I recently decided to check out Hilton Honors Program. They started bugging me to join the first time I stayed at one of their hotels, the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I ignored them because I had been there on a convention, so I got a discount rate and figured that a discount rate wouldn't be eligible for the program.

I had stayed in the HHV in 2011 and 2012 and stayed in the Dresden Hilton this spring, so I decided I might as well investigate the program. It turned out that my two stays at HHV were eligible, but the stay at the Dresden Hilton wasn't because I had booked the stay through Expedia. Who knew?

I decided that I'd be sure to book through the hotel or through Hilton Reservations if I ever stay there in the future, which I may do next year, since I checked out the cost for the Innsbruck Hilton, and it's only 104 euros per night at the time I want to stay.

good point, peg.

we booked a night at the Hilton at LHR last year and got bombarded for a while, but then they gave up.

I'll remember that if we want to take up this programme, we have to book direct.

I'm not a fan of the Hilton program. Their points expire unless you keep the account active. They don't let you transfer to a spouse upon death like other programs do.

All of the programs (airlines/hotels) run deals or offer a lot of points to get their credit cards (I've seen 50,000 to 70,000 points offered by Hilton credit cards in the past). The best place to keep up on deals/changes is on the Flyertalk Miles and Points forums.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-points-1/

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors-417/

I've belonged to HH for about 6-7 years, including some years as their diamond person.

I joined because I had some longer stays and was looking for a place that had a free breakfast. I mostly have stayed in Homewood Suites, but have hit all their hotels.

Earlier this year they degraded their rewards program (again). I've yet to use the 130k I've accumulated.

I had a hotel in Dublin, but had to cancel due to deaths of my inlaws.

My wife's program, Starwood, seems to get free room status faster than HH.

You do earn points faster if you have an HH credit card, book your stays through the HH website and use their credit card to pay for your stay. We're using points for our Berlin/Dresden trip this spring.

All of the hotel programs devaluate their programs each year by raising the number of points needed for a category and/or moving properties up a category or two. Rarely, do they move a property down a category.

I take quick surveys on Emile's and e-rewards to keep my Hilton account active. And, occasionally use my HH credit card.

>>>My wife's program, Starwood, seems to get free room status faster than HH.<<<

I haven't been in Starwood's program, but that seems to be the favorite of people on Flyertalk. I've had Hilton, Marriott and Priority (Holiday Inn/Intercontinental/Crowne Plaza, etc.). Marriott and Priority don't expire and you don't have to worry about keeping activity account going if you haven't used them recently.

All of them have shopping portals where you can purchase from many stores and earn points. You have to click through their websites to shop. If you are ordering something online anyway, might as well earn some points for it.

I belong to every reward program possible, my work has involved lots of travel and I worked every angle. I've had 21 trips to Europe on Aeroplan Miles, I've been diligent about collecting every benefit legally available through hotel and car rental programs and using them before they expire. I'm just retiring now and will enjoy the next few years of using up the points i have accumulated - you know the rules when you join so if you're a savvy traveller you won't let them expire. That said, if you travel for work then you are ignoring a huge personal travel benefit if you don't sign up for every hotel reward program.

I join every single reward program. I find the points easy to use to book hotel rooms vs. the airlines. I join loyalty programs in hotels I probably won't return to in foreign countries as you get perks. I got fantastic upgrades by doing that in Vietnam and Bangkok, upgrades to concierge floor etc just for signng up online.

At the very least, Pegontheroad, just join HHs to direct the points to your favorite airline miles program. That's actually what I do with most of the programs I belong to.

Alessandra: I didn't know I could direct the points to my airline miles program. I'll do that.