Update 5/16/24: The first AutoCamp property (AutoCamp Cape Cod) is now live for booking and the base level Airstreams are indeed pricing as standard room awards available for points or free night certificate redemption. Only the AutoCamp Cape Cod location is live so far, with more expected to launch in the coming weeks.
Interestingly, Hilton and AutoCamp are offering something in the way of elite benefits, with Hilton Honors members with status set to enjoy the following benefits:
- Silver: two eco-friendly waters
- Gold: one bundle of firewood per stay, two eco-friendly waters and a space available upgrade
- Diamond: one s’mores kit per stay, one bundle of firewood per stay, two eco-friendly waters and a space available upgrade
On the one hand, those benefits sounded pretty appealing given that if one is going to spend a night or two at a campground, it isn’t hard to imagine that you’d probably like to have a bundle of firewood (which I understand costs $20 at the Cape Cod location) and materials for s’mores (the kit costs $15 at the cape cod location). That’s an amenity kit that seems very apropos. On the other hand, if you’re not into those things, perhaps you’d have preferred a more standard food & beverage credit that you could use on breakfast in their restaurant. However, I don’t think that all AutoCamp locations have a restaurant — and truth be told, based on menu prices, the firewood, s’mores, and water combo might be more valuable (and since you’re “camping”, you may well be bringing things for breakfast anyway).
As shown above, points value can certainly be reasonable for Hilton points, particularly on weekends when cash rates are higher.
As you can see above, a two-night weekend stay in June that would cost $1,154.62 could be booked for 140,000 Hilton Honors points. That’s a value of around 0.82c per Hilton point, which is well above our Reasonable Redemption Value for Hilton points. On the other hand, we also observed dates costing as low as $286 for a night that cost 62,000 points per night, yielding a value of just 0.46c per Hilton point. You’ll have to run the numbers to make sure that you’re getting a good deal for your points, but it is certainly possible to do so. These properties are also available with free night certificates, which could make for a solid use of an annual certificate from the Hilton Honors Aspire card.
Do note that points earning will not be fully functional until later this summer:
During this test period, while members will not initially earn Points on ancillary spend, we will be offering a special welcome offer to ensure members are still rewarded, with Hilton Honors members automatically receiving 1,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each stay completed by August 12, 2024. Members can expect ancillary spend to be turned on in the coming weeks as the full integration is completed.
In the coming weeks, we expect properties like AutoCamp Zion, AutoCamp Yosemite, and AutoCamp Joshua Tree to also become available for redemption. The original post and previous update follow below.
Following a conversation Greg had today with Mark Weinstein – Hilton’s Chief Marketing Officer – we have more details about Hilton’s partnership with AutoCamp.
Similar to the Hilton/SLH partnership, AutoCamp properties will be bookable with Hilton Honors points. Award pricing should be similar to Hilton properties. Remember that Hilton has no award chart, so we expect variable pricing. Hotels currently top out at 150K points per night, though that cap isn’t a published limit. The good news is that you’ll be able to use the 5th night free benefit on award stays and AutoCamp properties will be bookable with Hilton free night certificates.
Here’s the original post.
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Hilton partnering with a camping company wasn’t what I had on my bingo card for this week, but a new partnership with AutoCamp is what was announced yesterday.
If, like me, you’d never heard of AutoCamp before yesterday, it’s a company that offers Airstreams, cabins and other glamping options in natural settings. That includes Zion National Park in Utah, Yosemite National Park in California, the Catskills in New York and more.
For regular paid pricing at AutoCamp locations, it doesn’t look like it’s cheap. For example, a non-refundable one week stay in April in an Airstream at their Zion location (which isn’t in Zion National Park itself) costs $2,424.82, or almost $350 per night, which includes taxes and fees.
We don’t know yet exactly how the Hilton partnership will work. What has been confirmed is that it’ll be possible to both earn Hilton points on paid stays and redeem points for award stays. However, award pricing hasn’t yet been announced, while we also don’t know if you’ll earn 10 points per dollar like you do at most Hilton brands, 5 points per dollar like at their Tru and Home2 Suites brands or if it’ll be some other multiplier entirely.
I’d certainly hope that you’ll be able to take advantage of the 5th night free benefit on award stays for those with Hilton Silver status or higher, but perhaps AutoCamp will be excluded due to them not actually being part of the Hilton portfolio or due to being allocated as ‘Premium Room Rewards’.
We also don’t know how Hilton elite status will work at AutoCamp locations – if at all. While Hilton confirmed that it’ll be possible to earn and redeem points on stays, there’s no mention whatsoever as to elite benefits which makes me suspect that there won’t be any; I’d love to be wrong on that though. Having said that, there will be “exclusive, members-only benefits”; what those benefits are remains to be seen. It might just mean a dedicated check-in line and two bottles of water, but it could also be something more substantial than that.
Depending on what award pricing looks like, I’m somewhat excited about this upcoming new booking option. I used to love going camping as a kid and through my mid-teens, but I much prefer my creature comforts nowadays which is why we’ve been doing our 7 year, 50 state road trip by staying in hotels and Airbnbs rather than camping. However, I’d definitely be open to glamping options such as these, especially because all AutoCamp locations offer Wi-Fi in each room and throughout their properties.
Another positive factor for us is that all AutoCamp locations are pet-friendly. You can bring up to two dogs and the pet fee is $75 per stay. That’s fairly high for a one night stay, but much more reasonable on longer stays.
Something I’m curious about is how Hilton will deal with AutoCamp’s resort fees. With that example I gave earlier of the cost for a week at their Zion location, almost $200 of that $2,424.82 pricing related to their amenity fee which covers ‘weekly onsite events, coffee and tea, river access, bicycles, pool towels, lawn and board games, outdoor kids play area and Wi-Fi.’ Similar to Hyatt, resort fees are waived when booking award stays with Hilton, so in theory I’d expect that policy to extend to AutoCamp. However, because this is a partnership with AutoCamp rather than Hilton buying them, they might try taking a different stance.
Question
How do you feel about Hilton’s partnership with AutoCamp? Are you excited for the possibilities? Have you stayed at an AutoCamp location before? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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