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Hilton Honors has undergone big changes over the last several years, adding new program features and cementing its relationship with Amex through four co-branded credit cards earning Hilton points. All Hilton cards offer elite status of some sort — and that gives cardholders access to the Hilton fifth night free benefit. Furthermore, three of the four cards allow cardholders to score one or more free nights. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
With that in mind, we want to share some tips for maximizing the fifth night free offered on Hilton points redemptions.
Page Contents
How Does the Hilton Fifth Night Free Work?
In the simplest terms, when you book an award stay, the fifth night will be free of charge. However, the way Hilton calculates the payment is a bit tricky. While a traditional fifth-night-free benefit allows you to pay the full award rate for four nights and receive the fifth night on the house, Hilton has broken the mold and opted for an “averaged award cost” system.
So how does it work? Rather than providing the fifth night for zero points, Hilton averages the nightly value of the stay across all nights of an award stay that is five (or more) nights, then deducts the cost of one night from the stay. You can see the example courtesy of the Hilton Honors website below.
As the image above shows, if your booking spans more than one rewards rate, Hilton automatically averages out the cost of all nights and then deducts the cost of one night from the total.
For example, let's look at a six-night stay where the first three nights are 50,000 points per night and the last three nights are just 30,000 points per night. It will work like this:
- 50K + 50K + 50K + 30K + 30K + 30K = 240,000 points
- 240,000 / 6 = 40,000 points per night
- 240,000 – 40,000 = 200,000
- Total cost: 200,000 points
Restrictions on the Hilton Fifth Night Free Benefit
Here are some of the nitty-gritty details that are important to know about this benefit:
- The fifth-night-free benefit is only valid on standard room rewards.
- The stay must be booked directly with Hilton for five or more consecutive nights at the same property.
- The fifth night free does not apply to paid stays, points + money rewards, premium rooms or upgrades, or reward certificate stays.
- No more than four free nights can be claimed in one stay of up to 20 nights.
- You can claim this benefit as many times as you like each year.
Related: Things We Love About the Hilton Honors Rewards Program
How To Get Hilton Fifth Night Free
To access the fifth night free on award stays, you must have elite status with Hilton Honors. Fortunately, any status from Silver and up will do. Thankfully, Hilton Honors status is one of the easiest hotel rewards programs in which to get and maintain elite status.
Any of the four cards below offer complimentary elite status:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card: Complimentary Silver status
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Complimentary Hilton Gold status
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Complimentary Hilton Gold status
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Complimentary Diamond status
You also can enroll for complimentary Hilton Gold (plus Marriott Gold) status with these two cards:
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
Related: How to get hotel elite status for free (or almost free)
Ways To Maximize the Hilton Fifth Night Free
Stay at a luxury resort
The cost of luxury resorts is often quite high, but you can save an automatic 20% when booking five nights on points. Remember, the way Hilton calculates its fifth night free is by averaging the nights and then discounting the stay.
So when you book a luxury resort for five nights using points, you'll receive a built-in discount. A longer trip plus a discount on top of it? Count me in! Not sure which property to stay at? Check out our votes for the best Hilton points redemptions for luxury stays.
Book a minimum of 5 nights
This bit might seem obvious. But if you really want to maximize your points, try to avoid booking less than five-night stays. A short one or two-night stay may make sense with your travel plans. But if you're starting to plan for three or four nights, see if it works to plan five nights so you can truly maximize your points.
Better yet, book an even longer stay. Hilton's fifth night free discount applies to every fifth night. This means a stay of ten nights will have two nights free, a stay of 15 nights will have three free nights, and a stay of 20 nights will have four free nights.
How To Earn Hilton Points
Before you can maximize Hilton points, you must first build a stash of them. Thankfully there's no shortage of ways to earn Hilton points.
Hilton credit cards
As we mentioned above, four co-branded Amex cards earn Hilton points. The best Hilton card for you will depend on your individual situation. However, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is a Goldilocks sweet spot for many travelers:
- Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 8/13/2025.
- Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That's up to $200 in statement credits annually.
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 6X Points for each dollar of purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases.
- Earn 3X Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- Earn a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- Enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors ™ Gold Status with your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.
- Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
- As a Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Member, you can enroll to receive complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status through the link on your American Express online account. After you're enrolled, you can reserve a rental car by calling National Car Rental directly, using your travel service, or by booking online or through the National Car Rental mobile app. Terms apply.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy international travel without additional fees on purchases made abroad.
- $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
Pool Hilton points
On top of opening credit cards and spending on them, Hilton makes it incredibly simple to pool Hilton points between members. Hilton Honors members can pool points with up to 10 other people. This means that you, your partner, your siblings, and your parents all can pool points to work toward an epic vacation.
Buy Hilton points
You can also buy Hilton Honors points. Hilton often offers 100% bonus point promotions — which drop the price to just 0.5 cents each. That's less than the average redemption value of 0.59¢ per point that AwardWallet members get from Hilton Honors points. Just make sure to wait until there's a buy points promotion.
Transfer points to Hilton
Typically, transferring points into a program is our default option for building a balance of airline or hotel points. However, for Hilton, this is our last resort. Hilton doesn't have many transfer partners. Plus, the low value of Hilton points means that its rarely a good idea to transfer points to Hilton — even when there's an Amex transfer bonus to Hilton.
Final Thoughts
While not the only award program to offer this benefit, the Hilton Honors fifth night free is not something to overlook. With many ways to earn and combine Hilton points, and tons of properties to choose from, this benefit can boost your next trip from good to great.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I have two free nights from having the Aspire card. I was able to extend one sixty days. If I use both those nights and then book two more nights with points, will I be able to get the 5th night free ?
Unfortunately, no. That’s mentioned in the “Restrictions” section of the post.
Is this still how the program works? Do you have a link to Hilton’s website that shows this chart, as I can’t find this chart anywhere on their site? I just spoke to a Hilton agent that said you get the 5th night free back AFTER your stay is complete, which didn’t sound right to me. This was on 11/14/23.
I just tried making a booking at a hotel in Japan, and it worked like normal. I got the 5th night free on points, paying 147,000 points for 5 nights with the 5th night showing 0 points as the cost. This shouldn’t be a “pay now, get a rebate later” situation.
Hilton Honors Biz Amex only gives Gold status, not Diamond as stated in the article.
You’re exactly right. Looks like the credit card shortcodes for the Aspire and Hilton Biz got inadvertently swapped. Thanks for flagging that! We fixed it now.
You’ll save points by booking that 6-night stay as a 5-night stay followed by a 1-night stay. (They won’t let me show you the calculation, claiming it’s spam.)
I’m trying to figure out how to make this work (combining points and free nights and getting the 5th night free) when they tell me I can’t change my reservation, I can just cancel it and start over. Is this because I was on chat and you need to call in? Several months ago I also had a reservation and I just wanted to cancel a day and they said I couldn’t, I had to cancel the whole thing and start over (and by then the prices had gone way up.) So if that is the case how do you ever book a combined points + free nights? Just call and do it all on the phone before you book anything online?
There are multiple DP that combine weekend nights and points to get 5th free is possible. But I made more than 5 phone calls, spoke to both supervisor and diamond team, they all said to get the 5th night free it needs to be booked all on points.
Has anyone else been told you need to have a certain number of Honors points in your account to use the Free Weekend Night Certificate from Amex? I just tried to book a weekend night in Hawaii and the rep told me I needed to have 85,000 points to book, but that the points would be returned?? WTF
I don’t think you can use free night certs at Conrad Tokyo. I just stayed in Tokyo and upon calling in the front line phone rep said this property was not possible to use any certs for. If I’m not mistaken, not all Hilton properties allow free night certs to be used and the Conrad Tokyo is one of them.
I have used the fifth night free and I have received upgrades at check in. Doesn’t get much better than that
Hi,
I understand that. I wanted to check if its possible to apply the certificate to an existing reservation. For example, Conrad is running a 4th night free promo so if i book a 4 night stay, i wanted to check if i can call Hilton and have the certificate applied to one of the nights. The way the Conrad promo works is they give a 25% discount on all 4 nights. And if i can get the free weekend night certificate applied to one of the weekend night of the four night stay, that would make a pretty awesome deal.
No, you cannot.
Does anyone know if its possible to apply a free weekend night certificate to a paid booking ?
If there is a standard room available you can book with the free night certificate and cancel your paid night.
So, if allowed, it saves you in the points-cost average…but won’t be as cut-and-dry as getting 2 of the 6 nights for free?
exactly.
So, just to be clear- If I am booking 6 nights (Thursday to Wednesday) using points, one of those weekend nights, prior to my 5th night free, can be covered with the free weekend night certificate?
Th Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
50k 50k 50k 50k Free 50k
instead-
50k FNC 50k 50k Free 50k
Normally it’d be 250k – 50k + 50k (6th night), so net 250k
Adding in a FNC, it’d be 250k – 50k. 200/5 = 40k average
Price would be 40k + FNC + 40k + 40k + 40K + 50k – so 210k total — IF this works. Officially this isn’t supposed to work, but the data we’ve seen says it should.
So is your best bet to book 5 nights with points then have your wife book a separate stay with the weekend certificates. This way you could get 7 nights at a nice resort.
Of course you would have to ask the management to keep you in the same room though.
exactly.
Great info about 5th night free.
Great resource as I have a free night cert I’ve been meaning to redeem.
Ok, this time i got it 😀 – very helpful, thanks!
I agree. This was helpful.
Great article.
This was very helpful for me.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this information. Hilton rooms are becoming quite expensive to redeem for, so this helps.
Spend $135,000 and get three free nights. Weekends only. Subject to availability. Got it.
Well played!
Spend how much???
Their earning rates are the mainly decent thing about Hilton (plus the 5th night and free nights), but I still prefer Hyatt, then Marriott, then just finding the best rates on Hotels.com
Don’t mean to complain, but why so much Hilton on the blog lately??
Hilton has made a lot of changes to their program recently and they launched a bunch of new credit cards. Pretty significant changes to a program that is worth giving a look-see given the size of their footprint globally and the ease of earning points & status.
Wow, this definitely makes Hilton more attractive!
The 5th night free is interesting (20% off).
I need to choose a destination where you can spend 5 days or more.
Most of my Hilton stays are for short periods, so I have never been able to take advantage of the free 5th night, but it is a great offer.
5 nights is about the right length of time to stay in many cities, so it works out well.
wow i have my eyes on the aspire card!
Very thorough write-up. Thanks for this!
This doesn’t quite make senses regarding combining the free weekend nights when each person has two: “Confirm four standard nights are available and book under your Hilton Honors account.” There are only three consecutive nights you can redeem these – Fri, Sat, Sun. You would then need to skip Mon-Thur and then redeem the fourth free weekend night?
I’ve updated the language as yes, you can only possibly redeem for up to 3 nights consecutively with certificates.
Appreciated the tip to track it in awardwallet.
Easily understood explanation. Thanks!
Great article, shame about the fact that the points required for hotels keep increasing. 🙁
Great Tha k you!! Looking for new options
Nice breakdown, and a good reminder to definitely always do the math when combining points & certs.
I think I’ve underestimated the value of the 5th night free. One could consider that a 25% discount on the stay, on points, which ain’t too shabby.
Thanks for the thorough analysis. It’s hard to wade through all the data on these hotel programs. This post is very much appreciated.
Good to know if you have enough points for five nights.
I like you’re Q&A style of many of your blog posts that don’t treat readers like they should know everything about the program already, yet provide additional information for advanced readers.
Thanks!
not a fan of the chain, too variable.
It is an excellent perk, good to stretch further your points.
Love it. I wish hyatt would offer fifth night free.
Some of these cards look appealing to me.
Great info!
For any Australians in the house, the Hilton Macquarie VISA card provides free night certificates as well.
A fifth night free… I don’t think I’d ever use it. Can’t remember the last time I spent five nights in the same hotel. Part of why I tend to shrug off hotel loyalty programs and lean into airline ones…
Great article! I’ll keep this in mind.
I definitely need to up my game for Hilton points. It seems as if there is a lot of opportunity here.
Great information.
Thanks for updating this. Helpful!
Thank you. This is another example of great information that is difficult for us travel non-experts to gather and comprehend.
Just to get it correct: All I need is enough Points and a Status? No CreditCard needed?
Correct.
most hotels will still want a credit card on check in for incidentals
Thank you for the information. I was able to take advantage of the 5th night free on award stays twice last year, it stretches out the value of my Hilton points.
Interesting information, we are a Marriott property fan so i cant spread myself too thin. I will have to look into the no fee card, just in case its worth picking up (if the benefits are the same in Canada) Sometimes there are no Marriotts around…
Great explanation. Thanks!
This is a great explanation and summary. Thank you!
I used a similar bonus for Marriott too (5th night free). It’s a decent bonus for sure!
Nice breakdown. Thank you.
Thanks for the tips to get the most out of the offers.
5th night free always worked on the basis of 20% off. It’s just more noticeable now.
Having stayed at a Hilton for the past 3 months on a work contract, which means I book 5 night stays just about every week. Unless you actually book you stay with “5th night free” option, Hilton will not offer it voluntarily. Granted, I pay cash for my rooms so that I can write off the expense, but just a heads up for all you who wonder about and use the promotions.
The 5th night free feature sounds great in theory; I hope I get a chance to try it out while it lasts
sounds like Hilton is trying to rip people off on the 5th night free
I wouldn’t say they are trying to rip people off, it’s more a symptom of Hilton’s move to revenue based award pricing.
Already got the Surpass. seriously thinking of getting the Citi Reserve also. Is there any disadvantage in doing so?
Given that the Citi Hilton card product offerings will no longer be available after 2017, I think now is a perfect time to get it. My wife I will each pick up the card before it goes away this year.
Thanks for the summary. Good information.
Thanks for the tips. I’m a new Honors member, as it’s about the best non-Amex rewards card there is in Germany. I think I’m going to have a few 5 & 10 night trips coming up.
I’ve seen when you book more than 5 nights, that the calculations are off and you’d be better served splitting up the reservations.
And now it’s all Amex for Hilton. Who knows if they will have something like the Citi Reserve. Probably not
Folks had better jump on those Citi cards, now that we know they’re likely going away in 2018!!
I just got a Hilton card- this is very helpful.
Hilton has such a giant footprint that it shouldn’t be too hard to find a good spot to redeem them at to fit your travel plans
Good overview. I have not booked a 5 night award with Hilton before.
Great article. Already got the Amex Hilton Surpass and look forward to the one weekend night certificate. next goal to receive the Reserve and have 3 nights free 2 years from now!
Great info! Thank you.
Great info. Didn’t realize how free nights with pints for 5th night is actually more expensive.
It isn’t in general but under a circumstance where you use a free night certificate as well, the discount isn’t as significant.
Thanks for the very straightforward explanation. I’m trying to accumulate points for what would otherwise be an out-of-reach stay.
Not bad the 20% discount equivalent to one free night for four redeemed nights.
Unfortunately, very rarely I stay more than 4 nights at the same hotel.
That is also true…
Is it not better to just book when there is a sale than going thru all the hoops using points.
Why would you pay out of pocket if you’ve got points in the bank? Isn’t the goal here to keep your out of pocket cost to a minimum?
Exactly! Every stay you pay with points = $$ staying safely tucked away in your back pocket.
Free is better, no?
This is interesting to know. You can combine free nights if me and my hubby has one. So many ins and outs to learn! This is really something to look at. I do like Hilton and they are where I travel most…well, I should say closest to the areas I want to visit. I’m sure there are Hyatt, etc that would be further away I could use. Then I guess I would need to look at how close I’d really like to be to places
Do you have a UK based version of your advice? Most of your advice is very helpful, but when you talk about credit cards, they are not available in the UK. It would be great if you had the best rewards cards for us over here.
Chris, I wish we did. Each countries credit card opportunities are so different, with the US having the most opportunities available, we continue to focus on what we know best.
Check out Head For Points, if you haven’t already.
Thank you for the recommendation… “The UK’s most widely-read site for Avios, British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Flying Club and other major airline, train and hotel loyalty schemes.”
Thanks!
If it is Hilton points you are looking to collect I think the only options in the UK are a Hilton Visa from Barclaycard or one of the American Express cards offering Membership Rewards that can be converted to Hilton points.
The Hilton card is very favourable, great free night certificate and silver status all in one card. They also offer a fairly decent earning rate on everyday spends not like some which have halved their point collecting totals in the last year.
great to get the citi card for the 2 nights free!
If you can leverage this to get yourself any room in the Conrad Tokyo I highly suggest it. Incredible property
I would love to stay there!
This is actually very nice. I used it once but now, I don’t stay more than four nights consecutively at one place.
Definitely want to use 5th night free if I have enough points
Wish I had elite status this would help me get my free nights. I will have to look into it.
You cannot transfer the free night to someone else but you can redeem in someone else’s name sounds same to me!
Nice reward redemption bonus!
I just use them to add additional nights to the 5th night free or just by themselves – very useful these certificates
How do i get a free Weekend certificate if i cant apply for the cc (based in Germany)?
If you cannot apply for the credit card, you cannot receive such a certificate.
DKB offers a Hilton Honors Visa card in Germany (I just ordered one), but the certificate is not included and the sign-up bonus is only 5,000 points.
Is the annual free night cert a benefit for only new HH Surpass accounts? I have held the Surpass card for many years, but with the recent devaluations its value has also diminished. The free night cert would certainly change that value proposition.
New only 🙁
Seems that a call to AMEX I in order. 🙂
It would be nice if the FNs were not limited to weekends but any day during the week.
Oh well one can keep hoping..
Just tried to use these for graduation WEEKEND for my kids. Then I found out it’s not for weekends. I’ll keep trying!
great notes on the award nights.. Thanks!!
The Hilton Amex card is one of the best out there IMO. To get a free night for minimal spend and silver status is great. Potentially two free nights, use at one of their top level resorts like the Maldives and you are saving serious money.
Great info – I have an up coming trip and I could use a free night
Have not tapped into Hilton’s rewards yet seems like Marriott and Starwood points are worth a lot more.
To be honest they are worth more, but Hilton points are much easier to earn.
I have honestly never considered the Fifth Night free benefit. I will have to keep it in mind for future reward stays at Hiltons. I usually don’t stay in one place for that long, but this might make staying an extra Day worthwhile.
Such a good article that I’m printing it and will use it as my reference for clarity when I need it.
I have used the 5th night free on award stays several times the last few years. This was a more useful benefit before the massive Hilton devaluations.
good summary – need to stockpile points for the 5th free
Nice advice/explanation and summary – helps me find the most efficient use of points
While getting “elite” status with Hilton is fairly easy, it’s still annoying you have to have this status to take advantage of an option others give out much easier.
Considering that even both no-fee Hilton cards from AmEx & Citi give the cardholder Silver status, which is all that is required to access the 5th Night Free award pricing, I can’t really see how much easier it could possibly be?