Hilton with Points-Blackout dates?

[samsonjs]

I don't have Hilton points but I was looking to see what the reward points would give me if I got a card with 150k points. I'm looking at Hilton Lake Buena Vista but it is saying there are no points availability stays but I can book with cash.

Is that normal? How can they have no availability through March 2020. I change the amount of days, tried different months, days of the week.

Has anyone stayed at Hilton for Disney on points?

 

[gwynne]

I don't have Hilton points but I was looking to see what the reward points would give me if I got a card with 150k points. I'm looking at Hilton Lake Buena Vista but it is saying there are no points availability stays but I can book with cash.

Is that normal? How can they have no availability through March 2020. I change the amount of days, tried different months, days of the week.

Has anyone stayed at Hilton for Disney on points?

It's the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, is that right? I tried a booking of Sept 17-19 2019. Once I chose the dates and the next page loaded. I looked on the left side under narrow your results. I made sure to check "Pay with Points".
A standard room reward of 49,000 pts per night is showing.

If you choose other dates keep an eye out for the yellow box at the top that says there aren't any certificates for that date range. There is usually a box below in green that gives you available dates. Ex: I was checking Dec 4-6 2019, nothing. But, when I click the available box, it gives more options. It looks like most of the dates are 49,000 or 50,000 pts per night.

I stay pretty often at Hilton properties and use points now and then. I was very careful to not be logged in when I did the search.

 

[Bradcorn1]

Your search may be giving you those results in error if you don’t have any points in your bank.

A typical stay for the one you are looking at (when the hotel is not full). Runs 40,000 50,000 points + approx $30 resort fee/taxes per night.

Personally When I stay using points typically I stay at the embassy suits up the street their point redemption rate tends to be 20,000 to 30,000 points a stay. You don’t get the 60 day fast pass however the included breakfast to me is a better deal

 

[writerguyfl]

As noted, the reason you're not seeing points availability is probably because you're logged into a Hilton account that doesn't have adequate points. If you log out, you should see the point totals required.

That said, the three Hiltons near Disney Springs (Hilton Lake Buena Vista, Hilton Buena Vista Palace, DoubleTree Suites) all are usually 50,000 points per night. I've stayed at all three. The DoubleTree Suites is the only one I'd ever spend 50,000 points on. And, I'd only do it on a night when they are asking a lot. For example, I stayed there for 5 nights over New Year's Eve a few months back. Had I paid cash, it would have been over $250/night.

I personally can't recommend the Hilton Buena Vista Palace. They did a huge renovation of their public areas. It looks great but the rooms are in bad shape. On my last stay, I checked out after one night because the room was filthy. I won't go back until they fully renovate all the rooms. And honestly, I might never go back because I get grossed out thinking about that room I was assigned.

I stayed around 40 nights at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista over the past 5ish years. It's average in every sense of the word. Clean but generic rooms. Detached staff that seem annoyed any time they have to deal with a guest. Overpriced food. Chances are strong that you'll experience some sort of problem while you're there. I never once had a problem-free stay. Unfortunately, some of the problems were big ones...like being woken up prior to 7am by groundskeepers using leaf blowers right next to the building. (That happened on two separate trips.) The only thing it has going for it is the location.

Personally, I would never spend 50,000 for the Hilton Lake Buena Vista.

 

[rdaky]

We have stayed on points near Disney, and the ones that are included in the EMH, 60 FP+ etc. cost more in points. Plus resort fee, plus parking fee if you have a car. If you have a car, I'd look at other nearby properties that are a much better value for your points. In Orlando we have stayed at a couple of Embassys and a Homewood and they got us more for our points. (longer trip for free)

 

[zapple]

If you get the Hilton card with 150k sign up bonus, if you can build your total to 200,000 that's enough for 4 nights at any of the DS Hiltons, Double Tree or Bonnet Creek Hilton. With Hilton if you redeem 4 nights of points at one hotel the 5th night is free. So you get 5 nights for around 200,000 pts and you don't pay resort fees when you stay with points. They've also never charged me for parking when I stay on points. And if you get the Aspire card, you get a free weekend night every year of card membership and you can stack that with your 5 day points stay to get 6 free nights total. My husband and I each got one so we can do this twice!

 

[rdaky]

They've also never charged me for parking when I stay on points.

This is really going to depend on the hotel. The fine print on the Hilton honors perks tells you that you don't have to pay the resort fee on points, but it doesn't include parking. My husband is Hilton Honors Diamond and we didn't have to pay for parking at Embassy Suites South LBV, but Embassy Suites International Drive charged for parking, and when we were thinking about booking Doubletree Suites, they were very clear that we would still have to pay for parking.

 

[zapple]

I'm diamond too and I've always had to pay for parking for cash stays, but I didn't on my points stays at the doubletree. I know it's not officially stated but they often waive parking, I guess it depends on the employee.

 

[rdaky]

I'm diamond too and I've always had to pay for parking for cash stays, but I didn't on my points stays at the doubletree. I know it's not officially stated but they often waive parking, I guess it depends on the employee.

That's interesting. That was one of our deciding factors for NOT staying there. Parking fee on points, and we like the Embassy better for usually fewer points.