Conrad Singapore Cheaper Award Pricing!
A short while back Hilton announced some changes to their HHonors program including the dropping of an “H” and the elimination of their award charts. Now, the amount of points required is based on the room rate at the hotel. Hilton for their part has said prices won’t exceed the previous maximum cost.
When this was announced I argued that over time this will only lead to higher costs since Hilton can just make changes to the value of their points with no award chart to adhere to. This change also eliminates any sweet spots that once existed.
On the flip side though, it means that other properties are being priced much more fairly. For example, I am in Singapore for one night and decided I wanted to stay down by the Bay. After looking at my options, I noticed something interesting at The Conrad.
Under the previous system, The Conrad cost between 50,000 – 60,000 points per night. The reality though is that according to what I saw during previous searches, it was 60,000 most nights. Thankfully I am not paying that though. (Nor would I!) For tonight my cost is only 39,000 points. That is quite a reduction and a much better value.
From what I have seen and what has been reported by others, the value of Hilton points is about .4 cents each across the board. This is great at properties like the Conrad which at times gave you much less value than that. No longer are you forced to either pay cash or take less than what you should for the value of your points.
Bottom Line
In the short term some more expensive properties are actually much cheaper than they were previously, especially on nights where the rate is low. On the flip side lower priced properties can get much more expensive than they were before. At least your points now have a value, which I suppose is nice.
I still predict that over time prices will increase more rapidly due to there not being an award chart, but for tonight I am enjoying my 39K room at The Conrad, a hotel I simply would not have paid 60K for.
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The only time you get a “value” is when the hotel max point level is much lower than the cash price when calculating at $0.004 to $0.0055 per point. That is when you get a $386 hotel room for 30k pts during snow storm or during a special event in town, or a $100 hotel room for 10K pts. (We some Hampton / HGI right by the airports in Poland at 10K while cash rates are between $75 to $100 – and we actually need those stays due to our late arrivals).
Else the point level you saw lower than before, such as the Singapore Conrad is deceiving because in the past you would NOT use your pts when the room rate is below SGD300 as the value proposition is not there.
Points and cash are not worth it. For example I always book my stays in Newcastle, England at the Hampton Inn as it’s close to where I need to be, this used to run in at 4,000 points plus £19.00 cash. Now it’s 5,000 points plus £31.00 cash.
Due to the possible snow storm, I have tentatively added on an additional night to my present stay. $386 or 30,000 points. If I understand the calculation, this is more than one cent a point.
I’ve found the opposite to be true. The Hilton Auckland was 50k before the changes, then 56K right after and now it is 60K – all for the same standard award. Conrad Singapore for my dates jumped from 50K to 59K and 60K for 2 nights.
Also, will you be reviewing the Conrad? I read your ig post that you were not happy. Thanks!
Cheryl I will be reviewing the Conrad. It definitely isn’t on the same level as their other Asia properties, but it isn’t terrible.
Just tried booking a 3 day stay using the Hilton Dishonors. The screen showed a 30k a day price, but priced the stay at 115,000. Looking at each day by day revealed variable pricing, but the third day showed no room available. Does Hilton deserve a D for Dishonorable with the new system or an F for Fraud? Or maybe a grade E for Epic fail?
Points and money are MESSED up. I used to be able to book the Double tree DFW north for 8000 points and $40 now its 8000 and $90-100 its like that everywhere