This post is a reminder that Hilton Honors’ newest global promotion launches today, and is valid through the end of the year. This is worth being aware of for future stays. I’d also recommend taking a few moments to register, since you never know when the promotion will come in handy.
Hilton Honors’ Double Rewards promo
Hilton Honors’ new global promotion launched today, and is called Hilton Double Rewards. With this promotion, Hilton Honors members will earn double bonus points and double elite nights for all stays during the promotion period:
- The promotion is valid between September 8 and December 31, 2020
- Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay
- The double elite nights will count towards Milestone Bonuses, fast tracks, and rollover nights
- Even award stays count for this promotion, so you’ll earn double elite nights, and will earn double points for any of your spending on incidentals
- It can take up to six to eight weeks for bonus points to post, though they’ll typically post much faster than that
- You can find promotion FAQs here
This is a great promotion:
- At most brands, this means Hilton Honors members will earn 10x bonus Honors points per dollar spent
- Hilton Honors will be rolling over all elite nights earned in 2020 to the 2021 program year, meaning that the double elite nights will count towards next year’s status
Personally I value Hilton Honors points at ~0.5 cents each, so earning an incremental 10x points per dollar spent is like an incremental return of 5%, by my valuation.
Hilton Honors is offering double points and elite nights
Maximize points with Hilton credit cards
To maximize the Hilton Honors points you earn for your hotel stays, make sure you’re paying for your stays with a co-branded Hilton American Express card (the best credit cards for earning Hilton Honors points). These cards earn points at the following rates at Hilton properties:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card (review) – 7 points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) – 12 points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) – 12 points per dollar
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) – 14 points per dollar
Earn up to 14x points by paying with the right credit card
Bottom line
Hilton Honors deserves a lot of credit for constantly offering promotions.
The program has just launched its new Hilton Double Rewards promo, offering double bonus points and double elite nights on all stays. That’s a solid promotion since you not only earn up to 10x bonus points per dollar spent at Hiltons, but you also earn elite nights that will roll over to next year. Make sure you register.
What do you make of Hilton’s new promotion?
Which of these promos (or both?) apply for a stay over the Jan 5-6 window?
Very nice reminder of the second promo. Thanks, Lucky.
@Bgriff — The Hilton website states that “Registered Hilton Honors members checking in before January 6, 2020 will receive credit for their stay if the stay is completed on or after January 6, 2020 and prior to or on May 3, 2020.” So looks like your stay is covered if you check out on or after January 6, 2020.
Does anyone know if the promotion applies for stays that are 100% on points?
@Jen historically this HAS counted for points stays.
“Their promotion in the new year is a return of one from this year that’s great for those who make short and inexpensive stays, but otherwise it’s not nearly as lucrative.”
That is exactly right, which unfortunately makes it a rather weak promo for some of us who tend to do relatively long pricey stays…
Jerry — Thank you!
This is a great one! Most all of my stays are one night, and around/under $100. I’m about to hit my milestone bonus for 80 nights this year so I don’t mind the weak double point promo since you start getting those 10k bonuses later in the year from it. Reward stays do count @Jen per the FAQs on the promo:
Will I earn Bonus Points for Reward Stays with the “Points Unlimited” promotion?
Yes – members will earn 2,000 Bonus Points per stay on reward stays. Reward stays will also count towards the 10,000 Bonus Point award.
Thanks Lucky. If booking a Hilton hotel through the Amex Hotel Collection, do you know if you still get elite benefits and access to these promotional points earning opportunities? I’ve had success with FHR in the past, but wasn’t sure if the Hotel Collection worked in the same way.
@DCS: “That is exactly right, which unfortunately makes it a rather weak promo for some of us who tend to do relatively long pricey stays…”
Funny – every time I complain about something that Hilton does that doesn’t benefit me, you basically tell me that I have no right to post said opinion. Yet again, those rules don’t apply to you, do they?
@trevor was wondering the same thing. I have several stays coming up at a Hilton but it is for work so have had to book through our Corporate provide.
Big deal. They are going to need to extend promos for 9 months and extend status for a year, by the time this is all over.
Well, when I saw the headline I expected it to be extended to something like July or September. Anyway this is not as attractive as the past 3x or 4x promos. So I would not mind if they come up with something better in Q3 or Q4. That is assuming we can resume our travels by then. I have my fingers crossed. For everyone’s benefit I really hope so.
@Lucky – what hotel is pictured at the topic of this article? Looks nice!
@GregR the building in the background could help you in your quest……
Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah
@Sel, D – thanks for the reveal! Would love to see Lucky and the OMAAT team identify the hotels and resorts in pictures they use, but maybe they like to keep us guessing and crowd-sourcing the answers.
Seeing the Burj al Arab in the background gave it away. I wasn’t looking close enough. Still prefer the little old Jumeirah Beach Hilton.
2,000 Hilton points are worth roughly $10 USD, and 10,000 points are worth about $50. So while getting $10 back on every stay is nice, it shouldn’t be the main determinant in deciding whether to stay at a Hilton property or not. The location, quality and daily rate of the hotel property (plus any other perks like free breakfasts and/or upgrades) are far more important factors that should drive one’s decision.
Ben – Can you caption the banner photos where they are?
@Ben, when you use a picture of a hotel, you must caption the picture with the name of the hotel! very frustrating and you could even use an affiliate link to link to hotel. missed revenue oppurtunity. and value add for readers
i have a question, i have stayed at full service Hilton Hotels, as a Diamond, and they are not giving breakfast now, per the regulations imposed, should Hilton be giving us extra points for this? since it is a guaranteed benefit?
thank you
Regarding the current promotion, I’ve got an upcoming stay – checking in on September 7th and checking out on September 8th. Will that night count toward the current promotion or do stays need to be completed by September 7th? Thanks.
Do you know if the double night credits work towards lifetime status?
Does this double points promotion apply to the Diamond status bonus miles as well, or only for the base points? What I mean is, since you get 20x as Diamond member, does this promotion make it 40x?
Curious to the question shiftfury13 posted. Also, does this apply to all incidentals or just the room rate?
@shiftfury13
This will double your base points. So if you are diamond you will get 30x per dollar spent. 10x base + 10x Diamond + 10x this promo. If you also use your Hilton card you will get an additional 7-14x per dollar spent depending on which card you have.
@PM From the Hilton promo FAQ page:
Registered Hilton Honors members checking in before September 8, 2020 will receive double Hilton Honors Bonus Points for their stay if the stay is completed on or after September 8, 2020 and prior to or on December 31, 2020.
Registered Hilton Honors members will receive double night credit for all nights completed in the promotion period, regardless of a check-in date before the Promotion Period begins or a check-out date after the Promotion Period ends.
Do incidentals and restaurants at the hotel count as well? Or just base room?
@Andrew — Every dime you spend on the property and can charge to your your room counts.
This is a truly great promo.
As a Diamond with the Aspire card I would get
base + base (for 2x) + base (100% Diamond bonus) + 1.4*base (Aspire bonus) = 4.4 * base. With base = 10X that means I’d get 44X per $.
The 2X night credits mean that to get 40 nights and start earning milestone bonus points one needs to stay just 20 nights. And instead of earning milestone points every 10 nights after 40 nights, one would be earning them every 5 nights. Therefore, one would earn:
10K bonus points after staying just 20 nights (normal instead of 40 nights)
10K bonus points after staying just 25 nights (normally requires 50 nights)
10K + 30K additional bonus points after staying just 30 nights (normally requires 60 nights)
and so on without a cap, and award nights count!
Lucrative enough to get me out and on the road again despite CV-19!
Has anyone noticed that the availability calendar seems to have disappeared from the web site.
Is there another way to access availability and rates other than checking every night over 30 or 40 days?
Every time I go to the web site it seems to lose some valuable feature. sigh
@Azamaraal — No features have been lost. If anything, it is that more features have been added,. The web site design/layout has changed, but all the “old” features are there. You just need to know how to get to them.
The “availability calendar” (by which I assume you mean availability presented in calendar format) is there. Here’s how to bring it up:
— Select your city
— Click date to display calendar. Select check-in date, then look at bottom of calendar and you’ll see “My dates are flexible”. Select it (check the box).
— Repeat above for check-out date (make sure to check the box for “My dates are flexible”.)
— Click “update” (or “search”)
All hotels in specified city will be listed with a box saying “View Available Dates” next to each.
Clicking “View Available Dates” next to the hotel you are interested in will display its “availability calendar”.
@DCS
Thanks for the information. I can see the rates in calendar format. Unfortunately to switch between the different rates is a bit of a hassle. When it was presented as a table it was a click to switch between discounts. Much more efficient previously. Possibly this works better on a smartphone which would explain the change – on a pc it is a paia.
thanks
@Azamaraal — I am sure that certain functions will be less efficient while others will be more so, as is to be expected with any redesign. For instance, I much prefer the new availability calendar layout. Patterns of availability are immediately and visually apparent. E.g., checking availability in Shanghai for January reveals that 5-night award stays at WA Shanghai would cost “just” 74K points/night for the entire month if one books 5 nights starting on a Sunday.
It’s been confirmed by Hilton on the forums that the bonus nights will also count for lifetime Diamond.
Double points is meh, especially with rates at a great many properties depressed. But double nights with rollover is somewhat interesting. I suspect this is Hilton’s way of recalibrating their elite population toward the leisure market that still exists vs. the business travelers that dominate the ranks currently (and aren’t traveling anywhere near as much as they were).