Hilton Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

A Look Back At Our Hotel Stays Of 2018

Here we are, at the end of 2018. When looking back at our hotel stays from the past year, I get a sense of how we traveled and how it compared to previous years. I make travel decisions based on how I think we travel but if those trends are changing, I’ll need to adapt the methods I use when looking at the best way to maximize our points usage and out of pocket spending. When I look back at 2018, I’m really happy how everything turned out. Going into the year, due to some work changes, I knew that saving cash on hotel stays would be a priority. I never really focused on earning hotel points before but I’m a quick study and I set a goal to not pay for a hotel room if I could help it.

I did really good in achieving my goal. We stayed in hotels for 37 nights and only paid $1000. When I paid cash for a room there was a specific reason I did so. The rest of our hotel stays were paid for by points or free nights earned by having certain hotel credit cards. Here’s a breakdown of our stays for the year:

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Marriott vs. Hilton: This Is One Less Thing I Need To Worry About

I spend a fair amount of time each week reading various websites. I scan through reviews of hotels and airlines that I’ll never fly on and credit cards I’ll never apply for. I see information about how to earn bonus points by purchasing something I don’t need from a place I can’t shop (because that store isn’t around where I live). That part only takes up a small bit of my time, as I’ve gotten better at ignoring things that don’t apply to me. I’ll read articles about special offers, way to save money when booking travel and how to best use my miles and points. I’ll also save posts that sound interesting and hold them for later. That’s where I find many of the things I put in the Posts We Like article each weekend.

It’s not unusual to see many different websites all writing about a big story but this week I found articles from several websites all writing about each other’s articles.

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Sign Up Now To Earn Bonus Hilton Points

There have been ongoing promotions for bonus Hilton Honors points for stays at their hotels for at least the last two years or so. The current promotion, which was offering double points on all stays and triple points on resort stays, is still running through January 3, 2019. It was about time that Hilton announced their new promotion if they were planning on having one.

Wouldn’t you know, I just received this in my email:

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What’s That Hotel Being Built At The Edge of Walt Disney World Property?

When we drive to Disney World from our house, once I set in my brain where we’re going, I’m usually on autopilot. I’m looking out for drivers who don’t know where they’re going and staying alert for new road patterns because of the seemingly endless construction going on with Disney’s roadways. On my most recent drive, I couldn’t help but notice the massive building that, to me, seemingly just sprung out of nowhere.

Entering Disney World property on Epcot Center Drive, when you cross I-4, there is now a large building on the left side. I was trying to place where exactly this was on my mental map but I just couldn’t figure it out. What is this building going to be and how would you get there?

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How Do You Rebuild A Hotel Around A Historic Landmark?

New York City, and specifically the Manhattan/Times Square area, is the place we visit more often than anywhere else. We have a list of hotels where we like to stay and will choose from those, depending on the reason for our stay. There are the hotels good for a quick weekend of seeing shows. Other hotels are better for longer stays because they have larger rooms and are less expensive, even if they’re a bit further away from the theater district.

We have one hotel we save for a particular type of stay; one where we’re traveling with friends and are willing to split a room to save some money. At this hotel, every room is a two room suite with a main bedroom and and a large sofa bed in the living room. I was sad when I read this hotel is set to close as part of a massive redevelopment project.

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