The Importance of Planning a Credit Card Churn -Part One



Today the Internet is filled with outrage over Hilton's tremendous devaluation of their Hilton HHonors program.  Hilton points were already widely considered by many to be among the least valuable of all the hotel points.  I have always taken the stance that on a point per point basis they were worth less, but it has been so easy to earn Hilton points that it was still a valuable program. 

Today that changed .  No longer is the Hilton HHonors program going to be anything worthwhile to me.  As a Hilton Diamond, that is a sad thing to say. They have changed the number of hotel categories from 7 to 10 and they have increased the redemption at the highest category hotels from 50,000 points to as many as 95,000 points.  This essentially cuts in half the value of your points.

There is a grace period until this takes effect at the end of March.  You can still book stays under the old guidelines past that date, but they need to be booked before the deadline.  If you have a stash of Hilton points like I do, I would suggest booking something now.  I was planning on using my points for either the Hilton Bora Bora with its over the water bungalows or Thailand's Koh Samui Resort.  As I have vacations planned for every month this year except August and September, it might be difficult for me to take another 10 days off from patient care.  Those aren't the type of trips I like to do in a long weekend or even a week!

This is the reason it is so important to plan your credit card churns with a destination in mind when you sign up.  I talked about this very topic in one of my first blog posts back in November.  I may get burned on this as my stash of 500,000 Hilton points is going to be worth a lot less if I can't book something prior to the end of March.

Click here to read part two of the series.

About THE POINTS DOCTOR

THE POINTS DOCTOR is Bruce J. Wilderman DDS of Artistic Expressions Dentistry. Dr. Wilderman has a practice limited to Cosmetic Dentistry, serving patients of the Philadelphia Area since 1986. He and wife of 40 years have enjoyed traveling the world in first class since 2012 for little or no money with the points and miles they have earned from the credit card companies. Dr. Wilderman with his 10+ years of experience in the field of miles and points would love to teach you how to do the same. You may reach him at ThePointsDoctor@gmail.com.

Comments

  1. robertw477February 20, 2013 at 4:47 PM

    I just got the Hilton Citi cards last month. Looks like I will book the rooms with the bonus points as fast as I can, hopefully avoiding the price increases. Looks like I stay with SPG (my #1 program) and Hyatt (trying that one this year) I know SPG might be adjusting soon. I hope its not as bad as Hilton.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 12, 2013 at 6:10 AM

    Simply want to say your article is as surprising. The clarity for your publish is just excellent and i could think you’re a professional in this subject. Well together with your permission allow me to snatch your feed to keep up to date with coming near near post. I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate Samui luxury villas? Thank you 1,000,000 and please keep up the rewarding work.
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