Back in December, I wrote about how I was approved for the Hilton Honors Amex Business card (see this post). At the time, I thought I’d use the points for a short trip to a beach resort. However, I’ve decided to be a bit more practical and use the points for next summer’s Europe trip. Because it’s just me and my daughter traveling, it’s easy to find rooms that fit the two of us with standard awards.
3 nights in Amsterdam
We decided to spend 2 nights in Amsterdam before the cruise and one night after the cruise. I’ve had my sights on booking the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station. As its name suggests, it’s right next door to the central train station. Unfortunately, even though our stay is less than a year away, the website kept telling me it was sold out.
When I looked to see what dates were available, I could see that for some reason this particular hotel hadn’t yet opened its calendar for the month we needed. So I checked back almost every day until I found our dates available. I booked two miles for 60,000 points per night. Since I have Gold status, we will get free breakfast.
The cash cost for this 2-night stay is over $500 a night for a total of $1086. If I was paying cash, I wouldn’t pay that much for a hotel and would likely book a hotel that is not so central for a cheaper price.
For our last night in Amsterdam, I decided to book the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol hotel. It has a covered walkway that leads to the airport terminal, which will be handy for us to catch our morning flight. I booked one night for 60,000 points. The cash price was $267.
Total cost in points for 3 nights: 180,000 Hilton Honors points
Total cost if I had to pay cash: $1353
Not bad for a credit card with just a $95 annual fee!
Note: The current welcome bonus on the Hilton Honors Amex Business Card is 130,000 points after spending $3000 in the first three months. Earlier this year, the bonus was 150k points + a free night after spending $4000 in the first 3 months. I don’t know when or if that higher offer will return.
I still need to use points to book one night in Lisbon, a night in Madrid and two nights in Hamburg. I’ll be turning to Hyatt and IHG points for those stays.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
After I retired, I planned a 6 week vacation to Italy. I was Hilton Gold for the year 2014 so knew I needed to use my HH points while I was still Gold. I was also Marriott Platinum (now Titanium) for life, so I wasn’t worried about Marriott status. We spent 25 nights at Hilton properties including Palermo, Sorrento, Milan, Venice, Matera, and others. upgrades everywhere. Wonderful time;
@Gene You had me at 6 weeks in Italy. What a trip! Glad you could make use of your points.
Nice! We just used HH points for three nights at the Waldorf Astoria in Berlin. Had to kick in another @14k from Amex points. Great redemption.
@GW Sounds like a great use of points!
“I checked back almost every day until I found our dates available.” What a pain, but then how satisfying when it pays off and you total your “winnings.”
Good use for sure. That reminds me that I need to figure out a use for my certificates.
@Christian That’s the fun part of this hobby–spending the points/certs!