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American Express has announced that as of January 1, 2018, the transfer ratio for Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors is permanently increasing to 1:2. For every 1,000 Membership Rewards you transfer, you'll receive 2,000 Hilton Honors points.
Key Change
- Transfer ratio is now 1:2
- Transferring 1,000 Membership Rewards will give you 2,000 Hilton Honors points
- The minimum transfer is of 1,000 Membership Rewards points (this has not changed)
Our Take
We're certainly happy to see a better transfer ratio, but in the end, we still wouldn't recommend such a transfer, as it doesn't provide a good value with your Membership Rewards
When you consider that high-end Hilton properties can set you back 95,000 points per night (48,000 MR transferred with the new ratio), you can get far better value out of your Amex points with other transfer partners.
You should always consider transferring your Membership Rewards to miles. For instance, 50,000 Membership Rewards will give you the same number of Flying Blue miles (or 100,000 Hilton Honors points), which is enough for a one-way trans-Atlantic flight to Europe in Business with a properly timed Flying Blue Promo Award. This is much better value than a single night at a high-end Hilton property.
In general, you will get better value by transferring points to one of Membership Rewards’ 17 airline partners. Especially if you take advantage of transfer bonuses coupled with discounted awards promotions.
Source: The Points Guy
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It’s good to know.
I agree – The transfer ratio is not as good as the AMEX points.
Hilton can still offer some good value in London on certain peak days. I would have to study of 2:1 is of use to me – but a “nice to know” change. Thanks for posting.
I have the Hilton Amex card so I don’t know if having the reg Amex would help. However, I do like Hilton. There are positives to having it. I have seen some people having 21 or so cards. I wonder how they are really capitalizing on points with each account?
How do you all divide it up? If you had say, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Everyday, Amex Hilton, Chase United Airlines, Starwood Amex, Marriotts, Citi Thank You, Barclay World, etc., how would you divide it up to really build the points? Do you focus on what you’re needing more of for an upcoming trip? If you’re not planning a trip, how do you decide?
Time and effort. Study the programs, study the benefits and then identify the products that help you best achieve your goals. I keep 18 months of points in the bank at all times and try to plan that far out where possible so I know what to pick up.
Do you have any that you can recommend the best to have points in at all times? For instance, you usually are able to easily redeem Hilton, Hyatt, IHG?
SPG, Amex MR, Chase UR, Citi TYP: https://awardwallet.com/blog/best-flexible-rewards-points-travel/
From reading the comments etc i guess it also depends on where you live, however unless you are looking to stay a particular night and are short a few points its best to keep your points as is… and use them for flights. Good discussion and info.
not bad as a top-up. but that’s it
It’s an improvement and useful for topping up for a redemption.
Nice increase, would love to see this happen in Canada…
Thanks for the info. I will pass but still good to know they have increased the ratio!
In some places, like Israel, there is a better transfer ratio.
Between 1:2.5 to 1:6. Depends on your card.
A regular gold business card is 1:3.5, platinum is 5.
Still not a great deal.
This could be useful for situations where we need a little topup. Just used 160K points for Hili Hawaii for 5 nights, so there can be decent value out there. Granted, I’d only transfer a small number to get to 160K in this example.
I’ve just checked my Membership Rewards catalogue and Hilton is still 1:1.
I’m in Belgium.
So we receive less advantages than others!
1:1 is a shocking rate. I can’t imagine there being too many people choosing to transfer to Hilton at that rate.
Credit card programs are nowhere near as lucrative in the Eurozone. It’s all to do with EU caps on merchant fees.
Nice to see improvement even if the updated ratio is still wholly noncompetitive and a poor use of MR
Better than it used to be but still not great!
Makes a top up a bit better, but certainly not a deal.
Thanks for the heads up!
1 to 3 and I might consider it
Always handy to top up for a 5th night free redemption
Interesting reading browsing the comments here. I’m kind of surprised at all the anti-Hilton sentiments.
Meh. Still not really a trade worth considering.
Waiting for something hot from Hilton. Looks like this might be it.
100% no!
Always the standard rate on Amex gold in the U.K. There is at the moment on gold 50% bonus points on transfers to HH.
Yes, but an Amex Membership Rewards point is earned more easily in the US than the UK. You earn a point when spend $1 in the US, but in the UK you would have to spend approx $1.30 (i.e.£1) to earn a point.
I’m earning 3 HH points per MR at the moment!
Sorry, when I said you earn a point for $1 in the US and $1.30 (£1) in the UK I meant an Amex Membership Rewards point not a Hilton Honors point. Sorry if I caused any confusion. Apologies if this caused any confusion.
The 3 HH points per MR point that you are currently getting is an excellent deal and must be amongst the best uses of MR points at the moment.
I really wish they had no minimum points required to transfer… these would really be most helpful when you’re just trying to top off your account with a few hundred points for a redemption.
I agree with this. It would be good if there were no mimimum transfer limits for most hotel groups.
Would never do this unless I needed a couple thousand miles just to top up.
While I don’t consider Hilton points worthwhile, this is still good news for those who participate in the program.
Appreciate how you keep us current. An improvement if want to convert points but doubtful I’d use unless desperate.
good to know, the ratio would need to be at least 1:5 for this to be worth it for me.
HH can be purchased for as little as .04 so I definitely would not recommend anyone to transfer MR to HH.
How would that work?
It was 1 to 1 before? Ouch. They must have increased it because nobody was taking the option.
It was 1 MR = 1.5 Hilton Honors before.
It’s still 1:1 outside the US.
My amex blue with membership rewards does not seem to offer this . I can only transfer my points to plenti rewards . Probably it only works with annual fee cards.
Amex Blue membership rewards are limited. You don’t need a card with a fee — the Amex EveryDay would allow these transfers and has no fee.
Hilton redemptions aren’t always the best value wise, but they can be had. If you needed a small amount of points to top off, this isn’t the worst thing in the world. Any improvement is a good one.
Do you know if this is worldwide?
I can only confirm this is for U.S.-based Membership Rewards accounts.
It’s not worldwide.
It seems not. The German site is still showing a 1:1 ratio.
Oh well – lets hope they adjust it in Time so we get the Possibility to exchange our Points (not 😀 )
I’m not holding too much hope.
I agree with the other comments. There are so much better things to do with MR points than a transfer to Hilton! However, But it is always good to know in case of a specific situation where I need less than 2000 Points. It would be better if we could only transfer the exact number of points needed rather than the 1000 minimum.
I agree. It’s not the best value for points. Hilton points are so much inflated!!
Thank you for the update, I will not be taking advantage of this low value offer.
Ditto, ditto, ditto. This is not a great swap of points.
How much is one Hilton point worth?
I hate answering “How much is this point worth?” questions because in many cases the value is fluid and highly dependent on your intended use of a point.
That said, I’d say you’re likely to get a redemption value somewhere between .3 and 1 cent/point. Anyone that tells you a Hilton point is worth exactly X should be avoided. The value of a point or mile is directly correlated to what you’d otherwise pay in cash.
So does this mean when using Hilton Honors as a secondary account, earning 0.5 cents a point is reasonable?
It seems to be mid range and without a boatload of points, I’m having challenges getting huge value out of them.
For me, yes, I’d be ok with .5 cents with Honors points.
Thanks Howie- it’s easy to be subjective about it. But nothing beats cold hard math sometimes!
Not much. 🙁
The simple answer is, a point is worth what you personally can get for it. This varies a lot, depending on each person’s travel patterns and what that individual person values.
Good to know!
you are correct about transferring to Hilton not being a great choice. It really sucks unless you are just a few points short of an award.
I agree, Hilton points have a very low value. The transfer ratio would need to be at least 3 to 1 to make it worthwhile.
Thanks for keeping us up on things like this, even if they’re not worth doing. Someone might just need some Hilton points for something, and it might be worth topping up just to reach the amount they need.
Exactly. Good to know, and happy about the improvement, but it’s important to keep in mind this is still a relatively poor value for MR point transfers.