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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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.
Gold and Diamond members will receive a dining credit for one s’more per guest per night.
Very excited to see how this plays out. I love the locations so far. Crossing my fingers for realistic award prices and some Diamond benefits that are meaningful. Excited to see options close to National Parks!
The devil is always in the details; however, I’m looking forward to exploring the most high-end glamping options with my Hilton points.
I just got this – you are FAST Stephen! As a HH apologist – I am THRILLED about this partnership. I have always felt that this hobby pushes us all to be lemmings and follow the leader so it’s great to have points & miles opportunities for truly unique travel!
I’m all for this as well, though I’ll wait to see what the redemption rates are before deciding if I’m actually excited about it (please no premium room rewards across the board…). At least if you wanted to stay here you’ll have the option to earn a good chunk of points doing so.