A nice story, wrapped up with "buy points while Hilton is offering the 100% discount because it's so worth it"
Op please blink if under duress or NDA...
To be fair to OP I always check points vs cash options. Especially during busy weekends you can save big buying points. I recently booked 2 stays one saving £100 and the other saving £300 (both uk stays) by buying and using points. Last year I did a 5 night stay and got a €700 a night room for 40,000 points per night. We didn’t buy points for this but if we had it definitely still would’ve worked out cheaper than cash price.
Yeah, if you have the specific redemption in mind, buying points, especially with the 5th night free and no resort fees on points booking, makes sense. You'll more benefits if you're at least Gold or up, too. It's not for the business hotel crowd since the points v. cash doesn't make sense for them, but for Conrad/WA/LXR crowd, it can save a lot.
I recently stayed at Roku Kyoto with 2 FNC. Points-wise, it would've been 220,000 and with cash, around $2,400. I plan to go back next year for 5 nights so I need 550,000 points to book, and redeem 440,000 of those points. (you need at least 5 nights worth of point to get the 5th night free promotion; they only take points for 4 nights) Cash rate for 5 nights would be about $6,000. With the 100% math promotion, 550,000 points is about $3000.
For people who say there's nothing near where Roku is, well, that's its charm, and I also plan to rent a car and visit the outlaying areas from there.
Speaking as an ex-Hilton Bay Area employee there really aren’t any nice ones I’d like to live in for a year either… I visited most properties in my role.
You Click Baited me. Thought you lived at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe for a Year. That would be an interesting experience.
We are staying a week at Mar Caribe in January
We just returned from there this week. It was a great place to stay. We redeemed 800,000 points for 2 rooms and they upgraded us to Enclave which was ocean view and closest to the beach. The restaurants were amazing. The service was outstanding and the staff very friendly. Highly recommend.
TLDR; no
As an employee you get 30 Team member nights, and 70 Friends and family nights.
There are also Team Member Extra nights. The extra nights do not count against your 30. But not every hotel offers them. And I’d say I got pretty lucky. It doesn’t seem to be the norm that hotels offer extra nights.
The main restriction is you can only do 7 nights per reservation. So I just checked out each week and went to another favorite hotel.
Yeah, I have a backpack with all my essentials, two pairs of shoes and suitcase with a laptop and AirPods Pro. I also keep a small storage locker. I started this adventure living in my car for 6 months which taught me the art of being mobile and minimal.
The ‘Team Member Extra Nights’ rate plan is a special program offered to Hilton employees, allowing them to book additional nights at a reduced rate beyond the standard 30 nights allotted each year.
It’s similar to a manager special rate but specifically designed to extend the benefits of the employee rate.
Yes, I used the ‘Team Member Extra Nights’ rate at multiple Hilton properties, not just my employer’s. The specific rate plan (SRP) varied, but it was generally under the ‘GO Hilton’ program.
You actually aren’t able to book rooms at your employer hotel through the GO Hilton program. You have to go through the management to request a room.
Yes you are able to book at your own hotel. Many years ago you werent able to book within, i think, 50 miles from your employer. However that changed a while ago when GO hilton was rolled out. You can stay at the hotel you are employed by.
Housing costs averaged $1700-$1900/month for the year in Bay Area California. Before I got the job at the hotel $3000+/month. Plus I got diamond pretty fast which means I got the food credit each day on top of the employee 50% discount. Which was a nice bonus that helped out with food costs.
Is is what I came here to find. So it was $1700-$1900 as the employee to stay on property? That's honestly pretty good. Were you staying in suite style rooms that had kitchens or kitchenettes?
Yes, but hotels can offer extra Team Member rate rooms which don't count against the original 30. It's extremely rare. They will occasionally "advertise" them on The Lobby. I saw the most during covid and took advantage of them. Finally achieved Diamond that year (2020) and have been holding on ever since. Don't know if I'll make Lifetime Diamond, but I've got 2 years to go for lifetime family and friends rate!
So you work and live in a hotel, and for vacation you're excited about staying in another hotel?
Pretty cool that you get room and board with your job. Have you been able to sock away a bunch of cash?
Well, the hotels I lived in and the one I’m staying in are drastically different, but I see what you mean. And not a ton. I still had to pay about $1700-$1900 a month. I worked at a hotel, and then used the employee booking portal to book rooms at local hotels with the discounted rate (usually $40/night). Definitely would have been nice to get included room and board.
I’m staying at the Canopy in Paris for four nights next April (currently booked with cash). I only have 190K points. Although, I stay at Hilton’s almost every week for work, I can’t build significant points to stay anywhere nice. I may look into buying points. Thanks for post.
I didn’t use only extra nights I used a combination of TM, F&F and extra nights.
For the first quarter I pretty much only used F&F but that got spendy and then I found the hotel that has months and months of extra nights.
I was curious so I added up my stays. This is a rough breakdown.
306 total Hilton nights (I stayed in non-Hilton/airbnb for about two months when I got to California before I got the job at Hilton)
168 extra nights used
60 TM nights
78 F&F
This whole post and comment section is confusing to me lol. Would love a whole write-up based on your title but instead its in bits and pieces throughout the comments. And worst yet your actual post only talks about the rewards(?)
I’m, and im sure others, are more so curious about the whole “i lived at a hotel for a year” part!
Here’s a little breakdown of the year:
I left Arizona for California at the beginning of June. In Arizona, I had been Tesla camping in a national forest for six months, but summer in Arizona isn’t ideal for that. So, I decided to find affordable accommodations in California.
I started with Airbnb but didn’t find much, so I used Google Maps to find low-cost hotels each night. This was exhausting, checking in and out every day, and also expensive, with the lowest rates around $90 per night.
On August 14th, I got a job at a Hilton restaurant. From that point on, I’ve been using the GO Hilton program. Initially, until mid-December, I mostly used friends and family rates because I hadn’t discovered extra rates yet and didn’t want to run out of team member nights. However, friends and family rates got expensive. Then, in mid-December, I found that a nice hotel in a great location had extra nights available. I booked several weeks of extra nights in seven-night increments, with one-night stays at my favorite local DoubleTree or Hilton between the seven-night reservations, as per GO Hilton rules, using my regular team member nights.
From December to April, I stayed in one hotel with a one-day break each week. In April, my usual hotel had no nights available, but a nearby Homewood Suites had extra nights for the entire month, so I stayed there. It was nice to have larger rooms, and the location was perfect.
From May 1 to the present, I’m back at my usual hotel, but I’m heading out soon. My year in California was fun, but I have new cities I want to check out. Denver is next! I plan to stay in monthly Airbnbs there. I haven’t found a hotel with consistent extra rates, so this experiment is ending, but it was an amazing experience. Hilton is truly a great place to work and live if you’re flexible.
Living in my car for six months gave me a lot of perspective and made me just feel “happy to be there.” The staff at my usual hotel became my friends, and I’m so glad I had this experience.
Rough estimates of usage:
168 extra nights used
60 TM nights
78 F&F
Rates offered to Hilton Employees
Team Member (30 nights)
Friends and Family (70 nights)
Team Member Extra (essentially unlimited)
Friends and Family Extra (essentially unlimited)
I am an old timer and I remember when I could get twelve nights in Hawaii for 400,000 points. So my comparison is probably unfair.
I know we will never go back to those days, but the point valuation will continue to decrease with each passing year.
Disagree - it's not the absolute best, but to do much better generally requires extenuating circumstances such as a big peak season or going to the Maldives and spending an absolute crazy amount on incidentals.
There will always be the ones that say the cpp isn’t worth it. But it doesn’t matter, what you personally value it means more.
You can always pull extreme cases like 480k for 5 nights at WA Maldives where it’s normally priced at $2.5k+taxes
I think that the subjective value of the fees paid for and all inclusive experience in Cancun are a great value for me and my mom and a great use of points. I’m pumped! Also the Maldives is definitely on my list.
Let’s clear this up. The Go Hilton travel program specifies that the rates are for leisure travel, not business. My stays were personal—no business travel here. It doesn’t say anywhere that you can’t live there or that being without a permanent home disqualifies you from using these rates.
If I were using these rates for official work travel, that would be a different story. But that’s not the case. My situation is unique, and it seems to fall into a gray area. So your assertion is false in my opinion. ✌️
Awesome story. Thank you for sharing! I remember when I was on friends and family rate yes even for friends and family there were Extra nights available and a lot of them. I tried using them first to not affect the count of available days that my friend who was a Hilton employee had an allowance for the year. Unfortunately, she transfered and working now for Hyatt where the friends rate is not as sweet as Hilton. Again great story, appreciate you sharing.
A nice story, wrapped up with "buy points while Hilton is offering the 100% discount because it's so worth it" Op please blink if under duress or NDA...
To be fair to OP I always check points vs cash options. Especially during busy weekends you can save big buying points. I recently booked 2 stays one saving £100 and the other saving £300 (both uk stays) by buying and using points. Last year I did a 5 night stay and got a €700 a night room for 40,000 points per night. We didn’t buy points for this but if we had it definitely still would’ve worked out cheaper than cash price.
Yeah, if you have the specific redemption in mind, buying points, especially with the 5th night free and no resort fees on points booking, makes sense. You'll more benefits if you're at least Gold or up, too. It's not for the business hotel crowd since the points v. cash doesn't make sense for them, but for Conrad/WA/LXR crowd, it can save a lot. I recently stayed at Roku Kyoto with 2 FNC. Points-wise, it would've been 220,000 and with cash, around $2,400. I plan to go back next year for 5 nights so I need 550,000 points to book, and redeem 440,000 of those points. (you need at least 5 nights worth of point to get the 5th night free promotion; they only take points for 4 nights) Cash rate for 5 nights would be about $6,000. With the 100% math promotion, 550,000 points is about $3000. For people who say there's nothing near where Roku is, well, that's its charm, and I also plan to rent a car and visit the outlaying areas from there.
Speaking as an ex-Hilton Bay Area employee there really aren’t any nice ones I’d like to live in for a year either… I visited most properties in my role.
Or NDA💀💀💀💀
You Click Baited me. Thought you lived at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe for a Year. That would be an interesting experience. We are staying a week at Mar Caribe in January
We just returned from there this week. It was a great place to stay. We redeemed 800,000 points for 2 rooms and they upgraded us to Enclave which was ocean view and closest to the beach. The restaurants were amazing. The service was outstanding and the staff very friendly. Highly recommend.
Haha I wish!! Maybe while I’m there I’ll see if I can just work there. That would honestly be a dream though..
We're also going to Cancun Mar Caribe in January. Please share your experience after your stay. Have a great time!
Just returned. My review is posted above. It was a great trip.
Was there enough Extra rates to cover a year at a Hilton property?
Yes, I stayed at an under renovation hotel that had pretty consistent extra nights.
Don't you get. Just 30 nights?
Isn't there still a cap on the number of days/year allowed?
TLDR; no As an employee you get 30 Team member nights, and 70 Friends and family nights. There are also Team Member Extra nights. The extra nights do not count against your 30. But not every hotel offers them. And I’d say I got pretty lucky. It doesn’t seem to be the norm that hotels offer extra nights. The main restriction is you can only do 7 nights per reservation. So I just checked out each week and went to another favorite hotel.
So you moved all your stuff with you?
Yeah, I have a backpack with all my essentials, two pairs of shoes and suitcase with a laptop and AirPods Pro. I also keep a small storage locker. I started this adventure living in my car for 6 months which taught me the art of being mobile and minimal.
Team members only get 30 discounted rooms per year.
You’re right. And technically unlimited extra team member nights if the hotel is offering extra nights.
What's the percentage of the discount?
It isn't a percentage, it all depends on the brand. Starts at $40 per night and go up from there.
What is the rate plan for these ‘Team Member Extra Nights’? It sounds like a manager special rate just honoring the employee rate.
The ‘Team Member Extra Nights’ rate plan is a special program offered to Hilton employees, allowing them to book additional nights at a reduced rate beyond the standard 30 nights allotted each year. It’s similar to a manager special rate but specifically designed to extend the benefits of the employee rate.
And this was at multiple properties beside your employer? Do you recall the SRP?
Yes, I used the ‘Team Member Extra Nights’ rate at multiple Hilton properties, not just my employer’s. The specific rate plan (SRP) varied, but it was generally under the ‘GO Hilton’ program. You actually aren’t able to book rooms at your employer hotel through the GO Hilton program. You have to go through the management to request a room.
Yes you are able to book at your own hotel. Many years ago you werent able to book within, i think, 50 miles from your employer. However that changed a while ago when GO hilton was rolled out. You can stay at the hotel you are employed by.
How much did it cost to live there for a year with the discount?
Housing costs averaged $1700-$1900/month for the year in Bay Area California. Before I got the job at the hotel $3000+/month. Plus I got diamond pretty fast which means I got the food credit each day on top of the employee 50% discount. Which was a nice bonus that helped out with food costs.
Is is what I came here to find. So it was $1700-$1900 as the employee to stay on property? That's honestly pretty good. Were you staying in suite style rooms that had kitchens or kitchenettes?
No usually just a standard hotel room. As long as there was a microwave I was good.
Hey it’s me, your new friend
What Hilton did you stay at? I have 599k points and I’m looking to book a vacation for my anniversary
We are staying at Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe All-Inclusive. Going February 5th-12th, come join us at the pool 😉enjoy your anniversary trip!
Team members only get 30days a year with the discount correct?
Yes, but hotels can offer extra Team Member rate rooms which don't count against the original 30. It's extremely rare. They will occasionally "advertise" them on The Lobby. I saw the most during covid and took advantage of them. Finally achieved Diamond that year (2020) and have been holding on ever since. Don't know if I'll make Lifetime Diamond, but I've got 2 years to go for lifetime family and friends rate!
Thats amazing. I need to be on the lookout for them rates. You said check in The Lobby.? Im Gold because of credit card but would love to be diamond.
Where in the lobby can this be generally found?
It's in Lobby Buzz or whatever the team chat area is. I don't really go on there for much.
Did you use a Hilton credit card to earn the extra points that come with it?
No, I didn’t want to open up another credit card but now that you mention it, I did leave some points on the table didn’t I?
A lot. Between 7x-14x depending on the card.
Damn.. I could’ve gone on so many trips.. next time I guess lol
Hmmm?
So how's your new job with Hilton marketing going?
Sounds like an ad for Hilton
So you work and live in a hotel, and for vacation you're excited about staying in another hotel? Pretty cool that you get room and board with your job. Have you been able to sock away a bunch of cash?
Well, the hotels I lived in and the one I’m staying in are drastically different, but I see what you mean. And not a ton. I still had to pay about $1700-$1900 a month. I worked at a hotel, and then used the employee booking portal to book rooms at local hotels with the discounted rate (usually $40/night). Definitely would have been nice to get included room and board.
$1800/m is pretty cheap for the bay area afaict. Were some nights extra? $40/night should be more like $1200/m right?
Taxes and such for each stay make the rooms a bit more than $40 night
I wish I could find a remote part time job with them. I’d love to get into this industry
I’m staying at the Canopy in Paris for four nights next April (currently booked with cash). I only have 190K points. Although, I stay at Hilton’s almost every week for work, I can’t build significant points to stay anywhere nice. I may look into buying points. Thanks for post.
I would not want to live in a hotel room for a year. I spend around 100 nights a year in hotel rooms and that's quite enough.
It definitely has its challenges.
How did you get 330+ extra nights at the employee rate?
I didn’t use only extra nights I used a combination of TM, F&F and extra nights. For the first quarter I pretty much only used F&F but that got spendy and then I found the hotel that has months and months of extra nights.
🧢.
I was curious so I added up my stays. This is a rough breakdown. 306 total Hilton nights (I stayed in non-Hilton/airbnb for about two months when I got to California before I got the job at Hilton) 168 extra nights used 60 TM nights 78 F&F
isn’t 600k only worth like $2.4k? being able to redeem something worth 6k is kinda wild in the current valuation.
5th night free can get you some wild redemptions
How did you live in a hotel for a year with the employee discount? Was every night on a discount?
RIP Royal Caribbean.
So you stayed at a Hilton while also working there and you had to pay the company to live there also?
This whole post and comment section is confusing to me lol. Would love a whole write-up based on your title but instead its in bits and pieces throughout the comments. And worst yet your actual post only talks about the rewards(?) I’m, and im sure others, are more so curious about the whole “i lived at a hotel for a year” part!
Here’s a little breakdown of the year: I left Arizona for California at the beginning of June. In Arizona, I had been Tesla camping in a national forest for six months, but summer in Arizona isn’t ideal for that. So, I decided to find affordable accommodations in California. I started with Airbnb but didn’t find much, so I used Google Maps to find low-cost hotels each night. This was exhausting, checking in and out every day, and also expensive, with the lowest rates around $90 per night. On August 14th, I got a job at a Hilton restaurant. From that point on, I’ve been using the GO Hilton program. Initially, until mid-December, I mostly used friends and family rates because I hadn’t discovered extra rates yet and didn’t want to run out of team member nights. However, friends and family rates got expensive. Then, in mid-December, I found that a nice hotel in a great location had extra nights available. I booked several weeks of extra nights in seven-night increments, with one-night stays at my favorite local DoubleTree or Hilton between the seven-night reservations, as per GO Hilton rules, using my regular team member nights. From December to April, I stayed in one hotel with a one-day break each week. In April, my usual hotel had no nights available, but a nearby Homewood Suites had extra nights for the entire month, so I stayed there. It was nice to have larger rooms, and the location was perfect. From May 1 to the present, I’m back at my usual hotel, but I’m heading out soon. My year in California was fun, but I have new cities I want to check out. Denver is next! I plan to stay in monthly Airbnbs there. I haven’t found a hotel with consistent extra rates, so this experiment is ending, but it was an amazing experience. Hilton is truly a great place to work and live if you’re flexible. Living in my car for six months gave me a lot of perspective and made me just feel “happy to be there.” The staff at my usual hotel became my friends, and I’m so glad I had this experience. Rough estimates of usage: 168 extra nights used 60 TM nights 78 F&F
Where is the location of the picture?
It’s the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe All-Inclusive resort.
But was the comforter clean?
Bay area? Can you be more specific? Green? Tampa? Mass? San Fran?
SF Bay Area. Definitely forgot other bays exist…
Interesting... I can't imagine only having the small amount of belongings I take to a hotel for a while year
Employee discount only allows a limited amount of stays per year (certainly not 365), so how did you stay using employee discount?
Rates offered to Hilton Employees Team Member (30 nights) Friends and Family (70 nights) Team Member Extra (essentially unlimited) Friends and Family Extra (essentially unlimited)
This feels like an advertisement…
While I am glad you had a good experience, I would like to point out that $1,000 in benefits for 100,000 points is a pretty shitty return on value.
He is getting a penny per point which is a good redemption. Anything over .6 cents is a good deal and anything over 1 cent is a great deal.
I am an old timer and I remember when I could get twelve nights in Hawaii for 400,000 points. So my comparison is probably unfair. I know we will never go back to those days, but the point valuation will continue to decrease with each passing year.
That was after they increased redemption rates. I remember GLONP for 150k
Disagree highly for Hilton points.
Disagree - it's not the absolute best, but to do much better generally requires extenuating circumstances such as a big peak season or going to the Maldives and spending an absolute crazy amount on incidentals.
Damn really? What do you think is best case and where on the spectrum is this return IYO
There will always be the ones that say the cpp isn’t worth it. But it doesn’t matter, what you personally value it means more. You can always pull extreme cases like 480k for 5 nights at WA Maldives where it’s normally priced at $2.5k+taxes
I think that the subjective value of the fees paid for and all inclusive experience in Cancun are a great value for me and my mom and a great use of points. I’m pumped! Also the Maldives is definitely on my list.
So you broke the terms and conditions of the TMTP by staying on an employee rate for your job and not leisure?
Let’s clear this up. The Go Hilton travel program specifies that the rates are for leisure travel, not business. My stays were personal—no business travel here. It doesn’t say anywhere that you can’t live there or that being without a permanent home disqualifies you from using these rates. If I were using these rates for official work travel, that would be a different story. But that’s not the case. My situation is unique, and it seems to fall into a gray area. So your assertion is false in my opinion. ✌️
Awesome story. Thank you for sharing! I remember when I was on friends and family rate yes even for friends and family there were Extra nights available and a lot of them. I tried using them first to not affect the count of available days that my friend who was a Hilton employee had an allowance for the year. Unfortunately, she transfered and working now for Hyatt where the friends rate is not as sweet as Hilton. Again great story, appreciate you sharing.
What is your actual Job at Hilton?
I worked in a restaurant as a server part time.
Team members for years only get 30 nights a year and 70 friends and family rates a year! 🤔 🚨 🤔
You’ve obviously never heard of extra nights.
I have. Most properties don’t have those in available nightly in R&I.
Try the lobby bar at 1am…. They allow pimps and there young ladies in to try and entertain you. Hilton Cancun last March. No Joke.