest you look up the actual award night requirement on the Hilton HHonors website. That's because the actual requirement may be different, for reasons I'd indicated here or otherwise.

You can access this offer here, till 21 31 October 2016.

Conclusion

I would generally not recommend buying points or miles speculatively. However, if you do have a specific stay in mind, you can check out the points required for a stay, and see if it makes sense to buy points under one of the above offers.

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