How to Earn Hilton Honors Points — and the Best Ways to Use Them

Courtesy of Hilton

Mastering a hotel loyalty program can be the key to earning and redeeming points for fabulous trips all over the world. Travelers can rack up hotel points not only for stays, but on many other types of purchases as well, and then use them to book award nights at associated properties. In addition to free nights, hotel points can often be converted into airline miles or redeemed for experiences like concert tickets and sporting events.

Hilton Honors is one of the world’s largest travel rewards programs with over 89 million members, and more than 5,700 properties around the globe where those members can both earn and redeem their hard-earned points. Here’s how to make the most of it.

What is Hilton Honors?

Hilton Honors is the loyalty program of Hilton, obviously. But in these days of acquisitions and consolidations, Hilton now comprises 14 distinct hotel brands. Those include Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts on the luxury side, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Curio Collection by Hilton for mid-range travelers, and solid budget brands like DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, and Hampton by Hilton.

There are also some brands you might not have heard of, like the Tapestry Collection and Tru by Hilton, as well as soon-to-launch labels like LXR and Signia.

This might seem like a lot of information to keep track of, but on the positive side, it means more opportunities to earn and redeem Hilton Honors points at hotels in over 100 countries.

How to Earn Hilton Honors Points

Courtesy of Hilton

Hilton Honors members earn 10 points per dollar spent on room rates and other eligible hotel charges (like dining or spa purchases) at most of Hilton’s brands. Stays at Home2 Suites and Tru properties only earn five points per dollar. If you have elite status, you earn more, but we’ll get into that below.

Hilton also fields three personal credit cards through American Express with which members can earn points on everyday spending. The first is the Hilton Honors American Express card. It has no annual fee and earns seven points per dollar at Hilton hotels, five points per dollar at restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations in the U.S., and three points per dollar on everything else. Cardholders enjoy complimentary Silver status, which is Hilton’s lowest elite tier. At time of writing, this card’s sign-up bonus was 75,000 points when you spend $1,000 within the first three months.

The mid-range Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card has a $95 annual fee. For that, you have a chance at a 125,000-point sign-up bonus when you spend $2,000 in the first three months. It earns 12 points per dollar at Hilton properties, six points per dollar at U.S. restaurants, gas stations and supermarkets, and three per dollar on everything else. It also comes with complimentary Gold elite status, with perks like earning even more bonus points on stays, room upgrades, and free in-room high-speed Wi-Fi.

The high-end Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, with an annual fee of $450, was only introduced in 2018. At time of writing, its sign-up bonus was 150,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. That’s nearly enough for two free nights at the luxurious Conrad Bora Bora Nui, which would cost 160,000 points or $1,500.

The Aspire earns 14 points per dollar on Hilton purchases, seven points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel and on car rentals and at U.S. restaurants, and three points per dollar on everyday purchases.

Every year you renew the Hilton Honors Aspire, you also get a free weekend night reward good at nearly any Hilton property around the world, which can be worth hundreds of dollars. Cardholders also receive up to $250 in statement credits on Hilton purchases each year, a $100 on-property credit on each stay of two nights or more at Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties, an annual $250 airline fee credit, and access to over 1,200 Priority Pass airport lounges around the world. Finally, the card comes with automatic top-tier Diamond status, which includes benefits like 100% bonus points on stays plus complimentary breakfast and club hotel executive lounge access.

If you regularly stay at Hilton properties, the bonuses afforded by its credit cards can really add up, as can the points-earning opportunities on everyday purchases. Just note that Hilton Honors points expire after 12 months of account inactivity, so in order to keep your points active, you’ve got to either earn or redeem some each year.

How to Redeem Hilton Honors Points

Courtesy of Hilton

Speaking of redeeming points, Hilton Honors members can use theirs in a variety of ways. The first is by booking award nights at hotels.

Unlike some other hotel programs, Hilton Honors no longer has an award chart where properties are separated into distinct categories with set redemption rates. Instead, award nights are priced dynamically, meaning that if paid rates are lower on certain dates, you can redeem fewer points for an award night. Likewise, when paid rates are more expensive, you’ll need to redeem more points. In general, though, you can expect award nights to cost between 5,000-95,000 points each. For example, standard award nights at the sophisticated Waldorf Astoria Berlin range from 50,000 points or $230 per night to 70,000 points or $340 per night over the next few months.

Hilton offers Points & Money awards that allow members to use both cash and points on a reservation. Say an award night costs 50,000 points, but you only have 40,000 in your account. You can redeem the 40,000 points you have and then pay cash for the remainder of the bill.

For every 1,000 points you subtract from the regular award rate, the cash co-pay goes up by about $3-6, depending on the hotel. For example, on a night at the Waldorf Astoria Berlin that costs 70,000 points or $340, you could instead pay 35,000 points plus $175. This feature can be very handy in case you don’t have enough points in your account for an outright redemption, or if you want to save some of your points for the future and would prefer to spend cash instead.

Hilton also offers premium rewards where members can redeem even more points for upgraded rooms and suites, and those can cost hundreds of thousands of points per night. In general, aim to get about half a cent per point in value for any redemption. Hilton Honors Silver, Gold, and Diamond elites get the fifth night free on award reservations of five nights or more, which is a nice discount of up to 20 percent.

Members can use points for non-hotel experiences that range in value, such as Maren Morris concert tickets in St. Louis (30,000 points), or a 24-hour car-racing experience at Le Mans that includes a night of glamping at the Aston Martin campsite (350,000 points).

Finally, Hilton allows members to redeem points for Amazon purchases, but the redemption value tends to be pretty low, so avoid it if possible.

Hilton Honors Partners

In addition to accruing Hilton Honors points through hotel stays and credit-card spending, members can earn bonus points on car rentals with Alamo, Enterprise, and National; by joining the Priority Pass airport lounge network; or by booking a cruise through CruisesOnly. Members can also earn bonus points by eating out at restaurants that participate in Hilton’s dining network.

It is possible to convert miles from Amtrak Guest Rewards, Hawaiian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic into Hilton Honors points at varying ratios, though this is typically not a great option since the transfer ratios are quite low.

A much better deal – if you have an American Express card that earns transferable Membership Rewards points, such as the Platinum Card or the American Express Gold Card, you can initiate transfers at a ratio of 1,000 Amex points to 2,000 Hilton points.

On the flip side, members can convert Hilton points into airline miles with over 40 partners including American Airlines, Delta, United, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore Airlines. The conversion ratio for most of these partners is 10,000 Hilton points to 1,000-1,500 airline miles. So this should only be a last resort, as should redeeming points for a car rental with Alamo, Enterprise, or National.

Elite Status Tiers and Benefits

Hilton Honors members who spend a certain number of nights at Hilton properties each year can earn elite status, which confers benefits such as bonus points-earning opportunities, room upgrades, free breakfast, and more.

The program currently has three tiers of elite status starting with Silver, which is earned after four stays or 10 nights per calendar year, or earning 25,000 base points (equivalent to spending $2,500 at hotels). If you hit this level, you will earn 20% bonus points on stays (so 12 points per dollar instead of the regular 10), and receive a few perks like free bottles of water and a fifth night free on award stays.

If you earn Gold status by completing 20 stays or 40 nights in a calendar year, or by earning 75,000 base points (i.e. spending $7,500 at hotels), you get 80% bonus points (so 18 per dollar on stays), the possibility of room upgrades, and complimentary breakfast at most hotels.

Top-tier Diamond status is achieved at 30 stays or 60 nights, or by earning 120,000 base points in a calendar year (equivalent to spending $12,000 on hotel stays). Diamond elites get a 100% point bonus on stays (so 20 points per dollar), free premium internet, a better chance of room upgrades, club lounge access at some hotels, and various welcome amenities.

One interesting facet to the Hilton Honors program is that elite members can roll over any nights above the status level they achieve for the following year. So if you spend 20 nights in Hilton hotels this year, you would qualify for Silver status, which only requires 10 nights. The extra 10 nights will be rolled over into your qualification activity for the following year, giving you a jump on earning status yet again.

Remember, though, that all of Hilton’s American Express credit cards come with automatic elite status of one level or another, so carrying one of them is the fastest and cheapest shortcut to becoming a Hilton Honors elite and enjoying all the attendant perks.

Pros and Cons of Hilton Honors

The advantages of enrolling in Hilton Honors include the opportunity to earn and redeem points at thousands of hotels all over the world. The program’s co-branded credit cards offer some incredible benefits, including great ways to earn bonus points, automatic elite status, and on-property credits for things like dining and spa treatments during stays. One final factor in its favor: the ability for members to pool their points with up to 10 other people for free, putting more award nights within easy reach.

Unfortunately, the program lacks transparency when it comes to award nights since rates at a single hotel can vary by tens of thousands of points depending on demand. Also a drag? Hilton’s airline and shopping partnerships offer poor redemption values for your points.

How to Sign Up

It only takes a moment to sign up for Hilton Honors, and it’s free, so you might as well.

You Can Now Earn Hilton Honors Points Every Time You Ride Lyft

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images

Starting Tuesday, May 14, Hilton Honors and Lyft are teaming up to give their customers a chance to earn more rewards points than ever before.

How exactly can you start earning points? First, link your Hilton Honors and Lyft accounts on HiltonHonorsLyft.com. As soon as you finish a ride, you’ll get double the points for every dollar spent on shared Lyfts, and three times the points for every dollar spent on economy, luxury, and extra seats.

The partnership gives Hilton Honors members an opportunity to rack up points — and the resulting rewards — even faster.

Related: Hilton Is Launching the Hotel Brand of Business Travelers' Dreams

Lyft has a similar partnership with Delta Air Lines that allows people to earn one mile per dollar on rides within the U.S., and two miles for any cars booked from the airport.

“Our vision is for Lyft to be the most convenient and rewarding travel option for our riders and having a top tier hospitality partner, in addition to our current airline partnerships, brings us one step closer,” said David Baga, Lyft’s chief business officer. “We are always seeking to provide the best rider experience and often look to leading category partners to help deliver a great hospitality experience.”

Hilton Honors member benefits range from late checkout to free hotel nights to special offers (like tickets to the Grammy's).

The timing of the new partnership couldn’t be better with summer right around the corner, so here's your reminder to get traveling.

Is Travel Hacking Really a Scam?

Last month, I wrote an article on how to travel anywhere for $1,000. I wanted to show people how, by changing how you save and using a few budget techniques, you could make any trip happen for $1,000 (or less) from start to finish. While that is a lot of money to most people, it’s not an insurmountable amount of money to save with a few clever ninja techniques (it works out to only $2.74 per day).

In the article, I picked expensive destinations as examples because I didn’t want to be accused of copping out by picking cheap places. If I had, I imagined the Internet would rise up and say “Oh, sure, Matt! Anyone can travel to Thailand on a budget. That’s easy. What about (insert expensive destination)? This article is fake news!”

In picking expensive destinations, I used points and miles to help mitigate the costs of getting to each destination. Using points and miles for cheap and free flights and accommodation was a must. After all, it’s one thing to pay $700 for a flight if the destination only costs a few dollars a day. It’s another thing to pay that much when you’re going to Australia! You won’t get far with only $300 to spend in Australia!

But a different — and unexpected — backlash erupted. On the blog and social media, people kept commenting that points/miles are money, have a cost, aren’t easy to get, only work in the States, and that, basically, the whole article was BS. For example:

“Matt, like some people have mentioned before me in the comment section: not everyone has miles or bonus points. You know I’m a travel writer…and yet I have never joined a frequent flyer program. I don’t have miles or points to redeem, and likewise, there are also people who might not have saved up enough points to fly entirely free.

“Between cheaper destinations and relying on bonus points, you chose the latter for your article’s premise, and it feels a bit like saying: I could be telling you to go camping, but hey, that would be too easy, so let’s talk cruising — now, redeem 100,000 Airmiles for this two-week cruise and you’ve got $1,000 to play with on board!

“It doesn’t seem entirely fair.”

First, let me say you are all correct. From the outset, I should have factored in taxes and fees into the cost of the trips, and have since changed the expense chart to reflect that. It was silly of me to not include that from the outset. I apologize for the oversight.

But, second, I don’t think using points or miles is in anyway cheating or unfair. (I’d also like to say that while they were a big part of the article, many of the other tips helped lower costs just as much!)

To me, points and miles are free money. They have no cost to me. I don’t give up anything to get them. I think of them as the perk for being smart about my spending. Sure, I have to spend the points/miles in addition to money, and I know some of you view points and miles as having some value with an opportunity cost to them, etc.

But I don’t think of them that way.

They are just a thing I get when I spend money that I would have spent anyway.

Let me explain in more detail. A lot of people think points and miles are hard to get, that you have to do crazy stuff to get them, or you have to spend lots of money to get there:

“To collect miles requires spending money. To say one can travel anywhere for $1,000 and then condition that on free airfare is disingenuous. The advice is aimed at people who might find $1,000 a lot of money. Let’s assume you need 80,000 miles for an award and can find a sign-up offer for 40,000. That means you probably have to spend $40,000 to collect the other 40,000 miles. Then the advice to use hotel points for free rooms. Assume you want a seven-day vacation and rooms are just 15,000 a night. That’s another 105,000 hotel points, and another $105,000 spend. Even if your hotel card gets two-for-one points, that’s still $52,500 in spend. So for me to go on a vacation for $1,000 I need to charge $92,500. I’m surprised you missed telling us to just go for one day and avoid six more days of hotel, meal, and local transportation expenses.”

I hear you and I see the logic but I disagree. You can earn a lot of points and miles per year with much less spending than described because there are pretty easy ways to earn multiple points/miles per dollar spent.

I’m a terrible travel hacker compared to my friends. I don’t do some of the crazy things they do to earn points and miles because I don’t have a lot of time, so I like to make it easy on myself. I don’t buy extra things, overspend, resell furniture or gift cards, or give up my Saturdays to go buy stuff in bulk and then sell it online for a profit.

I simply go about my life and spend wisely. I have chart for which cards I use for which expenses, so I always get the most miles per dollar spent. Here it is:

How I Optimize My Spending with My Travel Credit Cards

(Note: I also have all the co-branded airline cards but I rarely ever use those.)

Through all this, I earn a million or more miles per year. If it was really only 1 point/mile per dollar spent, then I would have to spend one million a year but that’s not the case. When I need to buy something, I do it online for bonus points through airline shopping portals (I recently got 6x American Airlines miles for my Macy’s shopping on top of my credit card points). Need something on Amazon? I buy a gift card from Office Depot for 5x points and then go through JetBlue for 3x more points. Buying a new computer? I’m off to get a new card to hit the minimum spending for the bonus. Got a few minutes? I answer some surveys for points.

I’m always earning multiple points per dollar spent. It’s rarely one to one. (Note: You can click here to see a more detailed breakdown of where I earn my million points/miles.)

I don’t view collecting points/miles as a cost because I don’t spend extra money to earn them. To me, something has a cost when I give up money to get it.

Sure, there are taxes and fees are included in the ticket that vary wildly among airlines (I’m looking at you, BA and Virgin), but it’s still cheaper than the price of a full ticket. And hotels don’t charge these fees, so the cost of them using points is literally zero. Also, some credit cards allow you to wipe charges off of them, making those expenses literally zero too.

If you want to travel more, points and miles have to be something you do (providing you live in a place where they are an option). Even if it takes you are year to accumulate them, they help you unlock your dreams by drastically reducing the cost of everything.

When I ask most people why they don’t travel hack, they just shrug their shoulders and go, “I don’t know. Seems hard, I guess.” I think people believe because travel hacking seems complicated, therefore it must be so. Actually, it is not.

In addition, travel hacking seems to run counter to everything we have learned about finance. We’re taught to think of money and credit in one way:

“Credit cards a bad. The companies are bad. Never pay a fee. Your score is sacred and doing things like this hurt it, and you’ll never get a loan.”

But that is just bullshit. It’s a myth perpetuated by….well, I don’t know who exactly, but people keep believing it.

You earn points and miles for everyday purchases you would have bought anyways and the perks outweigh the credit card fees. For example, with my $450 per year Chase card, I get:

• $300 in airline credit
• 3x points on travel and restaurants (so I can earn points faster)
• Global Entry ($100 every five years)
• Purchase protection so I can get refunded if things I buy are lost, damaged, or stolen
• A priority pass for lounge access (about $100 a year)
• Trip insurance

My $49-a-year IHG card gives me a free night at a category 1-5 property (around $200 a night) and my American Airlines card comes with free checked bags, saving me hundreds of dollars a year!

Additionally, my credit score has only gone up because of this as now I have more credit and less debt as well as a good payment history. (And, as my friend Gary says, “What good is a credit score if you don’t use it?”)

If you pay your bills off each month and are reasonable with your money, not collecting points and miles is saying no to free money. It’s saying, “I don’t want to be rewarded for my good spending habits.”

Free is the best word in travel.

When you don’t travel hack, the only person you are hurting is yourself. You aren’t hurting the banks or the airlines. They are in on the game.

In my view, travel hacking is something to be embraced. It reduces the cost of travel. You can do this in a lot of countries around the world! Even if takes you a year to earn a free flight, why not take the flight? One free flight is better than no free flights.

Anything that saves money and reduces the cost of travel is something every traveler should do.

Saying no to travel hacking is saying yes to spending more money on travel — and why would you ever want to do that?

P.S. – If you want to learn more and figure out how to collect points and miles, click here to download the book I wrote on travel hacking. It will tell you how program work, what cards to get, give you step-by-step instructions, tips, tricks, and secret ways to collect miles.