The State of Hilton AXON Awards: How to Guarantee AXON Rates at Category 7 Hotels for the Next Year
With the Hilton devaluation imminent, I was able to use 145,000 Hilton HHonors points to lock in a certificate good for 4 nights at any new Category 1-7 Hilton hotels for up to a year. This is valuable as the new Category 7 hotels are going to cost up to 60,000 points a night in two days during high season. I previously wrote about the announced Hilton HHonors Rewards changes that are occurring March 28. The post goes over the changes for Hilton HHonors rates and categories.
I booked an AXON award for 4 nights at Conrad Koh Samui this December. I haven’t finalized my plans, but wanted to lock in the 145,000 point rate for 4 nights with the Hilton AXON award. In two days, this hotel is about to go up to 95,000 points a night for my dates. When I booked, I actually got a certificate good for 4 nights for Category 1-7 hotels up to a year.
Note: Since the fifth night free award did not exist prior to the recently announced Hilton HHonors award changes and it is mentioned here, it is clear the Hilton team has thought about the terms of the certificate and layed them out clearly. If I cancel my AXON award at Conrad Koh Samui, I can have four standard award nights at any Hilton Category 1-7 until a year after when I booked. This should apply to the new Category 7 hotels, not the current ones.
ThePointsGuy previously reported that the Hilton AXON award will be staying in some sense for now, but it’s not clear what the new rates will be and whether they will change in the near future. This confirms that we can, in fact, lock in Category 7 hotel AXON rates for a year, changes or not. This should also work with Category 6.
Additional AXON Information from Discussion with the Diamond Desk
I called Hilton Diamond desk to ask about what will happen if I cancel my AXON award. She said I will get back 145,000 points and this will cover four nights at any new Category 7 Hotel. She actually sounded quite knowledgeable (I have definitely honed my skills on judging who is knowledgeable and who isn’t so I am tempted to give some credence to what she is saying). She told me that going forward, after March 28:
- The four night Category 7 AXON award will remain at 145,000 points
- The four night Category 5 and 6 AXON award will remain at 125,000 points
- This is what they know so far and no decision has been made on higher categories
Hopefully she is right, but I am glad I have it in writing with the certificate.
Some Hotels Where This is Useful
According to the new Hilton HHonors chart, Category 7 hotels will go up to 60,000 points a night in high season. We don’t yet know what is going to happen with the four night AXON awards that are available for American Express holders and have not received official confirmation.
Here are a few hotels moving to Category 7 . This is by no means an exhaustive list or the top Category 7 properties on the list. It’s just a few properties I wrote down on a quick 5 minute glance through the new Hilton Category list.
- Conrad Bali, Indonesia
- Conrad Centennial Singapore, Singapore
- Conrad Seoul, South Korea
- Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, Spain
- Hilton London Metropole, United Kingdom
- Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hawaii
- Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
- Hilton Sydney, Australia
Additional note: You may be able to book other types of awards (e.g., GLON) and get similar certificates locking in the lower rates, but I haven’t tried this.
Excellent! I will call today to try the same method. Thanks a bunch!
is this actually working?