Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points until 20 September 2020, which can be leveraged into cheaper Hilton Hotels stays. Plus, the annual points buying cap has been lifted to 160,000 points.
This means you could pocket up to 320,000 Hilton Honors points at a rate of 0.5 cents USD each (about 0.7 cents AUD).
This can represent good value for topping up points balances for specific redemptions — a 100% bonus is the best offer you will usually see. In fact, all of Hilton Honors’ promotions have been offered at this rate recently.
However, we don’t recommend you buy points speculatively — you should ideally have a specific hotel stay in mind to compare buying Hilton Honors points versus paying cash.
You can also get your hands on Hilton Honors points by transferring them over from American Express Membership Rewards at a 2:1 ratio.
What is the current Hilton Honors offer?
The minimum points required to trigger the bonus is 10,000 points, and you can purchase up to 160,000 points in a calendar year, excluding bonus points.
That means the maximum amount of points you can purchase in this promotion is 160,000 regular points + 160,000 bonus points = 320,000 total points for US$1,600.
The bonus brings the cost of each point down from the regular price of 1.0 cents USD per point to 0.5 cents.
You should run the maths in advance and see if room redemption costs and availability will work for you to buy Honors points instead of paying cash.
Once you’ve clicked through, you’ll need to sign in to your account and the bonus will be visible.
Offer history
The usual price set by Hilton is 1 US cent per point, including taxes. Previously they have been sold for as low as 0.5 US cents per point:
| Date | Cost per point (USD cents) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March-May 2020 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| January-February 2020 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| December 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| November 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| September-October 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| June-July 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| April-May 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| January-February 2019 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| November-December 2018 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| September 2018 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| July-August 2018 | 0.5 | 50% discount (highest) |
| May-June 2018 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| February-March 2018 | 0.56 | 80% bonus |
| September-October 2017 | 0.66 | 50% bonus |
| March-May 2017 | 0.5 | 100% bonus (highest) |
| January 2017 | 0.55 | 80% bonus |
| September 2016 | 0.5 | 100% bonus |
| August 2016 | 0.66 | 50% bonus |
| July 2016 | 0.55 | |
| April 2016 | 0.5 | |
| February 2015 | 0.56 | |
| September 2015 | 0.57 | |
| May 2015 | 0.5 | |
| Average | 0.53 |
How do I use Hilton Honors points?
Hilton Honors hasn’t published an award chart since 2017. Instead, it follows a dynamic pricing model. That means that the cost in terms of points fluctuates based on the date. In June 2019, it made some properties even more expensive.
The best redemptions tend to lie at:
- mid-tier properties like the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel at Universal Orlando, Agra and Queenstown
- luxury properties like Conrad Maldives, Tokyo and Hong Kong; Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts; and Hilton Hotels & Resorts
- properties located in touristy cities at touristy times, like the Hilton Barcelona and Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik
Remember, if you’re a Silver member or above, you’ll get your fifth award night free on stays of five nights or more., which is an excellent perk.
Bear in mind that points bookings come with booking flexibility and free refunds. Make sure you factor that in your price comparison, as it’s especially important during the COVID-19 travel period.
Are there any notable restrictions?
You can purchase a maximum of 160,000 Honors points before bonuses each calendar year.
If you’re a new member, there is a waiting period for buying points of either:
- 30 days after enrolment if your account reflects activity (a hotel stay or earning of points through an Honors partner); or
- 90 days with no account activity
You are able to pool points with ten other people of your choosing for free. They don’t need to live at the same address. You can transfer 500,000 points in a calendar year and receive four times that. This is a great way for couples and families to stock up on points.
Summing up
This deal works best if you have some specific travel plans in mind. Check the paid rate of a Hilton property at your intended destination versus what it would cost to buy and redeem points.
While the offer may be particularly good, it is probably still not quite worth buying points speculatively without a specific use in mind.
After some more information? Read our guide on how to make the most buying frequent flyer points for travel.
An FYI: Thought this bonus would work for me during a Sydney stay in October. Logged in after not using the HH site for a very long time and it indicated a 50,000 points balance. I cannot recall where or how but running numerous accounts can drive one to forgetfulness. So thought ‘huh’ 10,000+10,000 gives me a total of 70,000 and a night in the Sydney Hilton on a particular night.
Bought the points, received the confirmation email, checked the account balance and the 50,000 was gone! Now they are available for reinstating at a cost of USD145. Adding the USD100 to gives an AUD356, which is less than the AUD505 on hotels.com but I wasn’t planning in spending AUD356 (plus dinner etc) for a night out either.
Have sent off an email to HH for both explanation as to why one can log into the account and see and out of date balance and for consideration for either waiving the fee or refunding the purchase.
Thanks for the feedback. I would have thought an expired balance wouldn’t show up as still remaining without at least some notification that there would be a fee for reinstatement.
Can you please get back to us and let us know how it goes?
as I only see 80% bonus on the hilton site and not 100%
When I clicked on the ‘Buy Hilton Honors Points here link within this article and entered my login details, it took me to the Buy Points page, which showed the offer as being 100% bonus.
Doesnt makes sense when Fx rate is bad
But now I may be a 100,000 short of a trip I want to plan.
What is your best guess when the next points offer will be active?
At Member level, my minimum purchase (pre-bonus) appears to be 15000 points (27000 with bonus).
Interestingly, my minimum purchase as a Gold member is only 1,000 points and I’ve seen other reports of the bonus kicking it from 10,000 points. Good to know there is a variety of starting points and I have updated the guide to reflect this.
I had to recently cancel a trip to Hawaii and was going to stay at a Hilton so thought I would take a look at this deal..
What I found was that the US$800 to purchase 160k points was almost double the cost of just buying the room.
The room I found was at Waikola Village, Lagoon Tower, Makai, Ocean Side at US$375 or 143k Premium Room Rewards.
Can any one confirm if Premium Room Rewards is the right comparison to Hilton Honors Points?
Cheers,
WD
If I had gone to one of the other towers further away from the main pool then its gets a lot cheaper at 50k points.
To breakdown:
Waikola Village
Lagoon Tower, Makai, Ocean Side
– Book US$375
– Premium Room Rewards Points 143k
– Buy Points Costs = US$715 (Loss of US$340!)
Palace Tower, Resort View
– Book US$261
– Standard Room Reward Points 50k
– Buy Points Costs = US$250 (Savings of US$11)
Also I would highly recommend you look out of the the Hilton sales where they give 35% off room rates. Those seem like a lot better deal.
Cheers,
WD
Also i have a lot of velocity points, more than i can use to fly. I know you can convert 10,000 hh points to 1500 velocity points. Is there anyway i can do the opposite, i.e. convert velocity points to hilton points?
You can use Velocity points for hotel bookings – see here on the Velocity website. You can’t transfer them to Hilton though, you use them to book instead of cash. You also won’t get great value.
With 5th night free for reward redemptions.
Can this upcoming stay be used to gain points on my frequent flyer card? Thanks.
Your reply would be appreciated! Thank you!
used this in Austin and Maldives when Citi offered a double promo on Hhonors.
if you’re close it makes sense to spend that 5th night and spread out the average cost
10,000 HHonors points = only 1,5000 Velocity points. At US$0.005 per HHonor point, you would pay US$0.033 per Velocity point, or currently around $0.043 Australian.
I value Velocity points at around $0.01, so I see buying Velocity points this way as paying 4x too much.
Hiltons lowest category is 6 throughout all the islands in Hawaii.
Is there any value for many to be had if I bought points now?
looks like it could be worthwhile for Conrad Maldives then.