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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

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.

American Express Platinum card Amex

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.)

Comments (245)

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

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    OT: BA seem to have loaded some Black Friday fares. London to Seoul is £1k each for two CW returns in Q1. Not showing in Google Flights at the moment though.

  • FlyUpTop says:

    OT:
    Transferring Marriott points to airline partners, transfered 60k & received the 20k today but no 5k bonus as stated?
    Anyone know how long they take to apply the 5k bonus?

  • Geoff says:

    Sorry to ask such a stupid question but I recently bought a load of Charles Tyrwhitt non-iron shirts and I know that there are lot of much more experienced shirt wearers here so wanted to know if I am doing something wrong as they do not need any less ironing than my Tesco Value shirts I have worn so far. Is there a particular way I should be washing them to increase their non-iron-ness?

    • Anna says:

      My OH wears them and they are really hard work to iron! Even the “non-iron” ones do need the iron running over them before they are fit to wear. We probably won’t order any more, it’s just handy that they can make the exact collar and sleeve size he needs without having to go to a shop and search!

    • Shirtwearer says:

      I do iron my non iron shirts but once youve washed them you should hang them to dry straight away, there will be creases, some shirts straighten out once you start wearing them from your body heat

    • Genghis says:

      🙂 I find non-iron shirts just easier to iron. I find even if you put them on which should make the creases fall out, they still look like callaloo (as my mother in law would say).

      I got the M&S “£45” shirts (normally 2 for £60) / 3 for £90) for £13 ea recently as a result of stackable Sparks offers.

      • Graham Walsh says:

        M&S Luxury are my go-to shirts and grab them in that offer.

        • Voltron says:

          What was the sparks offer?
          I have lots of sparks points but never “redeemed” any, not really sure how to use them lol

    • RussellH says:

      When I read this I honestly thought that it was a prank post.
      I mean, who, in this day and age irons a shirt, or anything for that matter! The only places I have seen an iron and/or an ironing board in the last 10-15 years have been in hotel wardrobes.
      One continues to learn from this site, even if it is not exactly what one expects to learn!
      🙂
      🙂

      • Rob says:

        My cleaner, that’s who 🙂

      • Sussex Bantam says:

        Me ! Do you really wear your shirts un-ironed ???

        • Tilly71 says:

          Even no iron shirts need a quick once over or they look tatty! 🥳

        • @mkcol says:

          I’ve not ironed anything for over 5 years.
          Once you realise the faff you’re saving yourself & that actually your clothes still look perfectly fine you’ll soon relinquish that chore!

      • Alan says:

        Ermm me? Have used in hotels plenty, at home tend to do when on-call so it feels like I’m using time when I might otherwise be working!

    • Sam says:

      I have had Charles Tyrwhitt non-iron shirts for a couple of years now and I have never needed to iron it before. All you need to do is hang it up straight away when you pull it out the washing machine.

  • Anna says:

    OT – BA holidays. I haven’t spent a lot of time comparing prices but it does seem that they can fluctuate significantly. I booked a CW plus car package for my OH to the Caribbean for next summer (child and I bagged 2 4 1 avios seats), and was pleasantly surprised to be charged £2600 for CW flights and a SUV-type vehicle for 18 nights. Out of interest I checked just now and the same package is £1000 more expensive! so it definitely pays to keep checking prices. I did make the booking during a BA sale but wasn’t sure how much difference it would make as our destination only gets 4 flights per week and isn’t a big tourist destination for Brits, so isn’t usually discounted much.

  • Metopes says:

    Considering doing the Hilton transfer, is there an easy way to see the reward night cost for a given hotel on specific dates? I have zero points in my Hilton account so it never shows me cost on their site when I select “use points”. Cheers

    • Genghis says:

      Log out. Do the search and select points as the currency (top right of the results).

    • sunguy says:

      My usual is to search for 1 night bookings not on a specific date (i.e. click advanced search and tick the flexable date option.)

      This will show you the prices (both cash or points if you click the checkbox on the results page for points – you may need to use change/update results to see the points checkbox).

      Then once you click on your preferred hotel, you will see the price in points for their cheapest available room on that night.

  • Indiacharliepapa says:

    I just received an email from flight centre saying ba are doing a 2XCW for £2018.

  • MDA says:

    OT. Using Amex plat for a week. It seems wlow in receiving offers. Any tips to speed to process as I would like to get some of the latest offers

    • Genghis says:

      It’s perfectly normal. Empirically I find it takes about a month of spending on the card for all offers to flow through.

  • Sam says:

    OT

    Has anyone stayed at the St. Pancras Renaissance, and would you recommend it for a (2 night) points redemption (50k/night)?

    • Rob says:

      Hotel itself is astonishing …. no idea about the rooms (which are in a new build block in the main) but as an experience it is well worth it.

    • sunguy says:

      I have never stayed there – though Ive been in the lobby lounge for a drink.

      An old boss of mine loves the place though – always uses points to stay there when coming into London for an evening out with his wife / theatre, etc. He definitely reccommends it!

    • Funtime says:

      We’re staying there on points 14-16 December for our annual Christmas trip to London. Looking forward to it.

    • GJS says:

      For a special occasion it’s well worth spending a little bit extra to stay in one of the Chambers Suites if you can. These are in the original, converted part of the building with high ceilings and original features (Barlow Wing rooms are in the new build block next door). The Chambers Suites give you access to the Club Room, where you can have, if memory serves, afternoon tea, pre-dinner drinks and breakfast. Leave time to visit the pool in the basement too!

      We stayed here the night before our honeymoon and were upgraded to a very nice, two-room suite overlooking the station concourse.

    • Sam says:

      Thanks all.

      We’ve been looking to spend a couple of days somewhere fancy and relatively central in London just wandering around doing Christmassy stuff and a bit of shopping just before Christmas.

      Think this will be the one, we got engaged in the station so that will definitely be bonus points as far as she’s concerned.

      Just need to do some calculations and make sure I’ll have the full 100k by our stay before reserving – not sure I can justify the cash rate even for one night.

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