Earlier this year I decided to apply for the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card which offers two free weekend nights after spending $2,500 on the card within the first four months.
One valuable aspect of this card bonus is that the free nights are awarded as two separate free weekend night certificates and can be used at any category 1-10 Hilton property. The select few properties that the certificates cannot be used at can be seen here and include mostly all inclusive and distinctive properties.
With the significant Hilton devaluation last year the free night certificates can go a long way in relation to the price per award night using points. Top-tier category 10 Hilton properties go for 70,000 to 95,000 points per night.
Two things to note from the card terms is that the weekend night certificates expire 12 months after being issued and that your Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card account must be open at the time they are issued. The terms do not state that your card account has to remain open when you use the certificates and as long as they are in your HHonors account you should not have a problem.
The free night certificates can be used at any 1-10 Hilton property! This means that you could get a value close to 190,000 Hilton points from the the two certificates. I have had my eye on the Conrad Koh Samui for awhile now and just made a booking at the hotel for an upcoming weekend stay in August.
The hotel is among the top luxury hotels in the world and it will be more of a destination trip rather than a cultural experience. Finding myself so close to the property with my two certificates set to expire in less than a year it seemed like a great use.
The hotel is rather expensive and runs $500+ per night or 95,000 points per night, both of which I would I would never consider a good value for one night in a hotel. Using the free night certificates I got Citi Hilton Reserve Card however makes perfect sense at a property like this.
To book a night using the certificates all I had to do was call up Hilton HHonors 1-800-446-6677 and within minutes a representative booked the room using my certificate numbers. I received booking confirmation of the 1 Bedroom King Ocean View room for two nights using the certificates, but curious enough the reservation shows the night in points next to the certificate numbers.
Although I found myself redeeming the free nights at a premier Hilton property, the free night certificates from the Citi Hilton Reserve Card can be used at any Hilton property 1-10 category. Some of the most sought after properties include:
- Conrad Hong Kong (category 9)
- Conrad Tokyo (category 10)
- Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri (Category 9)
- London Hilton on Park Lane (Category 9)
- Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa (Category 10)
- Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa (Category 9)
- Hilton Odawara Resort & Spa (category 10)
- Hilton Labriz Resort & Spa (category 10)
- Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa (category 10)
- Grand Wailea Waldorf Astoria Resort (category 10)
- Conrad Pezula (Category 10)
The free weekend night certificates can be used at category 1-10 hotels making it possible to book expensive stays. This makes the Citi Hilton Reserve Card one of the best card for luxury hotel stays. It is also easy to use the free nights by booking stays over the phone and from my experience availability was easy to find.
Stay tuned for a detailed hotel review of the Conrad Koh Samui next month!
Have you stayed at the Conrad Koh Samui? How was it?
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How do you tell what category a hotel is?
How can you tell if there is availability for you to use your reward night certificate? is there an online system I can use to tell if my dates are available?
Sanka, there’s no online search for award nights using free night certificates, but if there is award night availability you should be able to book it over the phone.
So stoked to hear you are staying at this property. Definitely among the top tier Hilton properties in the world. Can’t wait to see the review.
dovertime, the property definitely looks amazing and I’m for sure looking forward to checking it out!