Hilton Honors has just increased award costs for stays at some of its top properties… this is starting to get downright ridiculous. What’s wild is that many of these same properties were devalued just months ago, in May 2025.
Hilton Honors raises points cap for top properties
For several years now, Hilton Honors hasn’t published award charts. While the program has dynamic award pricing, the reality is that the most expensive award rates at a particular hotel have been pretty consistent. That’s to say that if a standard room is available, you can redeem points for it at a cost that’s not above some (typically reasonable) maximum.
Up until May 2025, Hilton Honors free night redemptions for standard rooms topped out at 150,000 points per night. Then in May 2025, we saw top properties increase in cost to 200,000 points per night, representing a 33% increase.
Well, there’s now another update — Hilton has just increased redemption rates at its top properties to 250,000 points per night. So that’s a 25% increase overnight, and a 67% increase compared to earlier this year. What’s wild is that prior to that, the cost for stays at top properties hadn’t increase since 2021 (at which point the top costs went from 120,000 points to 150,000 points per night).
For example, you’ll find that the Waldorf Astoria Maldives now charges up to 250,000 points per night…
…while the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal now charges up to 250,000 points per night.
As before, Hilton Honors elite members can receive a fifth night free on award redemptions, meaning that a property costing up to 250,000 points per night could cost as little as 200,000 points per night. So you can spend five nights somewhere for a million points… what a steal!
I’m sure some people will jump in and point out that some Hilton Honors rooms cost over a million points per night. Just to clarify, when you see a rate beyond the maximum cap, that’s for premium room redemptions, when standard rooms aren’t available.
The bad news is that even beyond the properties that now cost 250,000 points per night, we’ve also seen a lot of other hotels increase award costs, compared to their previous maximum cost. For example, it wasn’t that long ago that the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island cost up to 95,000 points per night, then the cost increased to 140,000 points per night, and now this property goes for up to 180,000 points per night.
C’mon Hilton Honors, this is getting ridiculous!
I of course understand why loyalty programs devalue over time, especially ones with dynamic pricing. For example, during the last round of devaluations with Hilton Honors, I acknowledged how only a very limited number of properties increased in cost by that much, and it had been years since there was previously a devaluation to these top properties.
However, this now totally crosses the line, if you ask me. We saw properties increase from 150,000 points per night to 200,000 points per night several months ago, and now increase to 250,000 points per night? Will we see costs increase to 300,000 points per night before the end of the year?
Often loyalty programs can get away with devaluations, though I really think the program is starting to get to the point where Hilton is killing the golden goose. I’ve generally found Hilton Honors to be an increasingly useful program over the years, but these redemption rates are starting to get close to eliminating any outsized redemption opportunities.
What makes this situation even worse is that Hilton Honors is massively increasing award costs while also greatly decreasing points earning opportunities. Hilton has reduced the frequency with which it offers promotions, and has also made them less generous. What a customer-unfriendly combination.
This is something that I can’t justify. But perhaps Hilton Honors’ lifetime Diamond apologist has a different take, and can explain how this is actually good for members?
Bottom line
Hilton Honors is now charging up to 250,000 points for free night redemptions in standard rooms, compared to the previous cap of up to 200,000 points per night. Even worse, the cap was actually 150,000 points per night until several months ago.
I understand the need to increase award costs over time, but this is really getting out of hand. Going from 150,000 points per night to 250,000 points per night, all while reducing points earning opportunities, is super disappointing.
What do you make of this latest Hilton Honors devaluation?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.