Pop Century or Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace

[Tenacious K]

Help Me Decide!! What would you do.. 2 nights at Pop Century or Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace.

First weekend of May, it will be two adults to take advantage of my APs before they expire. I will be at the parks for the majority of the time, but will also spend atleast one afternoon and evening at Disney Springs.

Hilton Palace is 100,000 points so it was "free", but still a painful amount of points. I will take advantage of their shuttles, but will probably spend $75-$100 on uber/lyft between airport and whatnot. Walking distance to the Springs would be great.

Pop Century is $300 for the two nights, booked under separate, linked reservations due to rate change so we might have to change rooms. Not having to worry about transportation would be nice.

 

[HopperFan]

Hilton Honors here AND POP fan ....

- HBVP is an average hotel with a great pool area ... no way I'd use 50,000 per night there. We don't use our points unless we get a good value for them.

- POP is now two queen beds & nice bathrooms and while the room will be smaller ... if you are mostly at parks and DS it's fine.

- Magical Express saves you money and the bus to Disney Springs is great and for me as much a plus as making your way from DS hotels.

- Have stayed POP with two reservations, they did not make us move.

 

[writerguyfl]

no way I'd use 50,000 per night there. We don't use our points unless we get a good value for them.

This times 100.

I used to stay at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista. Maybe 6 or 7 years back, I was there 20-30/nights each year. It got progressively worse with each stay to the point were I only return if it's super cheap.

Despite my firm belief that everyone values things a little differently, I'm confident in stating that if you spend 50,000 points per night at that hotel, you will regret it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

My question is regarding your use of Hilton points. If you don't use the 50,000 points on this trip, will you have another trip where you can use them on a hotel with a better value? Or can they be converted to something else that will equal the ~$225 extra you'd spend on a Pop trip? (I subtracted the $75 you estimated for Lyft/Uber with a DS stay from the $300 you'd pay for Pop.)

We have done Starwood for years, and my last trip, we stayed several nights at the Swan on points. But since the merger with Marriott, the points for the Swolphin are not worth it (IMO). We actually traded in points for Amazon and Target gift cards, and used them for Christmas shopping. I would have preferred to use them on a more reasonable hotel, but we don't have a trip coming up where we could make better use of the points, so the cash value of the gift cards made the most sense at the time.

Basically, how much value can you get for those points? Does a stay at the Hilton Lake Buena vista represent a good use of those points?

 

[wilbret]

Hilton has been on Hotwire lately, you might be able to snag it for $100 or less. Just saying...

 

[pattyw]

I'd go with POP! Save your points for another place where you get a better deal! POP is lovely!