Another Hilton HHonors Devaluation

Loyalty-program devaluations take many forms. Sometimes it’s an increase in award prices, which dilutes the value of earned points. Sometimes it’s a decrease in earning rates, which translates into fewer banked points and awards. Sometimes it’s a loss of program partners, which results in fewer opportunities to earn and redeem points. And so on.

In the case of Hilton’s latest program change, the devaluation takes the form of eliminating one of the three points-earning options. According to Hilton’s website: “Starting January 6, 2014, Hilton HHonors will have two Earning Style Options: Points & Points or Points & Miles. At this time, the Points & Fixed Miles option will be discontinued.”

The discontinued earning option, Points & Fixed Miles, awarded HHonors members with 10 HHonors points per hotel dollar spent, plus 500 airline miles per stay.

Program members who are currently enrolled in Points & Fixed Miles will be automatically switched to Points & Miles (10 HHonors points per dollar, plus one airline mile per dollar) if they don’t change their preferences by the cut-off date. The other option is Points & Points, which awards 10 HHonors points per dollar, plus five bonus points per dollar.

For shorter stays, Points & Fixed Miles is by far the best option for travelers who want to earn both HHonors points and airline miles for their stays. It will be sorely missed by many HHonors members.

This change follows Hilton’s major devaluation in March, with the introduction of a new award chart that resulted in higher prices for many award stays.

Reader Reality Check

How does this latest change affect your loyalty to Hilton?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.

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