Easy 1,000 Bonus Hilton HHonors Points - Plus An Additional 4,000 Bonus Points

This is an old promotion, but it's still ongoing and great for people like me who have Hilton HHonors points expiring soon. The first part is very straightforward: simply register your mobile phone and an eligible Visa card and agree to receive up to two special offers each week via text message (messaging and data rates may apply - check with your mobile phone carrier). Just for enrolling, you will earn 1,000 bonus points. You must register between January 20 and June 30, 2012, so there is still plenty of time to take advantage of this offer.

I registered about a week ago, and since the first few confirmation text messages that I received, I have not yet seen any additional texts. You can also choose to opt-out of the enrollment at anytime here (although I would only suggest doing so after receiving the bonus points).

Next, you can also earn an additional 4,000 bonus points by spending a minimum of $100 using your enrolled Visa card at any participating U.S. hotel or resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio after enrolling in the program. The spend must be completed by June 30, 2012.

Allow up to six weeks after enrollment for the 1,000 bonus points to post in your Hilton HHonors account, and up to six weeks after completing the minimum spend for the additional 4,000 bonus points to post. You must be a Hilton HHonors member and enter a valid account number when enrolling to receive the bonus points. You can also enroll up to three Visa cards in this promotion (but only one enrollment bonus will be given).

Note that not all Visa cards are eligible for this promotion, including Visa Buxx, Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Visa cards, EBT Visa cards, and other Visa-branded cards whose transactions are not processed through the Visa U.S.A. payment system.

Hilton HHonors Q2 2012 Promotion Already Announced

Hilton is moving quickly with their Q2 promotion this year. Register for the Double Your HHonors promotion, and you can earn double base points or double miles for stays at participating hotels and resorts in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio from April 1 through June 30, 2012.

You can only register for either double base points or double miles, and once you make your choice, your selection cannot be changed. Bonus points do not count toward tier qualification. There is a very long list of hotels that have opted-out of participating in this promotion, so make sure you take a look before making your bookings!

Remember that the Hilton HHonors program offers three methods of earning points/miles you can choose from:

• HHonors Points + HHonors Points: 10 base points + 5 bonus points per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points + Variable Miles: 10 base points + 1 airline mile per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points + Fixed Miles: 10 base points per eligible dollar spent + 500 airline miles per stay

Note that the list above does not apply to Hampton Inns & Suites, Homewood Suites, and Home2 Suites, which all have reduced earn rates! Click here to see the full earn rate details for those brands.

So with this promotion, if you select the points-only option, you will earn 20 base points + 5 bonus points per eligible dollar spent. If you select the variable miles option, you will earn 10 base points + 2 airline miles per eligible dollar spent. If you select the fixed miles option, you will earn 10 base points per eligible dollar spent + 1,000 airline miles per stay. Be aware that double points and miles at Hampton Inns & Suites, Homewood Suites, and Home2 Suites will be based on their specific earn rates. Miles earning rates may also vary by airline, so take a look at this full list of partners for details.

This is not a terribly good promotion from Hilton, and I would personally wait for all the other Q2 2012 hotel promotions to be announced before making any bookings. However, it never hurts to register for these promotions in advance just in case you forget later on.

Hilton HHonors Any Weekend, Anywhere 24-Hour Facebook Event Starts Today

Don't forget that from 12:00 noon EST today through 11:59 am EST on January 18, 2012, you can take advantage of the Hilton HHonors Any Weekend, Anywhere 24-hour Facebook event. Carefully go over the details of this offer on my previous post here, as it is a little complicated. The general steps are:

• Book a weekend stay through the Any Weekend, Anywhere promotion website within the 24-hour period
• Head over to the Hilton HHonors Facebook page to enter your booking confirmation and membership numbers
• After you have completed your weekend stay, you will receive 2,500 bonus points in addition to the normal 1,000 bonus points you already receive through the general Any Weekend, Anywhere offer

A maximum of 10,000 bonus points can be earned through the 24-hour Facebook event, which translates to four stays. Remember, all rates associated with this promotion are non-refundable and require prepayment. Also, don't forget to stack this offer with Hilton's Q1 2012 More Points promotion, as well as the various bonus airline miles promotions I've detailed in my previous posts!

Hilton Any Weekend, Anywhere 24-Hour Bonus Facebook Event, Plus Club Carlson Joins In

Hilton HHonors is really piling on the promotions this quarter! Add this one to the list. Read very carefully, because it gets a little confusing.

First off, be aware of the Any Weekend, Anywhere Sale that has been going on since the end of December. The sale is described as follows: between December 27, 2011 and January 31, 2012, book a minimum two-night weekend stay for any weekend throughout 2012, and receive up to 33% off your stay using the Any Weekend, Anywhere rate. Plus, earn an additional 1,000 bonus points per stay. A weekend stay is defined as any night Thursday through Sunday.

On top of the regular sale, there is now the Any Weekend, Anywhere 24-Hour Bonus Event exclusive to Facebook that was just announced yesterday. This "bonus event" is for HHonors members and Facebook users who take advantage of the Any Weekend, Anywhere sale within a specific 24-hour period. Starting on January 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm EST and ending on January 18, 2012 at 11:59 am EST, you can book a weekend stay through the Any Weekend, Anywhere sale website. Then, you must return to the 24-Hour Bonus Event Tab on the Hilton HHonors Facebook page to enter your booking confirmation number as well as your HHonors number by 11:59 am EST on January 18, 2012. Doing so will earn you an additional 2,500 bonus points for each weekend stay you book during the 24-hour event, up to a maximum of 10,000 bonus points (four stays). The 2,500 bonus points will post after you have completed the corresponding stay.

Now here's where is gets really confusing. If you only want to stay for one night, you can still book the discount rate (up to 33% off), but your stay must occur between Friday and Sunday. You will not receive the normal 1,000 bonus points for a one-night stay. However, you will receive the 2,500 bonus event points if you complete the terms on Facebook. If you require a Thursday check-in, your stay must be at least two nights in order to book the discount rate, earn the normal 1,000 bonus points, and earn the 2,500 bonus event points. Got that? :)

All Any Weekend, Anywhere bookings are non-refundable, prepaid rates, and must be booked at least seven days in advance. Existing reservations booked prior to the 24-Hour Bonus Event will not earn the 2,500 bonus event points even if it is booked under the Any Weekend, Anywhere rate.

These offers can be quite lucrative, especially when stacked with the Hilton HHonors More Points promotion I detailed last week and the various bonus airline miles promotions I wrote about on January 9th. Here's an example: for a two-night weekend stay completed before March 31, 2012 at $100 per night (assuming you booked the Any Weekend, Anywhere rate during the 24-hour event period), you would receive 2,000 base spend points, 1,000 bonus points for the Any Weekend, Anywhere promo, 2,500 bonus points for the 24-hour bonus event promo, 5,000 bonus points + 2,000 bonus points for the More Points promo, plus an additional 2x or 3x bonus airline miles (depending on which offer you register for). That's a grand total of 12,500 bonus points for a two-night weekend stay plus additional bonus airline miles! Not bad at all.

Finally, Ric Garrido over at Loyalty Traveler details Club Carlson's Triple Points promotion for Q1 2012. He calls it the best offer so far of 2012, and I'd have to agree... even though I haven't stayed much at Carlson Hotels. Essentially, you will earn 60 Gold Points per dollar spent at all Carlson Hotels worldwide for stays between January 10 and March 16, 2012. It doesn't get much simpler than that (compare this to the Hilton mess above hah)! Register here.

Stackable Airline Miles Promotions For Hilton

A few days ago I posted about the Hilton HHonors More Points promotion, where you can earn 1,000 bonus points for every night you stay between January 1 and March 31, 2012. In addition, you can earn 5,000 bonus points for every weekend stay of two nights or more.

Well, it looks like Hilton has quite a few other offers running concurrently, where you can earn bonus airline miles. Remember, you must have your earning preference set to points and miles (variable or fixed), and you must have the respective airline selected as the earning partner. Your stays must occur between January 1 and March 31, 2012. All of these offers are stackable with the More Points promotion, except for the Lufthansa offer.

• Lufthansa Miles And More: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide
• Delta Skymiles: Earn 2,012 bonus miles on all eligible stays of two nights or more at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide
• American Airlines AAdvantage: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide
• Air Canada Aeroplan: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide
• US Airways Dividend Miles: Earn triple miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide

    
Remember that the Hilton HHonors program offers three methods of earning points/miles you can choose from:

• HHonors Points and HHonors Points: 10 base points + 5 bonus points per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points and Variable Miles: 10 base points + 1 airline mile per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points and Fixed Miles: 10 base points per eligible dollar spent + 500 airline miles per stay (100 miles per stay at Hampton Inns & Suites and Homewood Suites)

      
So for all of the airline bonus miles promotions above, if you select the variable miles option, you will earn two airline miles per eligible dollar spent. If you select the fixed miles option, you will earn 1,000 airline miles per stay (200 miles per stay at Hampton Inns & Suites and Homewood Suites). There is no limit to the amount of bonus miles you can earn on any of the offers above. Remember to double check the participating hotels list before booking your stay (there are many that have opted out)!

Hotel Promotions For Q1 2012

There are a couple of decent hotel promotions running right now for stays through the first quarter of 2012. While not as lucrative as some of the free nights promotions we saw in the past few years, these offers are still relatively worthwhile if you have a couple of stays coming up in the next few months.

• Marriott Rewards is running a MegaMiles promotion right now, where you can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles for stays between January 1 and April 30, 2012. Book your reservation at any of the more than 3,500 participating hotels across all Marriott brands (including Ritz Carlton), and beginning with your second stay, earn 2,000 bonus miles per stay. This is on top of the usual base miles you already earn. Marriott Rewards members must have already chosen miles as their earning option and selected a participating airline prior to registering for this promotion. To maximize your earnings, you should hotel hop whenever there are multiple Marriott brands within one area. Since the bonus is given per stay, the more one-night stays you have, the greater your earnings. With the 50,000 bonus miles limit, you can have a maximum of 26 stays (with 25 of those earning bonus miles) during the promotion period. Register here.

• Hilton HHonors is running a More Points promotion right now, where you can earn 1,000 bonus HHonors points for every night you stay between January 1 and March 31, 2012. Plus, for every weekend stay, you can earn an additional 5,000 bonus points. A "weekend stay" is defined as at least two consecutive nights between Thursday and Sunday. There is no limit to the points you can earn during the promotion period. Click here for a list of non-participating hotels. You will only receive bonus points for the nights completed during the promotion period, so if part of your stay occurs before or after this period, those nights will not earn bonus points. Register here.

Depending on your stay and earning habits, either of these promotions can be rather lucrative. If you have long stays planned for the next few months, the Hilton HHonors More Points promotion would be a great way to earn an unlimited amount of bonus points. For example, a 10-night stay encompassing two weekends would earn 10,000 bonus points for the 10 nights, plus another 10,000 bonus points for the two weekends, resulting in a total of 20,000 bonus points on top of the usual base points earned. 

If you prefer to earn miles or have multiple short stays planned, it would be a better idea to take advantage of the Marriott MegaMiles promotion. This is a great way to earn some extra United Mileage Plus miles since they are one of the participating airlines as well. 

Free Hilton Gold Status With Visa Signature Card

Hilton is offering free gold elite status if you have a Visa Signature card... any Visa Signature card in fact. Just head to this link and enter your credit card number and you should be instantly upgraded to gold status through 8/31/2011. And if you accumulate 3 stays by 8/31/2011, your gold status will be extended until March 2013. The website is apparently a little buggy, so you may need to try signing up a few times before it works.

If you already have gold or diamond status with Hilton, you will receive 5000 points for signing up, even though these terms are not specifically stated on the website (EDIT: this bonus seems to have ended due to some people taking advantage of both offers within minutes of each other). Gold members receive room upgrades based on availability, complimentary breakfast, in addition to bonus points for Hilton stays.