Historically, Hilton Honors has done an amazing job with its global promotions. The program has constantly run bonus offers, meaning that points earning rates are typically excellent. Is that starting to change?
Hilton Honors has today launched its newest global promotion, and two things stand out — for the first time in years, there’s a gap between promotions, and on top of that, this is the worst promotion we’ve seen from the program in years. It fits into the “why bother” category. So is this a blip, or is the company cutting back its investment in promotions?
In this post:
Hilton Honors Points Plus Promotion details
Hilton Honors’ new global promotion is called Points Plus, and with this offer, members are able to earn 1,000 bonus points on every stay. It doesn’t matter how long you stay, what brand you stay at, or how much you spend, it’s the same no matter what.
There are some details to be aware of:
- The promotion is valid for stays between June 1 and August 15, 2025 (you must check-out by August 15 to be eligible); the last promotion ended on April 30, so that means there was a one month gap between offers
- Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay, though it’s fine if you booked prior to registration
- There’s no limit to how many bonus points you can earn, you start earning rewards with the first stay, and there’s no minimum stay required
- It can take up to six to eight weeks for bonus points to post, though they’ll typically post much faster than that
- All stays booked directly with Hilton, including award stays, are eligible for this promotion
- You can find promotion FAQs here
How generous is Hilton Honors’ promotion?
How generous is Hilton Honors’ second promotion of 2025? The math on the Points Plus promotion is straightforward. Personally I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, and you’re earning 1,000 bonus points per stay, which is a $5 incremental return. That’s better than nothing, but barely.
This is of course in addition to standard points earning rates. Under normal circumstances:
- Base Honors members earn 10x Honors points per dollar spent at most brands
- Gold elite members get an 80% points bonus, and Diamond elite members get a 100% points bonus
On top of that, you can maximize your Hilton Honors points earned from hotel stays by paying with a co-branded Hilton American Express card. These cards earn points at the following rates on eligible Hilton purchases:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card (review) — 7x points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) — 12x points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) — 12x points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) — 14x points per dollar
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
Hilton Honors has just launched its new global promotion. Between June 1 and August 15, 2025, members can earn 1,000 bonus points per stay, no matter how long the stay is, or how much it costs.
This is the weakest promotion that we’ve seen from Hilton Honors in years, as this offers an incremental $5 return per stay, by my valuation. On top of that, it’s the first time in years that we’ve seen a gap in Hilton Honors promotions. I have to imagine that Hilton is conducting a bit of an experiment, and seeing what impact weaker promotions have on hotel bookings.
What do you make of Hilton Honors’ new global promotion?
It costs Hilton far more to run this promotion (ads, IT, etc) than it will make them money. Ridiculous. This is more of a Marriott thing.
Switched loyalties. If that was the plan - success.
Not only is the promotion crap, so is the captcha system. When I got to the fourth captcha, I closed the page.
In 2024 I knew I could not keep up with all my hotel statuses despite living mostly on the road. IHG upped their game. Marriott is huge. Hyatt is a fav. So Hilton decided to make things easy for me. In March 2024 I ran into the food and beverage credit and I knew Hilton was out. They keep reinforcing my choice.
There is devaluation across the board. I was looking at business flight awards for next year. But with the cost of points and fees, it's almost the same as buying the flight directly and if the cc has a flight promotion like amex, I am better off buying. So this year and next I'm just unloading my points before they get more devalued.
This falls squarely in the "why bother?" category. It literally will not alter behavior by the slightest bit, so this is just a total waste of Hilton's own play-money as well.
The gap in promotions was disappointing (made worse since I had a few stays that coincided with the gap), ditto with this promotion. If this is a trend, it is stacking on the reasons for me to consider ditching my Hilton card and move more stays elsewhere...
It's apparently a trend. Hyatt hasn't done crap for global promotions in the last year ("travel to Asia or the ME for summer", indeed.)
Just another way these loyalty programs are on the path to erosion. At least we have 8 months until Hyatt's next annual devaluation for their properties.
Hilton hotels are consistently failing to deliver upon tier benefits like F&B credit. Hotels don’t issue these credits, or claim tax is excluded, or such nonsense.