Hilton launches its May – July promotion, ‘Double Your HHonors’

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UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021: This article is now out of date, but don’t worry. We produce a monthly summary of the top hotel bonus point offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ menu above.

Click here for our article on Hilton’s ‘Power Up’ promotion which runs until 31st December 2021. You can register for the offer by clicking here.

A couple of days ago I covered the new Starwood promotion for May to July. Hilton HHonors has also launched its own promotion for the same period, and it is not dramatically different.

It is called ‘Double Your HHonors’. You can find full details of the promotion, and register, here.

However, do not register without thinking first, as the promotion requires you to make a choice.

Under ‘Double Your HHonors’, you can choose either:

double Hilton HHonors base points

double airline miles

You must select one option, and it cannot be changed later.

If you choose double points and set your Hilton earning preferences to ‘Points and Points’, you will be earning 25 base points per $1 spent. This is before any elite bonus.

If you choose double miles and set your Hilton earning preference to ‘Points and Miles’, you be earning 10 base points per $1 plus 2 airline miles per $1.

If you choose ‘double miles’ and later switch to taking ‘Points and Points’ then you will just receive the standard 15 points per $1. If you choose ‘double points’ and later switch to taking ‘Points and Miles’ then you will receive 20 base points per $1 and 1 airline mile. I hope that is clear!

I tend to value Hilton HHonors points at £3 per 1,000 and airline miles at 0.75p (both very conservative numbers). On that basis, taking ‘double points’ would earn me (25 x 300/1000 =) 7.5p per $1 spent. Taking ‘double miles’ would earn me 4.5p per $1 spent.

It’s not that simple though

Hilton is running a generous Avios promotion at the moment which I wrote about here. You will earn 1,500 bonus Avios on your first stay before the end of July, and 2,000 bonus Avios on your second stay.

This will probably swing the maths towards taking the Avios points and setting your Hilton account to ‘Points and Miles’. It is almost certainly the best thing to do if you have only two one-night Hilton stays before the end of July. If you have lots of expensive Hilton stays, ‘Points and Points’ may still work out better. You need to do the maths before you register.

Beware excluded hotels

There are a whopping 600 hotels which have chosen not to take part in this promotion. However, the vast majority are in the US. The only UK non-participant in the Doubletree in Aberdeen, bizarrely. This compares positively to the new Starwood promotion which excludes virtually all of their UK hotels!

The promotion runs until July 31st.

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

Hilton Honors

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Dave Williams says:

30 Apr30 April 10:49

Seems pretty hard and fast that you cant change:

“Choose carefully because your selection cannot be changed.”
- Keith Jenner says:
  
  30 Apr30 April 11:04
  
  You can’t change whether you want double points or double miles, but you can change your earning preferences between points and miles or points and points any time you want, in my experience.
  
  So I don’t see why you can’t select double points, but change your earning preferences so you only get awarded miles on two occasions.
  
  Even if you couldn’t change the earning preference then it would probably still be worth selecting double points and having your earnings as points and miles, to benefit from both offers.
David says:

30 Apr30 April 11:23

Would I be right in thinking the numbers would be different for those who credit their miles to IB or VS?
- Rob says:
  
  30 Apr30 April 13:31
  
  Yes, offset by the fact that there is no Iberia or Virgin miles promo running on top. More of a marginal decision there.
Dave Williams says:

30 Apr30 April 11:24

Gotcha.

I switch my earning preference every other day atm between virgin, BA and miles and more promos all coming along at once.

I think (and someone with better chat than me may be able to confirm) to get the double points you have to have the earning preference set to points and points. I wouldn’t have thought it would work if you select double points but have pref set to “points and miles”.

I may however be getting confused with this PHD level promotion…. 🙂
- Keith Jenner says:
  
  30 Apr30 April 11:34
  
  I don’t think you need to have points and points selected to get double points.
  
  It’s clear that you need points and miles for double miles (there would be no miles to double otherwise). It also says so in the FAQ’s
  
  “Do I have to change my MyWay™ Earnings Style Option in my HHonors account in order to receive Double Miles for this promotion?
  Yes. You must change your profile to Points & Miles in order to earn miles. You must also have a preferred airline selected in your HHonors profile.”
  
  However, the FAQ’s indicate that you don’t need points and points selected to get double points:
  
  “Do I have to change my MyWay™ Earnings Style Option in my HHonors account in order to receive Double Points for this promotion?
  No. However, to maximize the number of points you can earn during the promotion, selecting HHonors Points & Points would be best.”
  - Dave Williams says:
    
    30 Apr30 April 12:00
    
    Good spot!
    
    That’s great news. Love it when a plan comes together 🙂
Fenny says:

30 Apr30 April 19:03

I’m too tired to even contemplate all of this and currently only have Google docs to create a spreadsheet on!

I’ve got 4 Hilton stays covering 5 nights coming up in May. I’ve currently got my preferences set to points & miles and registered for the Avios promo. So if I register for this at double points, I can get the extra avios on 2 of the 4 stays, but can I switch between p+m and p+p as I choose? The most valuable $ value stays are 1 and 3, and the least valuable are 2 & 4. Stay 2 is a Hampton, so lower avios.
N says:

30 Apr30 April 19:12

I’d recommend not switching your preferences immediately before a stay. I happened to have just checked in at a Hilton when I read about the BA promo, so immediately switched from points+points to points+BA miles, replacing my old IB number with my BA one. They managed to credit that stay as points+IB miles. 🙁
- Alan says:
  
  30 Apr30 April 21:36
  
  Out of interest, had you already made the booking when your IB number was down as your preferred FF programme and then changed it to BA on the Hilton website? If so this doesn’t have the desired effect, you need to change it with the hotel itself for existing bookings.
  - N says:
    
    30 Apr30 April 21:49
    
    The IB number was down as my preferred number when I booked, but I had been on points+points for months, ever since they dropped fixed miles.
    
    I had read somewhere that you could change earning preferences any time before checkout, but that clearly isn’t true.
    - Alan says:
      
      30 Apr30 April 22:32
      
      No you can, but see my other post on this page – the preference for points or miles can be done up until late on the day of checkout, but you FF preference is locked from time of booking UNLESS you get the hotel to change it at the reception desk.