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Amex just launched a new 40% bonus for transferring Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors points. During this promotion, members will receive 2,800 Hilton points for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points transferred. That's effectively a 2.8 Hilton points per Membership Rewards point now through June 15, 2021.
Transfer Bonus Offer Terms
- Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors and receive a 40% bonus
- This offer is available for transfers through June 15, 2021
- Allow up to eight weeks for the Hilton Honors bonus points to be deposited
- Bonus Points do not count towards elite tier qualification
Is it worth taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus?
At face value, my thought on this opportunity is: meh.
My baseline valuation for Membership Rewards points is roughly 1.8¢ per point. Meanwhile, my baseline valuation for Hilton is 0.5¢ per point. And it seems that Hilton Honors agrees with my baseline valuation, as Hilton sells points at 0.5¢ per point during promotions.
With a 1:2.8 ratio, this translates into trading 1.8¢ for 1.4¢. That doesn't sound ideal on the surface. However, that could be oversimplifying the matter.
Hilton's luxury redemptions
One of the most important facets of award travel is recognizing that different people value different points, well… differently. Perhaps you like to leverage Hilton points for the program's luxury sweet spots.
AwardWallet recently analyzed 28,963 Hilton award bookings made by AwardWallet members. We found that AwardWallet members save an average of 0.64 cents per Hilton Honors point on these real-world bookings. Even better, Hilton points provide over 1 cent per point on average at several luxury properties.
So, Honors points might be worth far more than 0.5¢ a piece to you, and this transfer bonus represents a valuable opportunity.
Just consider the opportunity cost. For example, you may earn Membership Rewards points specifically for premium-cabin redemptions via airline transfer partners. In that case, Membership Rewards points are likely worth far more than 1.8¢ a piece to you, making this conversion an even harder sell. In this case, it may make more sense for you to buy Hilton points for 0.5¢ each via a buy Hilton points promotion.
Earn Hilton Points Through Credit Card Bonuses
Hilton points can be collected in-bulk via co-branded credit card welcome bonuses. For example, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers up to 180,000 bonus points after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Bonus Points after you spend a total of $10,000 in purchases in the first 6 months.
For most, this represents a much better way to accrue points than transferring valuable Membership Rewards points. Here's our post on how to maximize the Hilton Surpass offer.
- 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
- 3X Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card
Bottom Line
The best Hilton Honors transfer bonus we've ever seen from Amex is 50%, although it's often targeted. While the current bonus isn't the best, it is convenient that it's the same for everyone. But ultimately, this offering isn't all that enticing for most people.
While I don't plan to use my Membership Rewards this way, it's still nice to be able to top-off your Hilton account in a pinch. Plus, if you have Membership Rewards points to spare, there are a few situations where transferring for a redemption could make sense. In the end, if you're receiving value for your points that you're comfortable with, that is all that matters.
Will you take advantage of this transfer bonus?
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 will not be transferring membership reward points to Hilton points. If I needed some Hilton points I would purchase them for half cent each.
It crazy really… a 40% bonus still isn’t competitive with the standard conversion ratios of many airlines…
I’ve only stuck to Chase so far, but may finally be time to switch to Amex to grab all the bonuses!
This could be worth it if you need a small amount of points for a high end redemption….Hilton points are becoming the “SkyPesos” of the hotel world though with Hilton’s sky high redemption costs….
Agreed. I just copped 126,000 MR points from the *awesome* Amex Platinum offer, and 110,000+ Hilton Points from the current SUBs on my new Hilton card. Very few of these transfer bonuses make sense, given that one is often trading Euros for Malaysian Ringgits on a non-parity basis. It’s much easier to just add an Amex Hilton card to your portfolio, and use it in the bonus categories.
What a great partnership between Hilton and American Express. Great to see a partnership that is truly beneficial for users.
With the bonus, at best, you’d be getting around 1 cpp. Terrible redemption for such a valuable currency.
Unless I have a specific reason to spend the points on, I don’t usually jump at these offers.
Just get an AMEX-branded Hilton card if you reallywant MORE HHonors points 🙂
I have not seen any enjoyable hotel redemption through Hilton. Pass on this offer
I know valid reasons do exist but how many people take advantage of this? An MR point is widely valued at 2 cents and even with a 40% bonus, you’re still not breaking a penny in total value to transfer out. I’d need at least a 300% bonus to ever even consider such a transfer.
This would not be a good use of my MR points as I can earn Hilton points in other ways. But if you must transfer flexible points, it is always best to do it when there is a transfer bonus.
I am love Hilton hotels, but Not good choose transfer AE MR to Hilton points. But if you want to go to Maldives may be good idea.
Still flush in Hilton points with those Aspire bonuses my wife and I got.
I’d rather transfer MR to any FFP rather than a hotel deal.
Torn. Once I saw the 40% bonus, was immediately going to transfer my 515K for 1,030,000 Hilton. 60k a night a Waikoloa Village, 5th night free would equal 20 nights @ $295 would be $5900 or still half a penny a point. I have 2 months to decide.
Don’t think we ever saw a AMEX MR to Hilton transfer bonus ever!!
Wish we could click a tag or something and see all historical Amex Transfer bonuses for comparison. I’d say majority have been to airline partners. Definitely some Marriott. May indeed be a first to Hilton.
I agree with what several have already commented: the Hilton properties are excellent; but their points program is very poor. We want better deals!
Don’t agree with we need AE MR to hilton as Hilton hotels need many more point to redeem one night. And they will be change the point value frequently . I’d like to transfer to Marriott Bonvoy.
As @Karek said, I also usually like Hilton properties and staying in the Hilton chain but they really need to get more creative with their points system. They hand it out like candy but in most cases the only meaningful redemptions are for high end properties (where you are capped at 85k or 95k points).
I love Hilton but they have you use so many points towards stays sometimes. I usually find I need a lot of points for stays I wish to do. At least you can earn them quickly. I would only transfer if I was close to having enough for a redemption. Even then I would look at the price of a night before I would transfer or even buy points. I think I would look at my husbands account first. lol!
It is very encouraging to learn that the share price of Hilton has NOT fallen much in spite of everything.
Definitely nice for a top-off, but wouldn’t do more than that. Even with the 40% bonus, the relative “value” of converting MR points to HH points is much less than can be realized when transferring to airline partners.
While I would value HHonors points a little higher, I agree that this is really for most everyone not a good deal. Frankly, I’m surprised AmEx came up with such a poor offer.
I value Hilton points at $.0045 each so I do not consider this a good deal and so I will pass!
I have had some of my most enjoyable hotel redemptions through Hilton. With Gold status through a credit card giving free breakfast, it can be really great value. Topping up your points with a transfer bonus might be just what is needed for a cost effective redemption.
AMEX used to have transfer bonuses more frequently so I’m glad they are having them again, I haven’t seen any transfer bonuses for a while for any transfer partner.
Yes, even though most here don’t view it as a great transfer offer, I’m just glad to see one. I just checked, and I believe the last AmEx MR transfer offer was in November.
I would wait for a higher bonus before taking this offer. As the article stated, there is 1.5x which is better than the offer of 1.4x now. You can also buy the points with 100% now.
Yes. I think I will. It’s a good way to increase my points while I am not travelling due to restrictions. Thanks for the info.
Not worth transferring any points speculatively in this environment. Its better to save the points.
Don’t redeem them for HHonors points now since you cannot travel to your dream destinations.
not worth it to transfer now. I’m holding on to my amex points
I don’t think it is a good promotion. At this time, where tourism is suffering, many companies are offering very competitive promotions.
I don’t think this is a great deal. i’m gonna pass on it for now but great post