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Hilton worked overtime revamping the Hilton Honors program, transforming what was a tired and somewhat lackluster loyalty plan, into a program full of unique features with some great value for members. The Honors program completed the move to dynamic award pricing, where the price reflects the seasonality of the hotel industry. Award prices drop in the low season, and rise in the high season, much like the equivalent cash price.
At the same time, Hilton introduced innovative new features like the Points + Money Slider and Points Pooling across multiple accounts and removed our least favorite grammatical gimmick, the double ‘H’ in Honors.
To be clear, it isn't all lollipops and unicorns, especially when our beloved AXON awards disappeared, but things could be a lot worse, and we're still happy to have a healthy stash of Hilton points.
We also saw the demise of the much-loved Citi Hilton cards, two of the four co-brand Hilton credit cards, following a deal that sees American Express become the sole provider of Hilton Honors credit cards. All of Hilton's co-brand cards are provided by Amex:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card – Earn 75,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points Bonus Points + Silver Status. Terms Apply
- Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card– Earn 125,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points Bonus Points + Gold Status. Terms Apply
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card – 100,000 Bonus Points + Diamond Status.
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – Earn 125,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points Bonus Points + Gold Status. Terms Apply
The co-brand cards are the fastest way to amass a healthy balance of Hilton points, offering significant new cardmember welcome offers and tangible benefits, for relatively small (or no) annual fee. If more than one member of your household takes advantage of these offers, you can pool the points into a single account to redeem for a one-of-a-kind holiday! Still not convinced the new Hilton program is worth your attention? Here are ten things we love about the Hilton Honors rewards program.
Hilton's Points Pooling Feature Rocks
Hilton’s points pooling feature is a well thought out highlight of the program, allowing family and friends to combine their Hilton Honors points. Each pool can have up to 11 members, and each member can send 500K points per year, and receive up to 2 million points. You must be an active participant of Hilton Honors and have been a member for at least 30 days, and you need a minimum of 1,000 points to participate.
Get the Best Mid-Tier Elite Status for Under $100
Hilton Honors Gold is the best mid-tier elite status available, offering complimentary breakfast and space-available upgrades at Waldorf-Astoria, Conrad, Curio, Hilton, and DoubleTree. Plus, you’ll receive every 5th night free on award stays. Hilton Gold is also one of the easiest hotel statuses’ to achieve. The hard route involves 20 stays, 40 nights, or 75K base points. However, Honors Gold is awarded as a perk on several credit cards.
- Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card receives Hilton Honors Gold status
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card receives Hilton Honors Gold status
- The Platinum Card® from American Express receives Hilton Honors Gold status
- The Business Platinum® Card from American Express receives Hilton Honors Gold status
- Hilton Honors American Express Card receives Hilton Honors Silver status with a fast track to Gold status after spending $20K in a calendar year
Spend Your Way to Diamond for $40,000 (Or get it free with a card!)
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card receives Hilton Honors Diamond status. Or, if you don't want to pay a premium annual fee, put $40,000 or spend on the Hilton Ascend or Hilton Business Card in one calendar year, and you earn Hilton Diamond status, which would typically take 30 stays, 60 nights, or 120K base points, a substantial investment. Benefits include the same perks as Gold, plus a 48-hour room guarantee, express/late checkout and guaranteed lounge access (where available).
Solid Budget Redemptions Around the World
Hilton has a huge footprint, including budget hotels in places you may not suspect, at prices that are too good to pass up. Current welcome offers are enough for six nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Orlando (5th night free), right out the front of Universal Studios and the perfect base for a long weekend exploring Florida’s theme parks.
Get the 5th Night Free on Award Redemptions for Elite Members
Another killer feature of the Honors award program is the 5th night free for elite members. Considering even the no annual fee Hilton Amex offers up complimentary Silver status, these benefit offers incredible value and substantially raises the value of your Hilton Honors points.
Earn up to 52 Points per Dollar with Hilton Honors Promos
The number of points required for Hilton’s high-end properties can be a little deceiving. When you factor in how fast you can accumulate Honors points, and Hilton’s regular promos, earning enough points for luxury redemptions is a breeze. Diamond members that stacked a ‘Go More Get More’ promo were able to rack up as much as 52 points per dollar spent on their co-brand card!
Points + Money Slider Offers Solid Value
It's easy to be skeptical of award program ‘enhancements,’ but Hilton’s new Points + Money Slider has turned out to be one of its better additions. Does it lower the cost every stay? No, and in the case of redemptions subject to a resort fee, even adding the smallest amount of cash to the slider can add the resort fees in full to the cost of your reservation. The value of the Points + Money Slider differs between properties and dates.
We’ve found value in all kinds of points and cash combos, with some of the best value found in Hilton’s mid-range hotels. Not only can it lower the cost of your reservation, if you have plans to stay at a particular hotel but don’t quite have the required points, you can use the Points + Money Slider for any combo that works for you financially.
Put Your Diamond Status on Hold
Life gets in the way of travel; it’s unavoidable. A new addition to the family, a change of career or employer, or you might be taking a sabbatical to learn the fine Japanese art of Kintsugi. Whatever the reason, if you’ve been Hilton Diamond for the last three years with at least 250 nights or 500K+ base points, you can apply for a one-time status extension of one year from the time when your status would otherwise have expired. A great way of rewarding the most loyal Hilton fans.
When All Else Fails, You Can Purchase Hilton Honors Points
When you’ve exhausted every other method of collecting Hilton points, and you’re still a few thousand short of a redemption, you can always turn to the last port of call and purchase Hilton Honors points for 1¢ per point. If you time your purchase to coincide with one of Hilton's regular promos, you can get points as low as 0.5¢ per piece. Not our favorite way to collect points but when you’re short of points, it’s another method of reaching that redemption.
Final Thoughts
Hilton Honors transforming itself into the best hotel program for mid-range redemptions, and the Honors program now counts some stellar features. The points pooling feature allows you to combine points from up to 10 other accounts to reach your travel goals, and the super-achievable Hilton Gold status can get you free breakfast and your 5th night free on award stays.
If you have any questions about the Hilton Honors program, or you’re unsure how to use one of the features, please reach out in the comments.
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I don’t think Hilton points are all that valuable though, and the flexible award pricing eliminates a lot of potential “high value” redemptions during peak season.
Do Hilton point still expire after 12 months of inactivity?
Yes, but it is SUPER easy to keep them from expiring: https://awardwallet.com/blog/do-hilton-honors-points-expire/ — Use a single point for a purchase at Amazon.com. Done.
Just caught your article here. I am a lifetime platinum elite with Marriott and though I enjoy the status, though I certainly do not feel special–do you think Hilton with grant diamond status to me if I show them my Marriott status ? Average 105 nights per year
You could certainly try for an outright match — they have an official challenge site: https://statusmatch.hiltonhonors.com/ Perhaps in the documentation you provide, provide a note asking for an outright match showing all of your hotel activity — or simply switch to them right away and get 8 stays in to keep Diamond for a year — or just get the new Hilton Aspire card from Amex, which if you stay frequently with Hilton is a complete no-brainer. It earns the most Hilton points/dollar when you stay at Hilton properties and gives you instant Diamond.
Love Hilton Diamond. It works very well for us including the 5th night free and the bonus nights on the Hilton Macquarie Visa card for Australians.
Hate dynamic award! Many hotels do not drop point stay amount when the cash cost drops substantially.
Good write-up. I am a little tired of the SPG Marriott stuff… Still spending 5 nights in a Marriott, but like the idea of keeping my options open.
I’ve been split between SPG and Hilton for a while but with the Marriott-SPG merger and the Hilton Aspire card, I’m planning to go all in with Hilton for a while and see how much I enjoy the diamond status. I have some stays coming up and will see what kind of upgrades i get (i’m looking to see how they provide suite upgrades)
Thank you for the article .. My opinion and experience prove to me that Hilton program is one of the mid range features and cannot compared to Marriott and Spg program either in term of features , benefits , or the recognition from the different chain hotels ..
in addition to that this program is misleading the members and not transparent specially in term of redemption .., the have removed hotel category in order to make it in the gray aria so no member can know how much points needed for any hotel for redemption .
most of the hotels in many countries have increased the required redemption points twice a year .. such as Cairo from 10 k to 20000 and Alexandria 5000 points to 20000 points , and in tangier morocco from 10000 points to 20000 even the fact that the maximum points required for one night redemption as per the provided link by Hilton is showing less then these numbers check (http://pointsandmoney.hilton.com/ )
Marriott gives you guaranteed late checkout until 4 PM for platinum and gold members while Hilton you have to ask and request and begging them to get until 2 or 3 PM . even if you are platinum member .
So the conclusion ,, the comparing between Marriott and Hilton is comparing between Mercedes and Hyundai cars .
Hilton has a great Program!!! Event better.
Thank you for your review. If you have AmEx Ascend card, do you get the complimentary Hilton Honors status every calendar year regardless of card earnings? Or die the gold status expire after the calendar year is up?
Yes, you get Gold status simply by being a primary cardholder.
Booked a room here and had plenty to choose from in the area. The hotel was clean and friendly people. The hotel began renovations that day and the fumes were nauseating, the poor hotel workers could hardly deal with it. I couldn’t use the gym, pool or eat at the restaurant due to the fumes. Fumes like this are very dangerous and I called Hilton honors to discuss the situation. I asked for a supervisor and they gave me Evelyn, after discussing the problem and severity of it her response was “if you get sick keep the doctor’s bill.” Evelyn did not try to transfer me to a hotel or anything, terrible experience at this hotel.
I work for Hilton!! This honors program is awesome and the guests love it especially now that they have rolled out the shop with points on amazon!! It’s very exciting!!