Beginners guide to Hilton Honors – updated 2021
Updated: 29th December 2020.
Contents
Introduction
Hilton, one of the most iconic names in the hospitality industry, has around 5500 hotels worldwide and fifteen brands in its portfolio. Its brands are:
- Hilton Hotels and Resorts, and its related Hilton Grand Vacations. (These ones are the most iconic of the Hilton portfolio),
- Waldorf Astoria,
- Conrad,
- Canopy,
- Curio Collection,
- Tapestry Collection,
- Doubletree,
- Embassy Suites,
- LXR,
- Motto,
- Tru,
- Hilton Garden Inn,
- Hampton,
- Homewood Suites, and,
- Home2 Suites,
As a European traveller, you're probably more suited to starting off with Hilton Honors than the other big chains given their presence in the European market, though their points are a lot less valuable than other chains. You should sign up for their membership programme since there is no cost in doing so.
Membership Levels:
Hilton Honors is divided into four tiers. Normally to earn this you need to do one of the following:
- Blue — 0 nights or 0 stays per year
- Silver — 4 stays or 10 nights per year
- Gold — 20 stays, 40 nights or 75 000 base points
- Diamond — 30 stays, 60 nights or 120 000 base points.
Note though for 2021 there is a special promotion and 50% reduction of the elite status requirements:
The full membership benefits for each tier are listed here. Gold does provide some value in the middle tier loyalty market, because it gives free breakfast, and free internet on nearly all stays, though you should not actively divert spend into Hilton to try and qualify for it.
You earn 10 base points per 1USD you spend, before tax, on hotel overnight rates and other amenities charged to your room e.g. dinner or minibar. So effectively Gold and Diamond cost $7500 or $12000 at the worst case. Most people will qualify based on nights or stays requirements, or by having an eligible credit card. See the section “shortcuts to higher levels”.
Any nights you accrue over and above the tier threshold you last surpassed will count towards the next year. E.g. If you qualified for Gold and stayed 55 nights, then 15 nights will count towards next year, making your re-qualification a lot easier.
Do reward nights count towards elite qualification?
Yes.
Shortcuts to higher levels:
Hilton Gold used to be notoriously easy to get instantly by having a Visa Infinite credit card. So easy in fact that simply by understanding how credit card numbers are generated you could mint your own Gold status here (though that offer has since expired). Things have tightened up since and fewer shortcuts are available.
American Express Platinum card holders (of nearly every country) are generally given Gold status. You should check with your local American Express page.
If you are lucky enough to have a US, Austrian, German or Japanese address you may be eligible for one of Hilton's own-brand credit cards which offer elite status for as long as you are a card member. These are generally cheaper than the American Express Platinum card versions above. At the extreme end you can maintain Diamond status for $450 annual card fee but Gold is possible for just $95 per year. Check all the different card options available on this page.
Hilton do allow Status Challenges to Gold or Diamond tiers. See this page to submit your request. If you have an elite level with a competing hotel chain you will be granted the equivalent level up front for 90 days. If you wish to maintain your status beyond the trial period and until March 2020 you will need to stay 4 or 8 times to qualify as Gold or Diamond respectively.
Earning Points:
Staying at hotels
You earn 10 base points per 1USD you spend on your hotel bill before taxes. Silver members will earn a 20% bonus, Gold 80%, and Diamond 100% on top. In the past there used to be a ‘double dip' where you could earn air miles on top of the hotel room, but this was discontinued in 2018.
Regular promotions
Hilton runs promotions every now and then (normally quarterly) which you should always sign up for. Most of the time you will not see a tangible boost in your points balance, but once in a blue moon they do offer genuine value. The latest one which covers Q1 2020 and is covered in this article.
Spending points:
Standard Room Rewards
Hilton does not use a fixed band chart to determine how many points a night will cost. It is unfortunate, but you just need to manually check the hotel price where you plan to stay and hope for the best!
5th night free
Silver, Gold or Diamond members can receive every 5th night free when they book a reward stay between 5 nights to 20 nights. This benefit suits those who collect a lot of points through the year but only holiday with family a few times per year and commit to staying in one hotel – i.e. if you have children!
Points and Money
The cheaper hotels do offer genuine value for your Hilton points if you select the “Points and Money” option. I can't give you the exact value as this varies hotel to hotel, but expect to pay somewhere between 2 000 — 20 000 plus $30USD-$100USD. Compare the cash you will offset by using the points (not forgetting the currency exchange). If you can get over €0.005 per point then it's already a good deal.
Elite Status Gifting
For the 2021 year Diamond members are able to gift Gold tier to someone. If you are a Diamond for Life member or hit 100 nights in the year, you will be able to Diamond status to a friend. Note that the number of stays or base points does not matter in this situation, only the nights. Consider this benefit hard-earned!
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, I don't really see Honors as a programme where you try to earn and burn loads of points. I simply see this programme as a way to leverage your spending power by providing some extra benefits to their higher level tier members.
The full Terms and Conditions are here, dated 9th January 2020.
Fantastic observation Nick! I’ll include this into the guide above
I am a Hilton honors member membership No. 194120191
I have yet to receive my card and noted that I stayed at Double 3 in Thailand for 5 nights and nothing was added into my points?
What is happening here? or is all just mere TALK
Please can someone respond via email as it has been almost 5 months
Jacqueline, this blog is in no way connected to Hilton’s administration. I would suggest you contact Hilton with this query than post the details on here.
I wouldn’t sweat not receiving your card. Their points system has not been working correctly since October of 2018. I’m about 10,000 points in arrears and they are no longer responding to my messages, except to say that processing is delayed due to new software. I’ve switched to Radisson and Hyatt for now. If my points show up and I get an apology, I may give them another chance.
Quick question – just spent a little over 10,000 Euro’s on our 4 night stay at the Waldorf in Amsterdam and points shot up from an existing 5,400 to 282,564 implying that my stay must have generated a little over 200,000 points – does that not mean I ought to be in the diamond category? I was blue prior to my Amsterdam stay. Much obliged for an insight into this.
The status might not be updated immediately, even though the points have arrived, but it sounds like you easily re-qualified with that sort of spend. How long ago did your stay happen?
If it’s been more than 5 days or so just call up Hhonors customer service and they should confirm it to you.
Where do you get your information? Rewards points DO NOT count towards elite status!
I don’t know what you’re commenting on – where does it say reward points count towards elite status?
Hi!
Im quite often paying for my employees accommodation. So we easily booke 5 rooms at once.
HHonors tells me I can always earn points only on 1 room. Not on all.
Is that true?
You will earn points on a total of 2 rooms. One for you and one additional room – think of it like a family of parents plus 2-3 children. The question is answered here: http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/support/faq/index.html
How do I get my gold card
I stayed at a Hampton Inn, they advertise 100% guaranteed stay.
We walked in got a room were given keys and headed to our room, however when I opened the door, there was a large man in his underwear who jumped off the bed when we entered the room.
Scared the heck out of me… and him…. the person who checked us in gave us keys to the wrong room, we had to return to the front desk. And wait till she checked in other people, then tell her what happened. Not much of an opology. We had been on the road for 10 hours we were tired, all we wanted to do was to crash! She didn’t offer a discount, or points, or anything to compensate for her huge mess up. So embarassing….
Hi Tim
I wasn’t aware Gold status provides lounge access as it has always been a perk for diamond only
Hi Victor, my amendment didn’t go through, but it’s now re-saved. Gold used to get lounge access until recently.
hi.im a lifetime hhnors memeber.last year i had 5 stays so im achiewed gold cuz its cost 5stays or 10 nights.why this year 20 stays or 40 nights recommend to keep my gold?im a staff of hilton.thank you!
What do you mean by “lifetime honors member”? What level are you trying to maintain?
im gold now.livetime hhnors is that after retire is still working my staff rate(im working in hilton since 1985).i want to be gold next year again.but last year(the last 3 years) staff members need for gold 5stays or 10 nights.this year the app and hilton.com need 20 stays or 40 nights.it has been changed or is just an error on hilton.com?in 2019 i will have 4 stays 14 days.im worried.thank you!
it has been solved.nice days!
Sorry for basic question – new to this.
Do you get status benefits on a reward stay, e.g. free breakfast if gold on a reward night, or is this only for paid stays?
Many thanks.
It’s hit or miss with this. Officially it is not required but some do provide it anyway. I would not count on it.
Yes you will still be entitled to the complimentary breakfast for Gold honours even when on a rewards stay.
I have loads of air miles to be moved over to Hilton points, can l upgrade my room with points?
Usually not. You normally need to book the room want at the time of booking rather than rely on upgrades.
Not sure if you can upgrade with points but you can certainly book using points or a combination of points and money.