Buy Hilton Honors Points With up to 100% Bonus & Book Hotels as Cheap as €25

The next great promotion brought to you by Hilton Honors! Currently, you can purchase points from the hotel’s loyalty program and get a 100% bonus if you buy at least 5,000 points. That means the price will be only US$5 (~€5) instead of US$10 (~€9) per 1,000 points — a great deal. And you can book your award night starting at only 5,000 points. As a result, this stay would only cost you US$25 (~€23). This promotion ends on March 7, 2023 17:59 CET.

Buy Points With a Bonus of up to 100%

Normally you pay US$10 (~€9) per 1,000 points. With a bonus of 100%, you only end up paying US$5 (~€5) per 1,000 points. This gives you a price of 0.50 USD-Cent per point.

If you sign up for a Hilton Honors account now, you will have to wait 30 days to purchase points and collect at least one Honors Point. Otherwise, you will have to wait 90 days until the first purchase of points.

The current promotion runs until March 7, 2023 17:59 CET, so you still have some time to decide if you want to buy points or not.

Redeeming Points

Since March 1, 2017, Hilton Honors no longer divides hotels into fixed categories but has priced them according to availability and season. Additionally, the possibility was created to combine points and money in pretty much whatever combination you want.

Whether these changes are positive or negative for members cannot be said with full certainty. Officially, however, Hilton has promised that no hotels will become more expensive as a result of the change.

Hilton also provides a special tool that shows the former categories and required points for each hotel:

Note: If you only have a few points in your Honors account, you will only see availability for hotels for which you have enough points. If you wish to check availability regardless of your account balance, simply log out of your account!

In the past, Hilton hotels were divided into hotel categories from 1 to 10. Depending on the category, a Redemption Night cost between 5,000 and 95,000 points in a standard room:

• Category 1: 5,000 Points = US$25 (~€23)
• Category 2: 10,000 Points = US$50 (~€47)
• Category 3: 20,000 Points = US$100 (~€93)
• Category 4: 20,000 – 30,000 Points = US$100 (~€93) – US$150 (~€140)
• Category 5: 30,000 – 40,000 Points = US$150 (~€140) – US$200 (~€186)
• Category 6: 30,000 – 50,000 Points = US$150 (~€140) – US$250 (~€233)
• Category 7: 30,000 – 60,000 Points = US$150 (~€140) – US$300 (~€280)
• Category 8: 40,000 – 70,000 Points = US$200 (~€186) – US$350 (~€326)
• Category 9: 50,000 – 80,000 Points = US$250 (~€233) – US$400 (~€373)
• Category 10: 70,000 – 95,000 Points = US$350 (~€326) – US$475 (~€443)

One can still think along the lines of these categories. However, many hotels in the higher categories have become considerably cheaper depending on the season.

For most 5-star Hilton, Waldorf-Astoria, and Conrad hotels, you still have to pay between 60,000 and 80,000 points. If you assume a price of 70,000 points, you currently have to pay US$350 (~€326). An extreme example is the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island with 95,000 points = US$475 (~€443). That is rarely a good deal, but there are of course exceptions, such as New Year’s or trade fairs. Hotels that are available for 5,000 to 20,000 points are more interesting!

If you have at least Silver status with Honors (currently there is a Status Match Challenge available), the 5th night in all categories is free. If you stay in a hotel for 5,000 points/night, you essentially only pay 4,000 points/night for 5 nights (or about $20 when you buy points).

Here are some hotels that are cheaper to book with points than with cash:

Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport for 5,000 Points

The Hilton Garden Inn on Bali is located right next to the airports and available for as little as 5,000 points. The hotel usually charges €40 per night. With points, you can get a rate of US$25 (~€23) per night or even US$20 (~€19) per night for a stay of five nights or more.

While the location isn’t the best to explore the island, it’s ideal to dampen your jet lag or positioning for an early departure. We have reviewed the hotel twice, once in 2019 and once in 2022, so we can assure you: the pandemic hasn’t changed much:

Review: Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport

Hampton by Hilton Kraków, Poland for 10,000 points

The Hampton by Hilton Kraków was one of the few Category 1 hotels in Europe and was bookable for 5,000 points until the end of 2017. Meanwhile, it also costs 10,000 points.

While it is not located in the city center but rather a bit further out near a shopping mall, it is a great deal for 10,000 points = $50 it is still cheap! Normally, the hotel costs between €60 and €120.

Points & Money

With the new Points & Money option, you can pay almost any part of the overnight price with points and the rest with money. But you have to redeem at least 5,000 points, after that, you can adjust the points part in increments of 1,000.

The goal should be to get more value out of the points you have bought than you have paid for them. 1,000 points should reduce the price of a night by at least $5.

That’s not as easy as it sounds. Hotels, where you get a higher value than $5 per 1,000 points, are difficult to find. In my opinion, it is not worth redeeming for a hotel below $7 per 1,000 points. In addition, you should note that you can usually not book the cheapest rate, and you can only earn points for the part that is paid with money.

Feel free to share great redemptions you found as a comment!

Risks

Hilton heavily devalued the points in 2013. The redemption prices have more than doubled for many hotels. Before that, you needed at most 50,000 points (except Waldorf Astoria properties) for one night. After that, it was 80,000 points.
However, there was also a new benefit: Silver, Gold, and Platinum customers receive the 5th night for free when they book their redemption stay

Although Hilton has promised that no hotel will cost more points than before after getting rid of the fixed hotel categories, Hilton can now change the required points for a hotel at any time and without notice. There are now almost no 5,000 point redemptions in Central Europe, but at least some hotels are now bookable for 10,000 points…

You should not buy points or miles merely to hoard them. It is important that you first find a lucrative way to redeem your points and then buy them.

Source: OMAAT