Hilton HHonors 101: Introduction and Five Reasons Hilton HHonors is My Favorite Loyalty Program

After posts about my parents’ trip to London and the French Riviera with miles and maximizing the Double Your HHonors promotion, it’s no secret that the Hilton HHonors points program is my favorite hotel rewards program lately.

 

(photo credit: Luxury Travel Magazine)

 

With many co-branded credit cards offering sign-up bonuses, status and point spending bonuses, it’s the best program for those who don’t travel at all. It’s also an excellent program for the mid-volume travelers; the Hilton HHonors mid-level status offers great benefits. 

 

Reason One: Multi-night award redemptions make great deals!

Hilton’s hotels are divided into Categories 1-7. Each category requires a different per night cost in points according to the following chart (this excludes Waldorf Astorias, which have their own pricing scheme):

Hilton has their top level properties priced at 50,000 points.

The great thing about the program is that it actually takes as few as four nights to save as much as 32.5% for each night. Hilton HHonors has two multi-night award pricing schemes, each available to select customers:

The Hilton HHonors AXON reward is available to holders of the American Express Hilton HHonors co-branded cards (the American Express Hilton HHonors card and the American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass card):

145,000 Hilton HHonors points for four nights at a Category 7 property (36,250 points a night)

125,000 Hilton HHonors points for four nights at a Category 5 or 6 property (31,250 points a night)

If you have one of the American Express co-branded Hilton points, then for 145,000 Hilton HHonors points, you can get a four night stay at a top level Category 7 hotel like my parents at the London Hilton Park Lane on their trip to London and the French Riviera with miles. These rooms are going for $833 a night in August when my parents are going!

The Hilton HHonors GLON reward is available to Hilton elite members. You get elite status by holding either of the two American Express cards or the Citi Hilton Reserve card. With the GLON award, you get:

• 15% discount for a 4 night stay
• 20% discount for a 5 night stay
• 25% discount for a stay of 6 nights or longer

This means that if you are staying 6 nights at a Category 7 hotel, the cost is (6*50,000)*(0.75) = 225,000 points (or 37,500 points a night).

225,000 Hilton HHonors points for six nights at a Category 7 property (37,500 points a night)

Reason Two: Hilton HHonors points and rewards nights are super easy to get

Let’s say you want a four night (145,000 Hilton points with AXON) or a six night (225,000 Hilton points with GLON) award. How much work is it to actually get these points?

If you’re staying at Hilton properties, you can always earn 15 points per dollar or 26.5-29.5 points per dollar if you have one of the co-branded cards. Hilton also runs frequent promotions. It’s not uncommon to get 40 points per dollar by maximizing the HHonors promotions.

In addition, there is a ton of rewards cards that offer Hilton HHonors points. This makes for an endless supply of ways to earn points. Here’s a list of some current examples as of this writing.

• American Express Hilton HHonors Card: No annual fee, 50,000 points after spending $750 in 3 months
• American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Card:  40,000 points after first purchase, 20,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months
• Citi Hilton Reserve: 2 free weekend nights after spending $2,500, additional free weekend night after spending $10,000 within a year
• Virgin Atlantic:  My parents got 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points by signing up for the Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Card. Each Virgin Atlantic point can be transferred to 2 Hilton HHonors points.
• Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Card: 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles, which transfer to 70,000 Hilton HHonors points
• Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Card: 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles, which transfer to 70,000 Hilton HHonors points
• Starwood American Express Card: 25,000 Starwood points after $5000 spend in 6 months. 25,000 Starwood points transfer to 30,000 Virgin Atlantic points, which then transfer to 60,000 Hiton HHonors points.

Reason Three: Hilton HHonors Gold status is easy to get and gets you free breakfast and room upgrades

Hilton has three elite status tiers: Silver, Gold, Diamond. Gold is the middle tier of these, but is extremely easy to get by just signing up for a co-branded card.

Hilton HHonors Gold status:

• Gold benefit highlights: Earn extra 25% base points, breakfast for two guests except at Waldorf Astoria, free internet, room upgrades and executive lounge access for those upgraded to an executive lounge floor
• Status with cards: You get Gold status as long as you hold the Citi HHonors Reserve Card,. You also get it your first year of the Amex Hilton Surpass card or after spending $20,000 on the Amex Hilton Surpass card.
• Status with stays: 20 stays, 40 nights or 75,000 base points ($7,500 in hotel spending)

Hilton is one of the few programs that provides free breakfast with a mid-tier status. Hyatt and Starwood require Diamond and Platinum status, respectively. These are the highest status levels in the program and cannot be earned through a credit card at all.

Breakfast at nice hotels is often pricey and I do value breakfast at the hotel quite highly. It’s just so much more pleasant and relaxing to be able to get up, go downstairs and have a nice leisurely breakfast at the hotel rather than have to get ready and scour the city for food with low blood sugar and caffeine deficiency. I actually find that removing that stress in the morning leads to a much better vacation day!

I am going for Hilton HHonors Diamond status this year with the Bluebird and Vanilla reload combo by spending $40,000 on the Hilton HHonors Surpass card. Since I will be getting 6 points/$ at drugstores until May 1, I will come away with 240k Hilton HHonors points… hmm, where shall I go?

Reason Four: Lots of hotels everywhere

The Hilton chain is huge! Hilton Worldwide includes the following hotel chains:

• Waldorf Astoria
• Conrad
• Hilton
• DoubleTree by Hilton
• Embassy Suites Hotels
• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hampton Inn and Suites
• Homewood Suites by Hilton

The Waldorf Astoria and the Conrad are the luxury brands among the Hilton chain of hotels.

You can find a Hilton hotel almost everywhere you go. There are over 100 Hilton properties in the UK alone!!  28 of these are in London. They are present in 78 countries over 6 continents.

This makes Hilton a very viable option for earning points. It’s unlikely you will need to travel somewhere for work with no Hiltons at all. And then there are opportunities everywhere to redeem those points, including at some world-class properties (but that’s saved for reason five!)

Reason Five: Luxurious top-tier redemptions at attainable rates

I mentioned in Reason One how you can get four nights at any Category 7 for 145,000 points or six nights for 225,000 points. This is available if you have the right card or the right status. These are available anywhere you can find rooms for 50,000 Hilton HHonors points a night.

With those awards, you can take a relaxing vacation at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island that would otherwise cost you $1,150 for a refundable rate (any stays booked with Hilton HHonors points are fully refundable!)

or spend a few nights experiencing Japanese culture at the Conrad Tokyo

or at London Hilton Park Lane, in the heart of Mayfair and close to Buckingham Palace!

That concludes my top five reasons for why I love the Hilton HHonors points program. What are some of your reasons for liking Hilton HHonors or other hotel loyalty programs? 

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