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Amex is currently offering a 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 October 31, 2020.
Transfer Bonus Offer Terms
- Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors and receive a 40% bonus
- This offer is available for transfers through October 31, 2020
- 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, and my baseline valuation for Hilton is 0.5¢ per point. 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.
One of the most important facets of award travel is recognizing that different people value different points, well… differently. That is to say, 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.
Conversely, perhaps you like to leverage Hilton points for the program's sweet spots. Or, maybe you don't have any other way to generate Hilton points—like a co-branded credit card. In these cases, Honors points might be worth far more than 0.5¢ a piece to you, and this bonus represents a valuable opportunity. Just keep in mind that you can often buy Hilton points for 0.5¢ each via buy-points promotions.
Earn Hilton Points Through Credit Card Bonuses
Hilton points can be collected in-bulk via sky-high co-branded credit card welcome bonuses. For example, Doctor of Credit reports a targeted 175,000-point welcome bonus floating around for the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.
But even without the targeted offer, the Hilton Surpass still offers 130,000 bonus points after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. For most, this represents a much better way to accrue points than transferring valuable Membership Rewards points.
- Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Earn a Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- 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 Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your 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.
- $95 annual fee.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 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
- 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 3X Hilton Honors 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?
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 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!!
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