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Hilton Honors continues to evolve, but one of its most valuable perks has stayed the same: the fifth night free on award stays.
To take advantage of it, you'll need Hilton elite status. Thankfully, that's easy to get thanks to its co-branded credit cards. With that status, you can unlock the fifth night free and stretch your points further by booking longer stays.
But Hilton’s version of this perk works a little differently than other programs. So here’s how it works and how to get the most value from it.
Page Contents
How Does the Hilton Fifth Night Free Discount Work?
Hilton calculates its fifth night free benefit using an “averaged award cost” system. Instead of making one night free, Hilton averages the nightly rates across your stay and subtracts the equivalent of a single night from the total.
Here's what this can look like.
Above is the fare calendar for the Umbral, Curio Collection by Hilton. The amount that you'll spend (and save) depends on which dates you stay. For instance, if I booked a stay for May 1–6, I'd spend:
- 65,000 + 65,000 + 65,000 + 54,000 + 58,000 = 307,000 points without a discount
- 307,000 ÷ 5 = 61,400 points per night
- 307,000 − 61,400 = 245,600 total points after the Hilton Fifth Night Free
In other words, the Hilton Fifth Night Free discount is roughly 61,400 points.
However, if I booked a trip from May 7–12, I'd spend:
- 65,000 + 65,000 + 65,000 + 65,000 + 58,000 = 318,000 points
- 318,000 ÷ 5 = 63,600 points per night
- 318,000 − 63,600 = 254,400 total points
By moving my dates slightly, I can increase the number of points saved. But I'll also spend more points overall.
Restrictions on the Hilton Fifth Night Free Benefit
Here are some important details about this benefit:
- The fifth night free is only valid on standard room rewards.
- Free nights can be redeemed for as few as 5,000 points and up to 250,000 per night.
- 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 applied to a single stay of up to 20 nights.
- You can use this benefit an unlimited number of times 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 need Hilton Honors elite status. Fortunately, even entry-level Silver status qualifies, and it’s one of the easiest hotel statuses to earn and maintain.
Any of the four cards below offer complimentary elite status:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card: Complimentary Hilton Honors™ Silver status
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Complimentary Hilton Honors™ Diamond status
You can enroll for complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status (plus Marriott Gold Elite status) with the following cards:
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
$150Rates & Fees
(Terms Apply)
- 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
$550Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio
- 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly through select rental companies, and at U.S. restaurants
- 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®.
- Earn 5X points on Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings.
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 high, but booking five nights on points can unlock significant value. Because Hilton averages the nightly rates and discounts one night from the total, you’ll see a 20% savings.
A longer trip at a luxury resort? Count me in!
Not sure which property to stay at? Check out our votes for the best Hilton points redemptions for luxury stays. Just note that due to dynamic pricing, standard rooms can cost up to 250,000 points or more per night. So, you'll need a lot of Hilton points and standard availability to really maximize this benefit.
Book a minimum of five nights
This bit might seem obvious. If you want to maximize your points, aim to book stays of at least five nights. While shorter stays may fit your plans, extending a three- or four-night trip to five nights can unlock the full value of this benefit.
Better yet, book an even longer stay. The fifth night free applies to every fifth night — so a 10-night stay gets two nights free, 15 nights gets three, and 20 nights gets four.
How To Earn Hilton Points
Before you can maximize your Hilton points, you must first build a stash of them. Thankfully, there's no shortage of ways to earn Hilton points.
Hilton credit cards
There are four Hilton co-branded Amex cards. 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:
(Terms Apply)
- Earn 130,000 Bonus Points plus a Free Night Reward after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 4/15/2026.
- Enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status with your Card. Plus, spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn an upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year. Terms and Limitations apply.
- 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 a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible 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 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.
- 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.
- Whenever you travel more than 100 miles from home, Global Assist® Hotline is available for 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical and legal referrals, emergency cash wires, and missing luggage assistance. Card Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. Other terms and conditions apply.
- Pay It Plan It®: Pay It® lets you tap in the American Express® App to quickly pay for small purchase amounts throughout the month and still earn rewards the way you usually do. Plan It® gives you the option to split up big purchases into equal monthly payments with a fixed fee. You'll know upfront exactly how much you'll pay.
- Points don't expire while your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is active and in good standing.
- $150 annual fee.
- 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.
- 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
In addition to earning points through credit cards, Hilton also makes it easy to build a balance by pooling points. You can combine 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 is our go-to option for building a rewards balance. However, for Hilton, this is our last resort. The program has limited transfer partners, and the relatively low value of Hilton points means this is rarely a good deal — even when there’s an Amex transfer bonus.
Final Thoughts
While not the only award program to offer this type of 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), Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees), and American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees)
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About the The Fifth Night Free with Hilton Honors are affected by the devaluation in september 2025 ?
I found this on Hilton website:
===============
https://www.hilton.com/en/help-center/hilton-honors-benefits/redeem-a-fifth-night-free/
Free nights can be redeemed for as few as 5,000 Points per night and no more than 95,000 Points per night for a standard room. Select properties with specialty accommodations may require up to 120,000 Points per night for a standard room.
The number of Points required may vary depending on the hotel, time of year, and cost of the room.
================
Does it mean that when a standard room is more than 95,000, the fifth night free can not be use ?
I ask Hilton and the only answer they gave to me is : The fifth night free still there (????). No mention about the 95,000 points.
What do you know on your side ?
Hi colonel, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’ll reach out to Hilton and report back. Thank you!
Following up! Hilton let us know that is has not changed any policies around 5th Night Free benefit. It should still apply for any 100% Points Standard Room Reward booking of 5+ nights, regardless of the point price.
The webpage you mentioned probably just hasn’t been updated to factor in all the devaluations 🙂
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?