In May 2019, Hilton and Lyft launched a partnership. It’s always great when ride sharing apps develop relationships with other travel providers. It’s a natural connection, given that frequent travelers probably use ride sharing apps more than the average person.
In this post I wanted to recap everything you need to know about this partnership. Furthermore, I wanted to note that there’s an additional bonus for those who haven’t yet taken part in this partnership, which is all the more reason to consider linking your accounts and taking a ride during the month of October.
In this post:
Earning Hilton points for Lyft rides
With the Hilton & Lyft partnership, it’s possible to earn Hilton Honors points for your Lyft rides. Those who link their Hilton Honors and Lyft accounts at hiltonhonorslyft.com will automatically earn points whenever they take a Lyft ride in the United States and Canada. The earnings structure is as follows:
- Earn three Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on Lyft rides
- Earn two Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on Lyft shared rides
- You can earn points for up to $10,000 of Lyft spending per year
Points should post within 24 hours of an eligible ride. Personally, I value Hilton Honors points at ~0.5 cents each, so to me this is the equivalent of a 1.5% return on most Lyft rides, and a 1% return on shared rides.
1,000 bonus Hilton Honors points for new members
Between September 29 and October 31, 2022, you can earn 1,000 bonus points when you link your Hilton Honors and Lyft accounts, and complete an eligible ride. There’s no registration required, and an eligible ride is one booked via the Lyft app within the United States or Canada. Lyft, Lyft XL, Lyft Black XL, Lux, Lux Black, and Lyft Shared rides, are eligible.
Members who de-link and then re-link their Lyft accounts during the promotion period wouldn’t be eligible for this offer. This isn’t the highest value offer ever — you’re essentially earning $5 worth of points, by my valuation — but it’s still worth taking advantage of if you’re not yet taking part in this collaboration.
Redeeming Hilton points for Lyft rides
In addition to being able to earn Hilton Honors points for Lyft rides, you can also redeem Hilton Honors points for Lyft rides.
The bad news is that it’s not a good deal… at all. You can redeem Honors points for Lyft credits in certain denominations, and no matter which one you choose, you’re paying about 4.5 Honors points per cent of Lyft credit.
That means you’re getting ~0.22 cents of value per Hilton point using this method, which is a bit less than half of my valuation of Hilton points. So I wouldn’t recommend redeeming this way.
Should you earn Hilton points or Delta miles with Lyft?
Hilton Honors isn’t the only travel company to have a partnership with Lyft. Most notably in the United States, Lyft also has a partnership with Delta SkyMiles, and accounts can be linked at deltalyft.com. This partnership offers the following mileage earning potential:
- Earn two Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent on US airport Lyft rides
- Earn one Delta SkyMile per dollar spent on all other US Lyft rides
- There’s no limit on how many SkyMiles you can earn with this partnership
Back in the day it was possible to double dip, and earn both Delta SkyMiles and Hilton Honors points with the same rides. However, in mid-2021 this practice ended, and you now have to choose one or the other. You can select your preferred partner earning program in the “Rewards” section of the Lyft app. Otherwise it just defaults to whichever program you registered with first.
Personally I value Delta SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, so I consider the Hilton Honors partnership to be a better deal. The only exception would be if you exceed the $10,000 Hilton Lyft limit, or if you have a lot of airport rides.
Take advantage of the Chase & Lyft partnership
Chase and Lyft have a partnership, whereby several cards offer bonus points on Lyft spending. Through March 31, 2025, the following Chase credit cards are offering bonus points on Lyft rides:
- The Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) offers 10x points on Lyft rides
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Chase Freedom FlexSM (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
To take advantage of this, just add your eligible Chase card to your Lyft profile, and use it to pay for rides. There’s no limit on how many bonus points you can earn, and this can be stacked with earning Delta miles or Hilton points.
If you don’t have one of those cards, make sure you’re using one of the best cards for ride sharing purchases. For example, the American Express Green Card (review) offers 3x points on travel, while the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) offers 2x points on ride sharing.
The information and associated card details on this page for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
It’s always great when you can earn bonus points for things you might do anyway, which is why these partnerships are so great. While I would never redeem Hilton Honors points for Lyft rides, I absolutely enjoy earning points for these rides.
Earning an extra 3x Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on Lyft rides, plus earning 10x Chase Ultimate Rewards points by paying with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, is a pretty great combination.
Have you used the Lyft & Hilton partnership yet?
Yes I have my Amex Hilton Honors Surpass linked to my Lyft account. But I’m taking whichever is cheaper Uber/Lyft. Both platforms tend to fluctuate in prices so it’s always wise to open up both apps before ordering a ride although most of the time prices will be on par.
This seems as good as the old SPG and Uber partnership!
@Ben - "Personally I value Delta SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, so I consider the Hilton Honors partnership to be a better deal."
Uh... can't you have the best of both worlds by switching between Hilton and Delta, depending on the ride type? IIRC, you posted about it (or perhaps some other blogger did), too. As long as you switch before the ride, it should stick.
Airport rides - use Delta
Non-airport, non-shared rides - use Hilton
Non-airport shared rides - use either
Ben, I'm confused with your math when comparing Delta SkyMiles and Hilton Honors Points:
3x HH Points per US$1 spent on Lyft @ 0.5 cent per HH Point;
That's 3x 0.5 cent = 1.5 cents per US$1 spent on Lyft
2x SkyMile per US$1 spent on Lyft @1.1 cent per SkyMiles
That's 2x 1.1 cent = 2.2 cents per US$1 spent on Lyft
So how does HH having a better deal than Delta SkyMiles???
Nevermind, I missed the airport ride versus all other rides. You are correct!
I've been making a killing with this for a long time: sign up for the Chase Lyft benefit (10x UR points); link the HHonors account with Lyft account; make CSR the default card for Lyft rides; earn 10x UR points and 3x HH points on every Lyft ride.
I enjoy getting Lyfted while earning Hilton Honors points.