Register For Hilton Honors Points Unlimited Promo

Hilton Honors has just revealed the details of its next global promotion — the current one expires on December 31, 2020, and the new one launches on January 1, 2021.

Hilton Honors’ Points Unlimited promo

Hilton Honors’ first global promotion of 2021 is called Points Unlimited. With this promotion, Hilton Honors members can earn:

• 2,000 bonus points with every stay, no matter the length
• 5,000 bonus points after every five nights; it doesn’t matter if these are consecutive nights at one hotel or not, as this resets every five qualifying nights

There are some more details to be aware of, as you’d expect:

• The promotion is valid for stays between January 1 and May 2, 2021
• Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay
• Even award stays count for this promotion, so you can earn bonus points when you redeem your points
• 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

For context, the bonuses are in addition to the usual points that Hilton Honors members earn:

• Members earn 10x Honors points per dollar spent at most brands
• Hilton Honors Gold members get an 80% points bonus, Hilton Honors Diamond members get a 100% points bonus

Earn up to 7,000 bonus points per stay

This is a rather underwhelming promotion

In fairness, historically Hilton Honors has been by far the best global hotel loyalty program when it comes to consistently offering promotions. The program has also done a great job engaging with members during the pandemic.

That being said, this promotion is subpar for Hilton Honors, and that’s not even accounting for the pandemic.

Personally I value Hilton Honors points at ~0.5 cents each, so by my math this promotion offers the following:

• 2,000 bonus points per stay are worth $10
• You’re getting 1,000 bonus points per night in increments of five nights, which is an incremental return of $5 per night

You’re looking at $15 of value per night at most, and that’s assuming you’re only making one night stays. I’d say this is reasonably rewarding for one night stays at inexpensive properties, while it’s not at all lucrative for longer stays at expensive properties.

I’d say it’s also pretty rewarding for award stays, since you earn points even for those stays (meanwhile with a double points promotion there are no bonus points to be earned for the room rate when you’re not paying cash).

Hilton Honors is offering bonus points with every stay

As a point of comparison, until December 31, 2020, Hilton Honors is offering double points and double elite nights on all stays, and elite nights for 2020 even carry over into 2021, making it easy to earn status next year.

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 details have just been announced for the Hilton Honors Points Unlimited promotion, launching January 1, 2021.

Unfortunately as far as Hilton Honors promotions go, this one isn’t terribly tempting, except for short stays at inexpensive properties. You earn 2,000 bonus points per stay, and 5,000 bonus points after every five nights. Regardless, it’s definitely worth registering, since you might as well earn bonus points for your next Hilton stay.

What do you make of Hilton’s new promotion?