Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Update 6/3/24: All AutoCamp properties are now bookable via Hilton.com. Again, a standard Airstream books as a standard room award. Some properties also have other types of suites as standard awards. Highlights include places like Joshua Tree, Zion National Park, Yosemite, and more. I see a lot of standard availability right now, but I imagine that a lot of it will go quickly for this summer. Book it now!
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.
~
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.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
It’s a cool concept… on days I’m looking I see standard in Yosemite for a “luxury tent” – 68k standard. It seems poor cpp until you factor in the fees – which add 10% of the cost. I didn’t click all the way through, but it looks like the fees are indeed waived on award bookings.
I think the cheapest category is treated as “standard” and everything else is premium… though in fairness, the cash cost on some of their other options is indeed significantly more than the luxury tent.
Bookings have now opened up through June 2025 with points.
I was excited for the Yosemite property but think i will pass on spending 70k points to stay in a tent.
I’m now getting hit with “Family” rejections. P1 and P2 both with NAF AMEX Hilton cards. “NOT ELIGIBLE” for SUB when applying for Surpass.
If you’ve only had the no annual fee cards, family language would still allow you to get the Surpass card. This sounds more like regular popup jail unless Amex had specific wording stating that the reason you couldn’t get the Surpass card was because you already have another Hilton card.
Please explain. It was a “NOT ELIGIBLE” for SUB when applying for Surpass and listed four possible reasons. I never heard of this. Is there a way around it?
Amex sometimes declines applications for no specific reason which is known as popup jail. Factors can include closing a lot of Amex accounts, not putting much spend on your existing cards, etc.
Family language is where you can’t get the welcome offer on a new card because you’ve already had a higher value card. For example, if you have an Amex Platinum card, you can no longer get the welcome offer for a Green or Gold card. If Hilton cards had family language, it would mean that if you’ve had the Aspire card, you wouldn’t be able to get the welcome offer on the Surpass or no annual fee cards. Seeing as you’ve only had the no annual fee cards, there shouldn’t be family language that would impact you.
Do you happen to remember what the four possible reasons were that were listed?
Thank you for this. I went down the “popup hell” rabbit hole and spent an hour or two online last night. I was attempting to execute Nick’s Hilton Plan for a 2 Player Household (https://frequentmiler.com/hilton-vs-marriott-for-a-2-player-household/).
P1 has an AMEX Everyday NAF and Hilton NAF. P2 has AMEX Everyday NAF. We’re AU on each card. We have spent next to nothing on those cards unless there was an occasional useful AMEX offer or the semi-annual Hampton Inn stay.
P1 referred P2 for the Hilton NAF 3 weeks ago and she got it. Then P2 referred P1 in order to get the Surpass and that’s when the popups started. P2 is chugging away at the SUB on her new Hilton NAF, and then I referred her for the Surpass (at least 3 weeks since P2 getting the Hilton NAF). Now P2 is getting popups.
My popup:
“David, you are NOT eligible for the sign-up bonus for this card based on your history with credit card balance transfers, American Express welcome offers, introductory APR offers, or the number of Cards you have opened and closed, you are not eligible to receive the welcome offer.
We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?
Note: Your application will be considered withdrawn if no action is taken on this page.”
I gather that I am now officially, along with P2, in “AMEX Popup Jail”.
Yep, that’s popup jail. It might be worth trying to apply through a non-referral link if you’re wanting to get those cards. There’s no guarantee that’ll help, but there have been data points in the past where people tried applying using their partner’s referral link and got the popup, then used a non-referral link and got the bonus.
AutoCamp Sequoia is still showing as coming soon. I’m not sure if there are any others.
Do we know what if Diamond upgrades are possible with these sites? The tents’ look okay, but the airstreams (Premium Room Reward) look great.
Their website advertises comp brekkie in Cape Cod
Any idea how many “rooms” are available with points / FNCs at each property? Zion would be an awesome place for a stay 🙂
I’m excited for this – once Sequoia and/or Yosemite open up, I’ll be looking to book a night or two next summer. Keep us posted on how this shakes out.
Has potential. Have not stayed at Autocamps in particular but did a similar style resort for a night in OR wine country and it was pretty good. https://the-vintages.com/
The concept of booking a 150K/night AutoCamp……
I’d assume (or would hope at least) that award pricing generally won’t run that high unless it’s some kind of spectacular accommodation in an unbeatable location.
I’m not at all a camper and LOVED our stay at Autocamp near Yosemite. The pool gave it an outdoorsy resort feel and the airstream had everything you’d expect from a hotel room. Would definitely return and it would be great to have a different booking option since they can get super pricey
Hilton seems to be aggressively expanding their portfolio this year into more unique properties. You have the SLH partnership (luxury destinations), the rumored acquisition of Graduate hotels (boutique focused on college campuses), and now this partnership with AutoCamp (glamping near National Parks).
Jury is out until we see what happens with award availability, but this has the potential for Hilton to really increase the number of high end properties and unique destinations in their portfolio. With the expansion of Hilton FNC’s to be usable any day of the week this is worth keeping an eye on.
I’ve stayed at the Joshua Tree location and will do so again, so it’ll be nice to earn points for those stays. It was a cool experience, the facilities are nice, it’s very close to one of the park entrances and there are no lodging options inside the park. The Zion property is very close to Springdale, the town that sits just to the south of the main park entrance, so it is a convenient location to visit the park, but I prefer to stay at the park lodge when possible. In stark contrast, the Yosemite location is about an hour from the park and there are both options to stay within the park and other properties outside the park that are much closer. I’d also note that it can get very hot in their Airstreams and the a/c is fairly loud, so it might not be the best option for light sleepers.
Hot poker in my eye would be more appealing.