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How to use Hilton Honors points: Your full guide

  • Meghan Hunter

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    Hilton Honors points are among the easiest to earn in our hobby, due in part to big bonuses on cards like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, and the Hilton Honors American Express Card. I’ve had a Hilton card in my wallet for many years and enjoyed incredible stays at properties like the Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea.

    The information for the Hilton Aspire card and Hilton Surpass Card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    While Hilton points aren’t worth as much as other hotel points, like Hyatt’s, you can still get tremendous value by redeeming them for hotel stays at 5,000+ properties in over 100 countries and territories. It’s likely you’ll be able to find a Hilton brand hotel just about anywhere you go.

    You don’t have to be a miles and points wizard to use your Hilton points, either. I’ll share how to use Hilton Honors points for award stays and more, and show you when it’s not a good deal.

    It’s easy to redeem Hilton Points at bucket-list resorts in Hawaii, or way off the beaten path in the far corners of the world. (Photo courtesy of Hilton)

    How to use Hilton Honors points

    Before you get started with Hilton points, you’ll have to set up a Hilton Honors account. It’s free to join, and only takes a couple of minutes to sign-up online.

    Here’s how to redeem your Hilton points:

    Use Hilton points for hotel stays

    Whether you prefer five-star accommodations or are happy with a family-friendly, small-town hotel, Hilton has 15 hotel brands to suit your travel style (with more coming soon):

    Hilton no longer has an award chart, so to find the price of a Hilton hotel you’ll have to either search individually for location and dates, or use the Hilton Points Explorer, which shows you the most or least you could pay for an award night at a specific hotel. Prices may vary depending on season as well. I prefer just searching directly — it’s more efficient.

    Standard room prices at Hilton properties start at 5,000 Hilton points per night, and top out at 95,000 Hilton points per night. However, it’s possible to spend much more if you want to (or have to) book a premium room award, so look for standard awards first.

    To search for an award stay, navigate to Hilton.com and enter your search criteria (city, travel dates). You can also select “Advanced Search” to include details like number of guests and rooms. Click “Go” to see your results.

    You don’t need to be signed into your Hilton account to search, but if you want to book, you’ll be prompted to log-in later.

    You’ll be brought to a results screen which defaults to cash rates. Click “Points” in the upper right hand corner to see the award rates for your stay.

    On the left sidebar, you’ll have the option to filter your results by distance, amenities, brand, and availability. If you find a hotel you like, click “Select” to proceed.

    Filter and scroll through your options (be sure to select “Points” instead of “USD” to see award prices).

    If you see an asterisk next to the points price, it means the rate changes during your stay (for multi-night stays).

    You’ll be brought to a screen showing the various paid and points rates for the hotel. Click “Select” next to the standard room award. At this point, you’ll be prompted to enter your Hilton Honors account number and password (if you haven’t logged in already).

    Choose the standard room award to proceed with your booking (or premium room, if you prefer that).

    Then, you’ll see a screen verifying your stay dates and personal details, plus have the opportunity to add additional guest names or special requests. If everything is in order, select “Continue”.

    Verify your stay and personal details before you select “Continue.”

    Before you complete your reservation, you’ll be given the choice to pay for your stay with Points and Money. Just move the slider to reflect the number of points (and amount of cash) you’re willing to pay. This is a good option if you prefer to stretch your Hilton points for longer stays by adding a cash co-pay.

    On this screen, you’ll also be asked for your credit card number to guarantee the room (or pay for the cash co-pay, if applicable). Once you’re happy with the booking, select “Book Reservation” to confirm.

    If you want to stretch your Hilton points, you have the option to pay with points and money – and you pick how much of each.

    Here’s something really cool about booking award stays with Hilton. If you have any sort of elite Hilton status (Silver, Gold or Diamond), you’ll get the fifth night free on award stays of five or more consecutive nights.

    What’s even better is that all of the Amex Hilton cards come with automatic elite status. So that’s another reason to get (and keep) a Hilton card if you like redeeming points for longer stays.

    Use Hilton points for experiences

    If you’re sitting on a chunk of Hilton points and don’t have travel plans, here’s a unique way to use them. You can redeem Hilton points for things like exclusive concert and sporting event tickets, culinary tours and more through Hilton Experiences.

    Some of these are auctions that require you to bid, and others are a fixed price in points. Past auctions included tickets to see Ariana Grande, Pink, and the Indy 500 (not all at once obviously), and foodie/cultural events included a chef’s table experience at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and truffle hunting in Tuscany.

    You’re able to filter experiences by number of points you want to spend, type of experience, dates, location and the like. It’s really hard to say whether or not these are a good value because some experiences don’t have a cash equivalent, or they might be so popular that the bidding gets out of hand.

    Use Hilton points at Amazon

    Similar to using flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards or Citi ThankYou to pay for Amazon purchases, you’ll first have to link your Hilton account to your Amazon account.

    But please don’t do this, because the value you’ll get is spectacularly bad. Your Hilton points are only worth 0.2 cents each when you redeem them this way — and on average, it’s possible to get at least 0.5 cents per Hilton point in value (or more) when you use them for hotel stays instead.

    If you link your Hilton and Amazon accounts, be careful not to let Amazon set Hilton points as your default payment method (I just tried this and the default was yes, make Hilton points the default). You wouldn’t want to accidentally use them all to pay for a purchase — that’d be the worst redemption ever.

    Hilton members who reside outside the U.S. can also redeem their points for merchandise and gift cards through the Hilton Honors Shopping Mall. The value you’ll get for your points is also poor.

    Just because you can doesn’t mean you should — redeeming Hilton points at Amazon is a poor value.

    Transfer Hilton points to airlines

    This is another redemption which, while nice to have as an option, is a generally crummy value. You can transfer Hilton points to dozens of airline partners, plus Amtrak, but the ratios are not good.

    Transfer partners include:

    Transferring Hilton points to airline miles rarely makes sense, unless you absolutely won’t use your Hilton points for stays or just need a few airline miles to top off your account for an award flight.

    It’s possible to transfer Hilton points to dozens of airlines, including United, but the ratios are horrible. (Photo by Jetlinerimages/iStock by Getty Images)

    Use Hilton points for events

    Another way to redeem your Hilton points is for event credits towards meetings or events at any of their hotels. Again, this is horrible value:

    Similar to Amazon, your points are worth 0.2 cents each when you redeem them for event credits. You can do much better using them for hotel stays.

    Pool Hilton points

    You can transfer up to 500,000 Hilton points to up to 10 friends and family members each year, and it won’t cost you a thing. By pooling your Hilton points with others, you might be able to boost a pal’s points balance so they can afford a better or longer award stay.

    Use Hilton points for Lyft credits

    It’s also possible to use your Hilton points for a credit with Lyft. That said, we don’t recommend this option because of the poor value you’ll get for your points.

    Redeeming them this way will get you just over 0.2 cents per point in value. When you can easily get at least 0.5 cents per point when you redeem your points for hotel stays.

    Donate Hilton points to charity

    It’s also possible to use Hilton points by donating them to charity. In conjunction with PointWorthy, you can donate as few as 4,000 Hilton points to hundreds of causes — from large organizations like the American Red Cross to local churches, social service groups or memorial funds.

    Donating points will also reset your points expiration, so it’s a great way to keep your Hilton points from expiring and do some good.

    How to earn Hilton points

    Even if you’re new to Hilton points, it’s easy to build up a substantial account balance quickly. You can earn Hilton Honors points directly with welcome bonuses on these cards:

    You’ve also got the option to transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Hilton at a 1:2 ratio. You can earn Amex Membership Rewards points with cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card.

    I don’t personally recommend this unless you’re a few points shy of an award and need to top off your account, because there are far better uses for your Membership Rewards points.

    Check out our full guide to earning Hilton points here. Once you’ve built up a stash of Hilton points, get out and use them!

    Bottom line

    Redeeming Hilton Honors points for hotel stays is very straightforward and can get you amazing stays at luxury properties for nothing — or help you visit family and friends in smaller cities without having to worry about accommodations. Typically, you’ll get the most value from your Hilton points redeeming them this way.

    You can also combine points with cash for award nights, and if you have elite Hilton status of any kind (which you’ll get complimentary with any of the Amex Hilton cards, including the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card, Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, and the Hilton Honors American Express Card, you’ll get the fifth night free on award stays of five or more consecutive nights.

    You’ve got other options for redeeming Hilton points outside of hotel stays, like for Hilton Experiences and Amazon purchases, but the value you’ll get is almost always lousy in comparison.

    Do you have a favorite memory or tip with redeeming Hilton points? Let us know in the comments!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)