Update: The Virgin bonus ends on 12/29!
Originally posted on 11/27:
Related: Get A 30% Bonus When You Transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points Into British Airways Avios
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Currently through 12/29 you can transfer Membership Rewards points into Virgin Atlantic miles with a 35% bonus, so 1,000 AMEX MR=1,350 Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic miles are subject to insane fuel surcharges and therefore aren’t really worth much to most people, but they can be converted into Hilton points at a 1:2 ratio.
The minimum transfer is 10,000 and transfers higher than that must be done in increments of 5,000.
Bear in mind that between 12/03 and 01/14 you’ll be able to transfer Membership Reward points into British Airways at a 30% bonus. 1.3 BA Avios will likely be more valuable than 2.7 Hilton points for most people. Of course for others 1 Air Canada Aeroplan miles or 1 Singapore mile or 1 Air France Flying Blue mile or 1 Delta mile may be more valuable than 1.3 BA Avios. Which is of course the beauty of a transferable currency with multiple transfer options.
Hilton points aren’t worth much, they’re nothing like other high-value hotel points like Starwood Starpoints or Hyatt points. But they’re worth something, perhaps about a quarter of a Starpoint or a third of a Hyatt point.
There are currently 2 Hilton properties in Israel, the Hilton Eilat Queen of Sheba hotel in Eilat and the Hilton Tel Aviv.
The Eilat Hilton costs 40,000 points per night and the Tel Aviv Hilton costs 50,000 points per night. If you have a Hilton card which gives automatic Silver Elite status or automatic Gold elite status (which can in turn be matched to the awesome Hyatt Diamond status mind you) then you also get 15% off 4 night awards stays, 20% off 5 night award stays, and 25% off 6+ night award stays. Thus a 6 night stay at a top-tier category 7 Hilton would cost just 37,500 points per night with the 25% off instead of 50,000 points per night.
The Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem is slated to open in August of 2013 and is slated to be one of the finest hotel in the entire country. Waldorf hotels are priced above all 7 Hilton categories and cost between 50K-70K per night in low season and between 60K-80K per night in high season. And they do receive the same 15%-25% point discount if you are elite. A Waldorf Astoria Tel Aviv is also in the works.
At any rate, say that you value Membership Rewards (MR) points at 1.6 cents each.
-If you transfer 15K MR you will receive 20,250 Virgin, which you can transfer into 40K HH. That’s like getting Hilton points at 0.6 cents each.
-If you transfer 26K MR you will receive 35,100 Virgin, which you can transfer into 70K HH. That’s like getting Hilton points at 0.5943 cents each.
-If you transfer 52K MR you will receive 70,200 Virgin, which you can transfer into 140K HH. That’s like getting Hilton points at 0.5943 cents each.
-If you transfer 63K MR you will receive 85,050 Virgin, which you can transfer into 170K HH. That’s like getting Hilton points at 0.5929 cents each.
-If you transfer 100K MR you will receive 135,000 Virgin, which you can transfer into 270K HH. That’s like getting Hilton points at 0.5926 cents each.
If you value MR points at more or less than 1.6 cents each you’ll have to rerun the numbers to see what you would be “paying” for the Hilton points.
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Need some Membership Rewards points? You can always call American Express to borrow some.
-The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card comes with 25,000 points for spending $2,000 and the first year is free. That will net you some 70,000 Hilton points.
–The Platinum Card® from American Express earns 25K points as well and now is a great time to signup as you can get $200 of airline fee credits (or airline gift cards in $100 increments) in December of 2012 and another $200 in January of 2013.
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31 Comments On "Transfer Membership Rewards Into 2.7 Hilton Points."
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Great post! I’m getting dizzy just looking at all those numbers!
Waldorf Astoria is part of the Hilton family?
your amex gold link isnt working for me
@hunch:
Yes.
@chaim:
You need to use another browser or go incognito, see here for instructions:
http://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards
If I apply now for the platinum could I get 200*2 for airlines and then cancel to get back the annual fee?
@love this blog:
I wrote your options in the post.
If my MR goal is to get good airline rates (PIT/JFK > TLV),
then are we better off saving the MR for the 30% Avios bonus next month?
Or doing this Virgin?
(Approx. 120,000 MR for the Avios 30% bonus —
We are planning 2 one way tickets back to Sem after Pesach
— one for her and one for a friend)
@Chani S.:
Probably neither. Your best MR bet is find Delta availability and transferring to Flying Blue.
Or finding United or USAir availability and transferring to Air Canada.
Virgin is not good for flying due to fuel surcharges and BA Avios to Israel means fuel surcharges unless you can find Air Berlin or Iberia award flight availability.
You would do better with SPG or Ultimate Rewards to Israel.
I see….
Thanks — We just received the 75,000 MR business bonus today, so we were excited!
(the BA points and Air Berlin/Iberia is what we’ve been aiming for!)
I guess we’ll have to build up our UR and SPG accounts now before March/Apr….
OT, but does MR transfer to AC?
@hunch:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/20144
“Airline gift cards in $100 increments” Dan, Are you sure about this? as it does not state that on their website.
I thought in the post about the Amex rewards business card you said 50k points is more than enoughto fly round trip tlv-jfk?
If i applied last year for the platinum and canceled it this January and I got the 200dollars airlines credit for 2012 can I apply again now and get 200 for 2012 and 200 for2013??
Thanks
@sam:
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=3802
@mrs.:
You can, that’s what I said in comment 7.
@Mme:
Yes.
i just called amex to transfer my points to hilton and its not working,maybe i am doing soomething wrong
guide me please
mayer
@sam: Nope. Dan gets a kick outta making stuff up once in a while, just to mess with your head.
@mayer – this link may help you http://bit.ly/11f4vqa
is there any mr to ba bonus coming up thats better than 30%?
@steven:
Not in the near term, but it’s definitely possible that a better bonus will return.
Dan, is there any place to transfer Delta points to make a use out of it?
I just got 100,000 AMEX if I transfer it to Hilton how much will I get?
Should i apply for a amex SPG or MR if i want to use it for flying?
GREAT SITE , GREAT OFFER
Has anyone done a MR to Virgin to Hilton? That should get you an initial 35% bonus, follwed by a 50% bonus.
@ Dan
when i apply for chase checking account is it the same as i apply for a credit card?
will it pull my credit score..??
@ Dan please email me @ 8505000@gmail.com
thanks!
Hi-
I upgraded a business AMEX Gold to platinum for 25,000 points & then a few months later when the $450 fee was coming I downgraded to Green for $95 fee.
Now I see an offer again for 25,000 points to upgrade to platinum but the fine print says only first time upgrades.
Do you think if I go through the offer link I will get the points?
is this virgin elevate?
For every 1000 amex points transferred to hilton you get 2000 hilton points, i just transferred 40,000 amex and got 80,000 hilton .
since the questions here don’t seem to be related to the topic I have some question as well- Dan pls email me asap I’m looking to buy a house, and a new phone, and a couch. I didn’t read this post but I’m sure this is the place to ask any questions….
hi. welcome back from vacation. i am looking into closing my united card and am trying to figure out if i should do three business cards or three consumer cards in one pull. the question is do i have to actually sell something on ebay or amazon or is the desire to do so enough. i actually opened a business card without doing anything along the business lines. can they ask me to send in any proof. thanks