Spring mileage promotions with Hilton HHonors

/

​Paid stays at Hilton can earn points and miles in one of three ways, called "My Way Earning Styles."  

In general, I prefer to select "Points & Points" as my earning style when staying at Hilton properties.  The reason is that while I value the 5 bonus Hilton HHonors points per dollar at about 2 cents, and I value one United MileagePlus or Delta Skymile at about 2 cents, I earn Skymiles through flying domestically on Delta and partner flights, and can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United, while earning Hilton HHonors points will become much harder after the changes to the earning structure of their co-branded American Express credit cards go into effect in May.

However, periodic promotions offered by Hilton may make it worth switching your earning preference for one or more stays.  For example, by changing my earning style to "Points & Fixed" Delta miles back in December, I was able to earn 250 valuable Medallion Qualification Miles on a short paid stay:

Screen Shot 2013-04-11 at 9.49.02 PM.png

There are currently two potentially valuable ​promotions running through June 30 which might be worth changing over to a "Points & Miles" earning preference:

  • ​Earn 1,000 United MileagePlus miles per stay of 2 or more nights, up to 5,000 miles (for 5 stays).  Register here, and don't forget to switch your earning preference to "Points & Variable Miles" or "Points & Fixed Miles" in your Hilton HHonors profile, and designate United as your preferred earning partner.
  • Earn 2,013 Delta Skymiles per stay of 2 or more nights, up to 14,091 miles.  Register here, and the same caveats apply as above (set Delta as your preferred earning partner).

For most stays of 2 or more nights, taking advantage of one of these promotions will offer somewhat higher value than a "Points & Points" earning preference.  The one situation where these promotions are strictly superior is in the case of award stays.  There is no language in the terms and conditions of either promotion excluding award stays of 2 or more nights from eligibility for this promotion.  Therefore, if you are already making an award reservation, for which you will typically earn no HHonors points or airline partner points, you can earn 1,000 United miles or 2,013 Delta Skymiles for that same stay.