Why I think Hilton Honors points may be getting more valuable

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As we covered extensively on Head for Points in February, Hilton Honors underwent a substantial restructuring which totally changed the value basis of the scheme.

You can now use Hilton Honors points to get a free room OR to get a cash discount on a room. The minimum number of points you need is just 5,000.

The big question we all had was what value Hilton would put on a point. I made three mid-range UK Hilton bookings this week which show that the value you get can be OK.

This has an impact on how you judge the value of Amex Membership Rewards points (from an Amex Gold or Amex Platinum) and the UK Hilton Honors Platinum Visa card.

Of the three UK Hilton rooms I booked this week, for stays over the next fornight, this is what I got:

Room 1 – £63.70 or 17,000 Hilton Honors points – value per point 0.37p

Room 2 – £83.30 or 31,000 Hilton Honors points – value per point 0.27p

Room 3 – £78.40 or 21,000 Hilton Honors points – value per point 0.37p

This is the thesis I am using for the rest of this article:

Because you can redeem as few as 5,000 Hilton points for a cash discount, because there are no availability constraints and because the room is treated as a revenue room (you earn stay credit, bonus points etc), Hilton Honors points are now closer to being treated as cash than they used to be.

Before February, when you needed at least 30,000 Hilton points to get a free room in any major tourist destination (unless you wanting a romantic weekend in Sheffield, where the Hampton was always 10,000) – and only then if there was reward availability – you certainly couldn’t treat them as anything like cash. You can now use as few as 5,000 points and you don’t need ‘all points’ reward availability to use them, so as long as you are paying for hotels on a regular basis then they are certainly more ‘cash-like’ than they were.

This means that American Express Membership Rewards points and the Hilton Honors Platinum Visa card now become more valuable.

The Hilton Honors Platinum Visa credit card is free and gives you 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent. If it turns out that 0.37p per point of value is going to be generally available (and that isn’t yet certain, it is still early days) then the Hilton card gets you 0.74% of your spending back. That is a very good result given the poor return on most free or low-fee Visa and MasterCard products these days.

American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Hilton Honors at a rate of 1:2. This means, again, that you’re getting 0.74p per Amex point based on the value I got from Room 1 and Room 3 I booked this week. This is not as good as transferring your Amex points into Avios or other frequent flyer miles, but it is far better than using them for gift cards etc where you get 0.4p to 0.5p of value. For someone with only a small Amex points balance, Hilton Honors becomes one of the best low balance redemptions – just 2,500 Amex points gets you the minimum 5,000 Hilton points required to get a cash discount on a room.

There is no guarantee that Hilton will continue to let you get 0.37p per point when you redeem for a cash discount on a room – you won’t get it all of the time now. You certainly shouldn’t dismiss any small pot of Hilton Honors you may have, and you shouldn’t turn up your nose at the chance to earn a small number.

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.)