Back in late March, Hilton Honors became the first major hotel group to extend elite status by a year. Now the program has announced another great initiative.
In this post:
Hilton Honors will roll over elite nights
Hilton Honors will be rolling over all elite nights earned in 2020 to the 2021 program year.
Since the program has already extended status, there hasn’t been much incremental benefit to staying with Hilton in terms of elite qualification, so this is a nice bonus. Hilton Honors is the first program to offer something like this in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
With this, all Hilton stays between January 1 and December 31, 2020, will automatically rollover to the next year, which counts towards status that expires in March 2023. In other words, if you’re a Hilton Honors Diamond member who earns 10 elite nights this year, you’d start next year with 10 elite nights.
Hilton Honors first introduced the concept of rollover nights in 2018, though that was specifically in situations where you earn more elite nights than are required in a particular calendar year. That hasn’t really applied here, when you’re having your status renewed by a year for free.
As far as other incentives for stays this year go, Hilton Honors also has the Points Unlimited promotion. This is valid for stays through September 7, 2020, and offers 2,000 bonus points per stay, plus 10,000 bonus points after every 10 nights.
Hilton Honors is rolling over all elite nights earned in 2020
Why many won’t benefit from this promo
I love the Hilton Honors program and have top tier status, but not actually through staying. Rather I receive Diamond status just for having the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review).
The card has a $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and offers a countless number of incredible benefits, including Hilton Honors Diamond status, a $250 annual airline fee credit, a $250 annual Hilton resort credit, and a Hilton free night certificate.
I come out ahead with this card without even accounting for the Diamond status, so when you factor in the top tier Hilton status, that’s really pretty incredible. Therefore I don’t really have to worry about earning Hilton Honors status.
If you’re looking for a credit card with a lower price point, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) has a $150 annual fee (Rates & Fees) and offers Hilton Honors Gold status, which has some of the same perks as Diamond status, including complimentary breakfast.
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.
I have Hilton Honors Diamond status through the Aspire Card
Bottom line
Hilton Honors has really been leading during the pandemic. The loyalty program was the first to extend status by a year, and is now rolling over all elite nights earned in 2020 to 2021.
In fairness, Hilton Honors also makes it fairly easy to earn status through credit cards in the first place, so perhaps status isn’t quite as closely controlled as with World of Hyatt, for example, given all the benefits of Globalist status.
Will you benefit from Hilton Honors’ rollover night promotion?
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees), and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees).
Hilton FTW!
@DCS
Do you stay at any other brand besides Hilton and have you ever stayed at every single different brand in the Hilton Family?
After all the misleading promises by Bonvoy and the rest the choice is clear.
Unfortunately as a Canadian I am unable to get the Aspire card so have to re-qualify every year for Diamond (after 24 years my DFL STILL has not cleared for some reason).
Had 27 nights in Bali, Kota Kinabalu, Manila, Tokyo early this year before Covid struck and was well on the way. Nice of them to (hopefully) extend to 2023....
After all the misleading promises by Bonvoy and the rest the choice is clear.
Unfortunately as a Canadian I am unable to get the Aspire card so have to re-qualify every year for Diamond (after 24 years my DFL STILL has not cleared for some reason).
Had 27 nights in Bali, Kota Kinabalu, Manila, Tokyo early this year before Covid struck and was well on the way. Nice of them to (hopefully) extend to 2023. Would like to find somewhere to go but not having access to testing makes travel a tad difficult.
Looks like a cold and snowy winter ahead ;-(
@Kendor -- What you just stated above I can agree with, i.e.,YMMV. However, that was not the tune you sang in the comment I addressed, in which "Hilton needs to figure out a way to differentiate their program somehow".
But they've done just that, consistently, for years but we keep hearing is that Hilton needs to do what they have already been doing, often better than the competition!!! As @Lucky stated in this very...
@Kendor -- What you just stated above I can agree with, i.e.,YMMV. However, that was not the tune you sang in the comment I addressed, in which "Hilton needs to figure out a way to differentiate their program somehow".
But they've done just that, consistently, for years but we keep hearing is that Hilton needs to do what they have already been doing, often better than the competition!!! As @Lucky stated in this very post, Hilton was the first to extend elite status for a year. Here, they have just made it easier for those who earn status the "hard way" to requalify after the extension is over. Furthermore, Hilton has been the only program to consistently offer promos, year in and year out, whose effect is to lower the monetary costs of awards (i.e., what one needs to spend out of pocket to earn an award night). They offer milestone awards that you touted as something that makes WoH special, when it does no such thing. And, as I have shown over and over again over the years, Hilton's unlimited complimentary suite upgrades are second to none for one who knows how to play the game.
The 5th award night free, which even HH Silvers get, but WoH Globalist do not , is a tremendous perk. However, we never hear about that shortcoming whenever the WoH Globalist status is being touted. Hyatt essentially has a one-elite status program, which should enable them to give more perks, but they do not. Instead, one has to spend a great deal to get a status that is no better than the competition, which thereby nullifies the whole rationale for playing the game: travel on the cheap but in style. The cheap part is forgotten when touting WoH bogus supremacy.
YMMV.
G'day.
@DCS As a Hyatt and Hilton and AA top tier elite, my feeling about loyalty programs is that you should go with whatever works for you. If Hilton makes you surpassingly happy I say you should honor that feeling and go with it. For me World of Hyatt has been the more rewarding program by far but that may be particular to my travel needs, habits, and wishes. I have never failed to use all...
@DCS As a Hyatt and Hilton and AA top tier elite, my feeling about loyalty programs is that you should go with whatever works for you. If Hilton makes you surpassingly happy I say you should honor that feeling and go with it. For me World of Hyatt has been the more rewarding program by far but that may be particular to my travel needs, habits, and wishes. I have never failed to use all of my World of Hyatt confirmed suite upgrades to great advantage, and I have often been spontaneously upgraded to $1000+/night suites for stays of multiple days, even on free awards stays, which seems exceptionally generous. But that's just me, gravitating toward West Coast, East Coast, and East Asian travel. "Your mileage may vary." That's fine. People can figure out what works best for them. If you love Hilton and Hilton's elite benefits then it doesn't really matter what I or anyone else has to say about it.
@Kendor: "...so I honestly don’t pay much attention to the ins and outs of Hilton’s program..Hilton needs to figure out a way to differentiate their program somehow. Unlike World of Hyatt, it isn’t clear to me what the benefit of “extra” commitment to their program is. World of Hyatt continues extending valuable milestone awards up to 100 stay nights a year, and gives Globalists truly valuable.."
I think that you need to pay attention before...
@Kendor: "...so I honestly don’t pay much attention to the ins and outs of Hilton’s program..Hilton needs to figure out a way to differentiate their program somehow. Unlike World of Hyatt, it isn’t clear to me what the benefit of “extra” commitment to their program is. World of Hyatt continues extending valuable milestone awards up to 100 stay nights a year, and gives Globalists truly valuable.."
I think that you need to pay attention before making such claims. I will resist posting the whole canonical list of HH Diamond benefits, which for me include benefits that exclusive to Aspire cardmembers, but you do know that Hilton Honors also "continues extending valuable milestone awards" for every 10 stays after one reaches 40 nights, and these include in addition to bonus points, the ability to gift Gold at 60 nights and Diamond at 100 nights, and every award night counts toward these milestones, don’t you?
@Kendor sez: "Hyatt Globalists still have a huge incentive to do their 60 stays this year, to earn the extremely valuable confirmed suite upgrade certificates, which are good for a suite upgrade on up to 7-night stays."
That has always been the claim even when they were known as DSUs, except that just like any type of upgrade, they were and still are contingent on *availability*. Just because travel gurus touted their advantage ad infinitum...
@Kendor sez: "Hyatt Globalists still have a huge incentive to do their 60 stays this year, to earn the extremely valuable confirmed suite upgrade certificates, which are good for a suite upgrade on up to 7-night stays."
That has always been the claim even when they were known as DSUs, except that just like any type of upgrade, they were and still are contingent on *availability*. Just because travel gurus touted their advantage ad infinitum does not mean that is what happened in practice. In fact, my sense is that even WoH managers consider unlimited complimentary suite upgrades to be more valuable because they began offering them *only* after they made the program's top elite status highly exclusive, not in terms of perks, but in how to earn it and sustain it. Get rid of the low hanging fruit and then begin offering a great perk: unlimited complimentary suite upgrades ;-)
With the CV-19 discouraging travel, I suspect that "confirmable" upgrades may have better luck clearing, but so would complimentary upgrades; it thus remains a wash, as the confirmables' clearance rate was never better than what I got with my unlimited complimentaries.
Hyatt Globalists still have a huge incentive to do their 60 stays this year, to earn the extremely valuable confirmed suite upgrade certificates, which are good for a suite upgrade on up to 7-night stays. I have consistently used these to stay for more than a month every year at some of the world's more beautiful suite accommodations (looking at you, Shanghai and NYC.) One way or another I will earn my 60 nights --...
Hyatt Globalists still have a huge incentive to do their 60 stays this year, to earn the extremely valuable confirmed suite upgrade certificates, which are good for a suite upgrade on up to 7-night stays. I have consistently used these to stay for more than a month every year at some of the world's more beautiful suite accommodations (looking at you, Shanghai and NYC.) One way or another I will earn my 60 nights -- the qualifying nights earning that is possible via the World of Hyatt credit card is another option for people looking to fill out their nights count.
I actually don't really see why Hyatt should jump on this bandwagon unless COVID-19 travel restrictions continue through 2021. Hyatt has already generously extended Globalist privileges an extra year. Frequent travelers who deserve to be Globalists will be able to earn it through stays for all of 2021 with their status intact.
As for Hilton top-tier status, I also have it via the Aspire credit card, so I honestly don't pay much attention to the ins and outs of Hilton's program. Hilton needs to figure out a way to differentiate their program somehow. Unlike World of Hyatt, it isn't clear to me what the benefit of "extra" commitment to their program is. World of Hyatt continues extending valuable milestone awards up to 100 stay nights a year, and gives Globalists truly valuable benefits like waived resort fees, free parking, and unlimited suite upgrades as space permits (which I have actually received, often!). Hilton's program encourages me to get their cobranded credit card and call it a day.
In all fairness, I used @Lucky's comment here as a vehicle to elaborate on an often-heard claim, but he is among few that have shown the ability to reexamine their prior assumptions and ditch them if they no longer seem to hold. I agree with his assessment of the meaning of this rollover elite nights benefit: it is great but it does not benefit everyone, which is fine. What I took issue with was the...
In all fairness, I used @Lucky's comment here as a vehicle to elaborate on an often-heard claim, but he is among few that have shown the ability to reexamine their prior assumptions and ditch them if they no longer seem to hold. I agree with his assessment of the meaning of this rollover elite nights benefit: it is great but it does not benefit everyone, which is fine. What I took issue with was the misconception about elite statuses earned on a CC rather than on spend. There are no differences once one has a top elite status, regardless how it was earned.
@Lucky sez: "In fairness, Hilton Honors also makes it fairly easy to earn status through credit cards in the first place, so perhaps status isn’t quite as closely controlled as with World of Hyatt, for example, given all the benefits of Globalist status."
I am not sure I understand why "in all fairness", but the second part about "given all the benefits of Globalist status" suggests that the claim seems to be that because the...
@Lucky sez: "In fairness, Hilton Honors also makes it fairly easy to earn status through credit cards in the first place, so perhaps status isn’t quite as closely controlled as with World of Hyatt, for example, given all the benefits of Globalist status."
I am not sure I understand why "in all fairness", but the second part about "given all the benefits of Globalist status" suggests that the claim seems to be that because the Aspire Diamond is not 'closely controlled', that makes it somehow less valuable than the more 'closely controlled' Globalist status. If that is the claim, which would be a variant of one that is often heard, then it is utterly bogus.
First, and I addressed this just last week, the clever thing about the Aspire card and the associated Diamond status is that neither does one any good unless one actually spends real money at Hilton properties. In fact, since I became an Aspire Diamond, I’ve spent more on revenue stays than I did when I had to qualify the “hard way.” This past year, before CV-19 hit, I stayed and spent so much with Hilton it was trifecta: although already an Aspire Diamond, I also did qualify to earn HH Diamond on spend, on points and on stays -- the so-called "hard way" times three!!!
If you do no revenue stays at Hilton properties, then you do not get enough points for award stays or get to enjoy Diamond benefits. You could speculatively purchase HH points, but that takes you only so far, and it is also a loser considering how easily one can earn HH points through stays. In short, that is why I have never worried that the status is given pro bono, and not "closely controlled." Hilton does not need to "closely control" the elite statuses that they give for having their co-brand cards because in order for those statuses to mean anything, one has to spend some real money at Hilton properties, which is the same thing that one would have to do in any other program!
The second puzzle is the connection of the above to "all the benefits of Globalist status", which implies that HH Diamonds do not enjoy "all the benefits of the Globalist". If that is the implication, then it would be yet another bogus claim. I will not *again* reproduce here the LONG LIST of benefits that I get *both* as a bona fide HH Diamond and, exclusively, as an Aspire Diamond, like resort and airline credits that were listed in the post above. The notion that a closely guarded or controlled status earned the "hard way" means that it automatically gets "all the benefits" compared to a status through a co-brand CC is a non sequitur.
When the WoH Globalist starts to get the 5th award night free perk -- unquestionable the most valuable perk in hotel loyalty -- then I will consider it a competitive elite status. Until then, it is just an expensive status that’s put on a pedestal by self-anointed “travel gurus” whose record of getting things wrong is so vast, one wonders why anyone continues to listen to them.
G'day.
I think this will benefit those of us who stay at Hilton whom are not living in the US, due to the fewer credit card options to gain Diamond status with Hilton Honors. Now if they were to include rolling over stays as well, this would be exceptional for those who tend to do shorter and less frequent hotel stays throughout the year as a real incentive to stay at Hilton over the next 17 months.
Yes. It would be great to start with 40 nights in 2021. Since my vacation trip is also postponed to 2021 it may be fairly easy to earn Diamond next year.
I agree. Hyatt needs to do this. Just moved over to Hyatt at the start of this year, and quickly accrued 30 nights. Then coronavirus hit. My 30 nights gonna be wasted unless Hyatt roles them over to 2021, as I can't see much biz travel coming back till at least September and more likely mid-Q4.
Come on Hyatt. Please jump on the bandwagon.
While I love what Hyatt did with the 25% rebate on award stays, rolling over elite night credits would give me a head start towards Globalist.
Hyatt. STEP UP!
Marriott needs to do this. I’m at 120 butt in bed paid nights, excluding award nights and promo nights. Why should I stay with Marriott at all the rest of this year when my status is good through 2021?