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Hilton Honors has undergone big changes in the last few years, adding new program features and cementing its relationship with Amex with the launch of four co-brand credit cards. The cards all offer elite status which opens up Hilton's 5th-night free benefit, and 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 thought it was time to share some tips for redeeming Hilton Honors free weekend night certificates and add a quick rundown on the 5th night free offered on Hilton points redemptions.
These are both topics we’ve received questions on recently and wanted to clarify for readers.
Weekend free night certificates are offered on all three Hilton co-brand cards that charge an annual fee. The premium Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card scores a weekend free night certificate just for holding the card, while all three cards offer one or more free nights when you reach spending tiers.
- Hilton Honors American Express Card — Access to 5th-night free benefit
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card — Access to 5th night free + 1x weekend free night after $15K spend
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card — Access to 5th night free + 1x weekend free night when you receive the card and another weekend free night after $60K spend
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card — Access to 5th night free + 1x weekend free night after $15K spend and another weekend free night after $60K spend
That's a lot of free Hilton nights on the table, and that's before taking into account the points you'll earn from welcome offers and spending on each card.
Making the Most of Hilton Honors 5th Night Free Benefit
To access the 5th night free on rewards stays you need to have elite status with Hilton Honors. Fortunately, any status from Silver up will do, and Hilton Honors is one of the easiest hotel rewards programs in which to get and maintain elite status. Any of the four cards mentioned above offer complimentary elite status, with even the Hilton Amex providing Silver Status.
While a traditional 5th-night free benefit allows you to pay the full award rate for 4 nights and receive the 5th night on the house, Hilton has broken the mold and opted for an ‘averaged award cost’ system. How does it work?
Rather than providing the 5th night free, Hilton averages the nightly value of the stay across all nights of any award stay over 5 nights, then deducts the cost of one night from the stay. You can see the example courtesy of the Hilton Honors website below.
The 5th-night free benefit is only valid on Standard Room Rewards, booked directly with Hilton for 5+ consecutive nights at the same property. The 5th night free doesn’t apply on paid stays, points and money rewards, premium rooms or upgrades, or reward certificate stays, although this last rule doesn't appear to be enforced which we’ll expand on below. You can claim this benefit as many times as you like annually, but no more than four free nights can be claimed in one stay of up to 20 nights.
As the image above shows, if you run into Hilton’s new dynamic award pricing, and your booking spans more than one rewards rate, Hilton automatically averages out the cost of all nights, returning an average nightly cost, and then deducting the cost of one night from the total.
For example, booking a six-night stay where the first three nights are 50,000 points per night, but the last three nights are just 30,000 points per night, 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
Redeeming Hilton Free Weekend Night Certificates
Hilton free weekend night certificates are valid on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights at almost any Hilton property. The free weekend night exclusions are listed on Hilton’s website. Hilton free weekend night certificates need to be used within 12 months of being issued, not just booked, but the stay completed in that timeframe.
Hilton made a number of big changes to its Honors program earlier in the year which included a name change, abolishing award categories, completing the transition to dynamic award pricing, adding the points & cash slider, and adding the ability to pool points with up to 10 other members.
With so many changes afoot, we jumped on the phone with Hilton to answer a few questions we’ve received about free weekend night certificates.
Can I transfer my free night certificates into another person's name?
No, Hilton confirmed you cannot transfer free night certificates into anyone else’s name. You can, however, redeem them under another person’s name. More on that below.
What about using Hilton's new points pooling feature to pool free weekend night certificates?
No, the points pooling feature applies strictly to Hilton Honors points, and you cannot pool Hilton free weekend night certificates.
If my wife and I both have Hilton free night certificates, can we combine them into a single booking? Or do we need to book separately?
Yes, you can combine free night certificates from different accounts into a single booking, but the person redeeming each free night certificate needs to be the person whose account the free night certificate is issued under. For instance, if you and your wife both have free night certificates, you can combine them into a single reservation.
- Call the Hilton Honors Reservation free-call number (1-800-445-8667).
- Confirm two standard nights are available and book under your Hilton Honors account
- You confirm your account and certificate credentials and apply them to the first night
- Your wife jumps on the phone and confirms her account and certificate information, and applies her certificate to the other night
Can I combine Hilton Honors points with free night certificates, and still receive the 5th night free?
This is where things get a little messy. Hilton states in its T&C’s that the 5th-night free benefit is not valid for:
“…Points & Money Rewards, Premium Room Rewards, Room Upgrade Rewards, reward certificate stays or to any stays booked outside of Hilton channels…”
But there are plenty of data points online, confirmed by multiple Hilton reps over the phone, that shows you can mix Honors points and free night certificates to receive the 5th-night free benefit. But it doesn’t work like traditional free night certificates, and won’t provide the best value.
If you aim to use 2 free night certificates as part of a four-night stay at a top-tier Hilton property like the Conrad Tokyo, the numbers are pretty basic.
- FN + FN + 95K + 95K = 190,000
- Total cost: 190,000 points + 2FN (@ 95K per night)
However, adding the 5th night free, you end up using more points and reduce the points value of the FN certificates.
- 95K + 95K + 95K + 95K + 95K = 475,000 points
- 475,000 – 95,000 = 380,000 points
- 380,000 / 5 nights = 76,000 points per night
- FN + FN + 76K + 76K + 76K = 228,000
- Total cost = 228,000 points + 2FN (@ 76K per night)
You pay out more points and reduce the redeemed value of your certificates by 19K each. Not really a 5th night free in this case, and easy to see why Hilton is happy to allow these bookings through, as the value falls more in their favor.
The booking would also need to coincide with a weekend to use free weekend night certificates, so no Mon to Fri bookings.
Final Thoughts
With a revenue-based rewards program, it can be hard to extract big value at the top end of Hilton’s awards, particularly during peak season. The weekend free night certificates offered on the Hilton co-brand cards are a great way of maximizing that value, as is the 5th-night free benefit if you are redeeming points.
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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?