Get a Discount and a Bonus for Hilton Weekend Stays

After an unprecedented stretch of back-to-back loyalty promotions, there was some question as to the major hotel chains’ interest in continuing the bonuses and free-night offers into the new year.

It’s still too soon to tell how frequent, and how generous, next year’s hotel offers will be. But encouragingly, Hilton’s just-announced Any Weekend, Anywhere promotion will be in effect throughout 2011, albeit only for weekend stays.

Offer Details

Hilton HHonors members can earn double base points and save between 20 and 50 percent on weekend stays booked and paid for by January 31, 2011, and completed between December 17, 2010, and December 31, 2011.

According to Hilton, the bonus and discount are available for stays at “any hotel within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.”

The discounts vary by region and by brand, as follows:

• Hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are offering up to a 50 percent discount.
• Hotels in the Asia Pacific region are offering up to a 25 percent discount.
• In North and South America, Doubletree hotels are offering a 30 percent discount; Conrad, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Waldorf Astoria, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Home2 Suites, and Homewood Suites are offering a 20 percent discount.

Qualifying stays must be booked at least seven days in advance, and full non-refundable prepayment is required at time of booking.

Deal or No Deal

On the plus side, the combination of double points and a discount can make for solid value.

The negative is the non-refundable prepayment. If your plans change and you can’t use the room on the originally booked dates, there’s no recovering your money. That’s not likely to be an issue if you’re booking a stay next week, or even next month. But the further in the future you book your stay, the more risk there is that your plans will be derailed.

Reader Reality Check

How far in advance are you comfortable committing to a stay when the payment is non-refundable?

Have you ever forfeited your non-refundable hotel prepayment because you weren’t able to make a planned stay?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.