Get a 50% bonus on American Express transfers to Hilton Honors – but is it worth it?

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American Express emailed a lot of HfP readers yesterday with an attractive transfer bonus.

Between 21st November and 21st December, they will receive a 50% bonus on Membership Rewards transfers to Hilton Honors. The rate increases from 1:2 to 1:3.

This is very good. I value a Hilton Honors point at 0.33p. Because you can use Hilton points to part-pay cash bookings at roughly this level, even if you can’t get a standard redemption room, there is a floor beyond which the value won’t fall.

With the transfer bonus, you are getting around 1p per Amex Membership Rewards point. This is as good as it gets, and puts Hilton Honors transfers on a par with Radisson Rewards (usually 1:3 with a similar 0.33p per point value) and frequent flyer mile transfers (assuming 1p per mile of value).

The bad news is that the offer appears to be targeted. I didn’t get it (I have transferred to Hilton Honors before) and neither did my wife (no previous Hilton transfers). I have done a speculative 200 point transfer and will report back, but if you didn’t get the email you should assume that you are not getting the bonus.

If you DID get the email then it is well worth considering. It isn’t a knockout deal – as I said, it simply moves Hilton onto equal footing with Radisson and the airlines – but it is also as good as you’ll see for an Amex redemption.

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

American Express Membership Rewards, Hilton Honors

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

Joe Green says:

22 Nov22 November 05:50

OT whats happened to the curve big announcement ? On twitter it seemed to say yesterday but nothing yet.
- Stuart says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 06:31
  
  Abilty to add Amex to curve releases to a closed beta of “selected customers.” Available to everyone else in the new year…
  - Owen Rudge says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:26
    
    No doubt just after the tax deadline, to be helpful!
    - tartan says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:30
      
      Yes – I was rather hoping to use Curve for my tax bill to hit my Platinum bonus target
  - Chris says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 12:03
    
    My beta was activated today. It is a wallet approach a bit like their rewards card or the starbucks card- though that has vanished from my beta app. You top up curve from your amex card. My platinum and BA Premium both added without a problem. Put a hundred pounds on and it processed without issue; will see how it goes.
    - Graham Walsh says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 12:29
      
      Got accepted too. I read that you should only add one card, will add my Lloyds Avios.
- tartan says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 08:27
  
  Curve seem to have managed this launch really badly IMHO. Their tweets from early October were promising availability to all November (no mention of beta candidates only). A few weeks ago this message changed to the end of the year, and then yesterday to the new year for those not on the beta. This hasn’t been helped by the cut and paste style responses in the past few days about waiting for the Product Managers Diego’s blog, which they promised would be posted yesterday and then didn’t deliver. I understand that things go wrong and can delay things, but given the buzz that they set up with their original tweet, they really should have been more communicative around setting expectations. I specifically ordered a curve card to utilise for a trip over the Christmas period based upon their original Amex launch date of November, so I’m a little frustrated
  - Dan says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:38
    
    Agreed, tbh it’s just the latest in a long line of pretty poor comms efforts from curve. Didn’t handle the withdrawal of Amex well, definitely didn’t handle the MCC code being passed through to the card issuer well – and this…..we’ll see, but not looking good!
    - Sussex Bantam says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:47
      
      Curve in poor communications management shock !!
  - joe green says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 10:06
    
    Well if Curve are saying not till the new year I wouldn’t hold your breath. Expect that to be around September 2019 based on deadlines so far.
  - Russ says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 11:34
    
    I think they’ve handled the launch very well. They’ve now got a large group of people doing their user testing with their own money for free 🙂
  - Paul says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 11:55
    
    Surely we can complain to either FOS or ASA regarding how they advertised a feature available to all from November and now changed their mind. Maybe if enough people complain they’ll change the way they make announcements
    - Rob says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 12:00
      
      Curve can say its tech delays and they will be fine. If you didn’t pay for your Curve you have no grounds anyway. You may have some grounds if you paid £50 for Black but ‘tech delays’ is still an acceptable excuse I reckon.
  - @mkcol says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 00:29
    
    I was a little peeved having been invited to the “Curve Community” the leader of which Maria said to follow her specific post about announcements for the Beta, so I turned notifications on & of course the announcement was made on a separate brand new thread 🤷🏼‍♂️
- tartan says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 13:22
  
  Well I’ve signed up for the second round of the beta programme so there might be some hope yet
- Zana711 says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 15:22
  
  Likewise disappointed. I was hoping that they would announce a paid card with a higher annual limit (£50K+) as I’m so close to the annual limit even if I was part of the Amex beta, it would be a bit useless for me.
Andrew M says:

22 Nov22 November 06:48

Rob, one of the comments yesterday re the Hilton offer said that the email received stated that bonus would only be received on transfers of minimum 1,000 MR. So your speculative transfer is not exactly a good test – more like doomed to fail, unless you find an IT bug!
- Liz says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 07:28
  
  I was going to transfer some over to Hilton anyway so I did a 1000 pts last night so will see what happens. I didn’t get the email unfortunately.
- Rob says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 09:11
  
  Super 🙂
  - Liz says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 14:15
    
    2000 HH arrived in my account this morning. AMEX marketing have confirmed it is a targeted offer.
Ed says:

22 Nov22 November 07:06

The BA city flyer E190’s are by far the best domestic economy seat for leg room i’ve come across. I hope the legroom at the back is maintained on these Stobart Air planes
Jay says:

22 Nov22 November 07:08

OT: new Amex offer of 10% off every time at Morrisons until end of the year.
- Shoestring says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 07:43
  
  Got that 3 times and quite a few £10 off on £70 @Aldi.
  
  Might use the Morrisons one, shame that petrol is excluded as usual – though giftcards are allowable, so a nice easy 10% discount on Amazon spend if you need to put some credit onto your Amz a/c. In the past, getting £50 of cash at checkout worked fine on similar promotion with Halifax debit card, can you actually get cash with an Amex card? Probably not.
  - Andrew M says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:11
    
    So Morrisons petrol certainly take the paper Morrisons gift vouchers. Any reason why we can’t buy – I assume all plastic – Morrisons gift cards in-store, and then use them in petrol station for our fuel?
  - Arthur Munday says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:14
    
    The small print on the Morrisons offer, which you see if you click through the link at the bottom of the offer terms, specifically excludes gift cards.
    Have you verified that it really does apply or just assuming that as gift cards are not mentioned in the main exclusions then it does apply?
    - Shoestring says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:18
      
      Must have missed that, I only saw the large print T&Cs. Happy to stand corrected, nothing to lose by giving it a go. All I can say is that the similar offer on Halifax debit card also officially excluded giftcards but worked fine on gcs and cash withdrawal @ till.
    - Dogsy says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:22
      
      Can’t see them being able to see the difference between gift card purchases and grocery shopping to be fair
    - Alan says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:51
      
      They’re fine – did this a few weeks ago.
    - Alan says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:56
      
      Shame gift cards only earn the same More points as other shopping. On the upside new app is good as you can get the £5s off shopping straight away, no need for printing vouchers then using on next shop.
    - GRIMZ says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:08
      
      I also received the 6% credit with the gift cards and if anyone gets emails from Morrisons with a promotional offer (I got ‘click to activate’ 11000 for a £110 spend) then these work as well with gift cards. The promotional vouchers you get from the till after you shop don’t work with gift cards as I have tried this.
      - Alan says:
        
        22 Nov22 November 09:11
        
        Interesting, I didn’t get the points for ‘click to activate’ weekend bonus point offers when purchasing gift cards (last tried a few weeks back).
  - Alan says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:50
    
    Aldi one appeared to be online only use from what I could see – any luck using it in store?
    - Shoestring says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:19
      
      Don’t think so but it’s free standard delivery for orders over £20
    - Grimz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:49
      
      I did mix them with some messages, did you try it that way?
    - Anna says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 10:00
      
      You can buy wine, spirits and various household items online, I will be using my 3 offers! They have some nice Xmas hampers at the moment as well.
- Jumble Tales says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 08:50
  
  My recent Amex Sainsbury offer was declined because the large Sainsbury store where I made the spend was “not a participating store”.
  - Shoestring says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 09:21
    
    I’ve had that on the previous Aldi offer (£5 off £10 ISTR). It was a new store so not in their system.
    
    I just argued the toss on Chat, ie no stores were excluded in the T&Cs – no problem getting my statement credits x2.
- RussellH says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 10:33
  
  No Hilton offer, but I have got this one. Good as it works everytime one goes to Morrisons, even if just for a sandwich.
FlyUpTop says:

22 Nov22 November 07:18

Only on certain Amex cards also but didn’t receive this offer.
Mr(s) Entitled says:

22 Nov22 November 07:39

I’d have loved this but no email.

Tried the online chat in hope rather than expectation and …. I was told that I have the promotion on my account. I asked if I need to enroll etc and was told:

“You are not required to enroll in this offer, it is for all our following card holders–

American Express Centurion Card
American Express Gold Charge Card
American Express Green Charge Card
American Express Platinum Charge Card”

I’ve saved my chat reference number just in case. Not sure if others are brave enough to act without confirmation but woo-hoo, Merry Christmas to me! I was scheduled to transfer 100k MR points next week anyway. Hopefully those that test with a small transfer see a positive result.
- Liz says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 07:57
  
  I saw this comment last night. Going to give it a try as your reply implies that it is open to all as Amex has said it is open to all their cardholders. I transferred 1000 pts last night to test it out.
  - Andrew M says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 08:07
    
    Of course, last time this was on, about a year ago, chat also told me I was eligible. Also, I was not, of course. However, after a fairly long battle, I got the bonus 100K HH points promised. So save any chat confirmation of eligibility, and be prepared for the long haul!
    - Liz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:09
      
      Ok noted!
    - Liz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:34
      
      HH Account has gone up by 2000 pts overnight but nothing showing on my activity list so far. So no immediate bonus has posted if it was open to all.
    - Andrew M says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:41
      
      Last time bonus points were meant to post about 6 weeks following. No good though if same this time and seeking to do a test. Offer will be over before any bonus points arrive.
    - Liz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:42
      
      On to online chat now and she is confirming the offer is open to all – getting me a copy of the T&Cs
    - Andrew M says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 08:56
      
      @Liz “is confirming” or has confirmed? Chat just told me to ask again in 24 hours as manager is seeking clarification in relation to eligibility.
    - Liz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:06
      
      Online chat is now back peddling as she can’t find the T&Cs, The offer apparently was initiated by Hilton. She is now checking with the marketing dept as to whether it is an open offer although she believes it is. I have to contact them again in 48 hrs with my chat reference number. Bonus will be paid within 8 wks.
    - Liz says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 09:55
      
      Decided to call up and get some clarification one way or t’other. Waiting on a call back from Amex. Also got my 500 Avios pts from the spend anywhere offer added manually plus an extra 500 for my trouble.
  - Russ says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 10:06
    
    Thank you for your work on this Liz. Be a shame to miss out on such a good offer due to poor communication
- Russ says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 12:36
  
  ‘You are not required to enroll in this offer, it is for all our following card holders–
  
  American Express Centurion Card
  American Express Gold Charge Card
  American Express Green Charge Card
  American Express Platinum Charge Card”
  
  So it’s not for Gold credit card holders according to the data supplied by Mr(s) Entitled. I’m wondering if the reason why only some have been targeted is due to Amex’s new procedure of moving all your MR points on to one MR account (my Platinum MR points have been moved over to my Gold credit card). So arguably we didn’t get an email because the system doesn’t recognize us as having MR points on the right cards, when in fact we have they’ve just been moved over to ineligible cards? Just a thought.
  - Liz says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 14:02
    
    Update: confirmed by the marketing team that it is a targeted offer and if you didn’t get the email you won’t get the bonus HH pts despite what chat are telling people. Fed back again that many of the offers on Amex cards are useless to many of us and that the ones that are useful we don’t seem to get. I will be transferring most of my MR pts to HH anyway after small shop is finished when I will be cancelling the card. Shame as I do use my MR pts for HH. Got the Selfridges offer of 20% off though which is completely useless to me!
    - Russ says:
      
      22 Nov22 November 14:29
      
      Oh bad luck Liz but thanks for keeping us informed. What on earth is going on with Amex’s CS nowadays. They used to be so reliable.
Gavin says:

22 Nov22 November 07:40

Off topic – @BJ – nectar points credited for the Virgin / LNER offers, for reference I didn’t collect tickets from the ticket machine
- Crafty says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 08:49
  
  Thanks, I was looking for mine yesterday (nothing as of then).
  - Crafty says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 11:44
    
    Mine posted too.
meta says:

22 Nov22 November 07:49

O/T Anyone knows if the ability to purchase Amex MR points is per calendar year or anniversary year?
- Steve says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 09:01
  
  Has any successfully purchased gift cards and received their 5-8% back? Interested to know if you got multiple gift cards, as cap is £30, assume you can buy multiple cards to the value of £375 under 8% offer.
  - Crafty says:
    
    22 Nov22 November 11:44
    
    Sainsburys? Not tried yet. Might let it go as Morrison’s is now 10%
- Steve says:
  
  22 Nov22 November 09:08
  
  Sorry Mark I posted on the wrong thread, I think its upto 10k points for any 12 months,I actually made two purchases this year, it appears chat CS need to manually check if you made any prior purchases, thought I’d give it a go and got lucky.