Maximizing Hilton Honors Rewards: How To Redeem Points For Best Value

I write a lot about the value of hotel loyalty programs, and in this post, I’d like to specifically look at the best ways to go about redeeming Hilton Honors points, and how I use my points. Unfortunately my perception of Hilton Honors points has worsened significantly in recent times, given the massive award pricing devaluations we’ve seen in some markets, and it’s pretty hard to get excited nowadays.

Basics of redeeming Hilton Honors points

Let’s start by talking about the basics of redeeming Hilton Honors points — how much should you expect to pay for free nights, are there blackout dates, how much are Hilton Honors points worth, etc.?

I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each

Personally, I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each. There’s no science to that, but rather I think that’s a fair, conservative valuation for what the points are worth. In other words, I won’t redeem points for a hotel stay with Hilton unless I’m getting well over 0.5 cents of value per point.

It’s important to come up with a points valuation for yourself (it can be different than mine), so that you can decide whether to pay cash or redeem points for a hotel stay. Let me say that arguably I should lower my valuation based on recent devaluations, though I do still find it to be to be quite easy to get more value per point than that, and lowering the valuation to 0.4 cents per point seems a bit extreme.

Hilton Honors has no blackout dates

Hilton Honors has no blackout dates, which is to say that if a standard room is available for purchase with cash, it can also be booked with points.

Now, the important thing to keep in mind is that some hotels have a very small pool of “standard” rooms, and a vast majority of rooms at a hotel may be considered “premium.” If a hotel has 150 rooms, it’s possible that only 10 rooms are considered “standard,” so that’s the major issue you’ll run into when redeeming points at some properties.

Free night awards cost 5,000-250,000 points per night

Hilton Honors doesn’t publish an award chart, but rather has dynamic award pricing. That’s to say that the cost of a free night redemption can vary based on the cash cost of a stay.

However, there are limits to Hilton Honors’ award pricing for standard rooms. Across the Hilton Honors portfolio, standard room redemptions cost a minimum of 5,000 points and a maximum of 250,000 points per night. On the high end, Hilton Honors has brutally devalued points in recent times, as the cost for top properties has increased from 150,000 points to 250,000 points.

Each individual hotel has an (unpublished) maximum of how many points a standard room will cost. There are only a couple of properties that will cost up to 250,000 points, while all other properties will cost significantly less than that.

This is important to understand, because a hotel could be charging the same number of points on two nights, even if one night costs $200 if paying cash, while the other night costs $400 if paying cash.

Standard room rewards vs. premium room rewards

When you search award availability, you may notice that some awards are labeled as a “Standard Room Reward,” while others are labeled as a “Premium Room Reward.” What’s the difference? Standard room rewards are for situations where a standard room is available for sale, while premium room rewards allow you to redeem points for any type of hotel room, though generally the value won’t be as good.

If you see pricing at a hotel that’s above the typical maximum for a property, that means there’s no a standard room available, and you’re booking a premium award. Take the below example for the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, where a standard room is available for 150,000 points, while a premium room costs a minimum of 1,125,000 points — that’s quite a difference!

Small Luxury Hotels of the World awards are a great deal

Hilton Honors and Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) have a partnership, allowing you to earn and redeem points at around 400 luxury, independent, boutique hotels. This is an awesome collaboration, since it gives you access to properties that wouldn’t otherwise be accessible with points.

While SLH award redemptions are capacity controlled, the redemption values are potentially incredible, as awards follow the same pricing system as Hilton properties. This might be my favorite way to redeem Hilton Honors points, as this adds material value to the program when it comes to aspirational redemptions.

Hilton Points & Money awards aren’t a great deal

Hilton Honors offers Points & Money awards, whereby you can book a stay at a hotel using a combination of points and cash. This might sound appealing to those who want to reduce the cash cost of a stay using points, or those who don’t have quite enough points for a stay.

Generally speaking, Hilton Points & Money isn’t a great use of points, and you’re going to get a better value booking a free night award stay outright. For example, take the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, where a free night costs 250,000 Hilton Honors points.

Want to book a Points & Money award instead? If you wanted to reduce the points requirement by half (125,000 points), you’d need to pay a total of $1,614.32. As a point of comparison, I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, meaning those 125,000 Hilton Honors points are worth $625 to me. But here you’re being asked to pay nearly three times that much.

Hilton Honors elite members get a fifth night free

One way to maximize Hilton Honors points is to stay in increments of five nights. All Hilton Honors elite members receive a fifth night free on award stays. There needs to be award availability for five consecutive nights, and then you’ll only pay for four of those nights.

You can use this an unlimited number of times, and even for back-to-back stays. However, you must be paying for all nights with points out of the same account.

Hilton Honors elite status is easy to earn

When you redeem points for your hotel stay, you of course want to have as good of an experience as possible. That’s why it’s worth noting that Hilton Honors makes it easier than any other hotel program to earn status with credit cards:

• Hilton Honors™ Gold Status can be earned just for having the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review), The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review), American Express Platinum Card® (review), or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) (Enrollment required)
• Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status can be earned just for having the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express (review)

The reason this matters is because having status can get you everything from room upgrades, to complimentary breakfast (or a food & beverage credit), to executive lounge access. The value of that will add up quickly.

Pool Hilton Honors points to maximize value

Among hotel loyalty programs, Hilton Honors arguably has the most generous policy for combining points between accounts. Hilton Honors lets you pool points with others at no cost, which is awesome in situations where that could allow you to book something you don’t otherwise have enough points for.

There are no resort fees on points stays

Nowadays many properties charge resort fees or destination fees, which are essentially a money-grab. One awesome thing about redeem Hilton Honors points is that you’re not on the hook for those fees when you’re redeeming points for your stay, rather than paying cash. This applies regardless of whether or not you have elite status.

Hilton Honors often sells points for 0.5 cents each

Hilton Honors frequently has promotions for purchasing points, and the program frequently sells points with a 100% bonus, which is a cost of 0.5 cents per point. That’s right around what I value the points.

The reason this matters is because there are lots of situations where you could get outsized value simply by buying points from Hilton and then immediately redeeming them for a hotel stay. Personally I think it’s worth having a reserve of Hilton Honors points when a situation like that arises.

The best uses of Hilton Honors points

With the above basics out of the way about redeeming Hilton Honors points, how do you get the most value with your points? Below is my approach to redeeming Hilton Honors points for maximum value.

Standard room free night awards get you the most value

Personally, I exclusively redeem Hilton Honors points for free night awards in standard rooms. I don’t use Hilton Honors points for premium awards, or for merchandise, or for Points & Money awards. I consistently get way more than 0.5 cents of value per point when redeeming for standard room free night awards, while I find most other redemptions don’t offer that level of value.

Not only does this work great for Hilton branded properties, but it’s also super useful for Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties, as there are all kinds of great independent properties where you can redeem.

Crunch the numbers on each redemption

Even though Hilton Honors has dynamic award pricing, that doesn’t mean every redemption is created equal. With each redemption you’ll want to crunch the numbers, and in general you’ll get the most value when you can find a standard room that’s available over a busier period.

Admittedly there’s sometimes variability in terms of standard room award costs even with points, but the difference typically isn’t as big as it would be when paying cash.

For example, say you want to stay at the Waldorf Astoria Osaka. I just pulled up the calendar availability for a couple of months from now. Nearly every night has redemptions available for 120,000 Hilton Honors points. As mentioned above, I value Hilton points at 0.5 cents each, so to me that’s the equivalent of “paying” $600 for a night (including taxes & fees).

Want to pay cash for your stay instead? Over the course of the month, for dates with standard room availability, rates vary from $543 to $980, before taxes & fees. Yet when paying points, you’d pay the same no matter what. In other words, the value you’ll get per point ranges from 0.43 cents to 1.14 cents — that’s a massive difference!

Similarly, points pricing between hotels isn’t always logical. On the low end, you might find two hotels with comparable pricing in cash, but if you redeem points, there’s a big difference. For example, both hotels might retail for $100 per night, while one charges 10,000 points, and the other charges 20,000 points. That’s a massive difference in terms of the value you’re getting per point.

I can’t overstate how just crunching the numbers and doing some comparison shopping can stretch your points further.

Redeem at Hilton’s best hotels for maximum value

While you can get great value with Hilton Honors points with a bit of effort at your typical four star hotel, the area where Hilton Honors really shines is when it comes to luxury hotels. Not only has Hilton’s luxury portfolio improved very nicely in recent years but it’s also often where you’ll get among the best value for points.

We’re talking hotels that regularly charge $1,000+ per night, and in some cases, even significantly more than that. The thing is, these properties used to consistently be a great value with points, but that’s no longer always the case.

That’s because the highest possible standard room redemption rates for top properties has increased so much over time, and that makes it harder to get outsized value. Sure, in many cases you’ll still get good value in terms of the cent per point redemption amount. The catch is that actually racking up enough points to redeem for such a stay is challenging.

For example, with the Waldorf Astoria Maldives now charging 250,000 points per night, a five night stay (including the fifth night free) would now cost you one million points. Those are Delta SkyMiles level redemption amounts, eh? Still, there’s potentially merit to these redemptions, and if you can acquire Hilton Honors points for 0.5 cents each, you may still very well be getting outsized value.

The challenge is that award availability at these top properties can be really limited. That’s because each of these hotels only categorizes a limited number of rooms as “standard” accommodations, so the pool of rooms bookable with points is limited.

This is a case where persistence most definitely pays off, though. Either book right when availability opens, or keep checking back as the stay date approaches, as more rooms often become available closer to arrival.

It’s worth noting that Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties also fit into this category. While award availability at them might not be great, the potential value to be had is excellent.

Bottom line

Hilton Honors is a pretty easy-to-use points program, and there are many good uses of the points. If you want to maximize your points, make sure you redeem for a standard free night award, which will stretch your points furthest. I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, and recommend trying to get way more value out of your points than that.

Personally my favorite use of Hilton Honors points is for stays at Hilton’s top luxury hotels, where you’ll almost consistently get the best value, assuming you can find award availability. With Hilton also partnering with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, it opens up a bunch of independent properties where you can redeem as well.

Unfortunately my impression of Hilton Honors points has worsened significantly in the past year, due to the devaluations. Top properties increasing in cost from 150,000 points to 250,000 points has really made redemptions at top properties a lot less appealing.

What has your experience been with redeeming Hilton Honors points?