Hilton announced a bunch of changes to its loyalty program yesterday (here and here are good summaries).

It got me checking out the new program, now called Hilton Honors instead of the old Hilton HHonors with the weird double H.

The simplified program and app design looks good:

It’s probably not related to the changes announced yesterday, but while checking out the app I found one of the first good value award redemptions I’ve ever seen in the Bay Area.

Most people value Hilton Honors points at .4 of a cent, which isn’t very good.

In the Bay Area, all of the chain hotels have insanely high categories due to the scorching hot tech/Silicon Valley market, meaning the simplest of Hampton Inns will often cost you 50K points or more, though the hotel might only cost $150/night in cash.

Anyhow, I found this hotel today:

That’s right, those points are worth more than a penny per point on this category 4 hotel, which is very rare with Hilton.

Two strange things about this rate:

1. The points range is 20k-30k for category 4. This is the only Hilton I can find in the Bay Area that doesn’t charge the maximum for its category.
2. Why does this hotel have such a high cash price? I have no idea. Maybe it’s secretly luxurious.

With Hilton’s 5th award night free option for Silver and up members(there are a couple no-fee cards that offer free Silver status), you could stay in the Bay Area for five nights for only 80K points.

Sure the location isn’t great, but it’s still only a ~10-minute Uber and a ~40-minute train ride to the heart of San Francisco:

That’s also a fairly easy drive if you rent a car, as long as you don’t travel during rush hour.

Though I did just realize that the price finally bumps up for the busy summer months starting in April:

Even at 30k/night it seems to be the cheapest Hilton option within any reasonable proximity to SF.

It may sound crazy to stay that far away for a visit to SF, but considering the crappiest of Airbnbs in this area are expensive anyhow, I’d argue this hotel as a great option for someone wanting to see SF affordably.

While you may have to spend $100 on transportation, you could be saving the $500-$1000 that seems to be a minimum for a decent 5-day stay here.

Check out the cheapest Airbnb options in the area:

Those locations aren’t exactly stellar either.

Thoughts?

Am I a fool for thinking this award redemption is a good deal?