Your Hilton status has been extended to 2022 – plus qualification levels cut and elite nights rolled

Hilton Honors has made a major announcement this afternoon about your status level for 2022.

This is important because, even if Hilton Honors is not your major programme, the other big chains are likely to take careful note of what Hilton is doing.

There are a lot of moving parts here to get your head around, but it is all very positive. In general, the 50% cut in targets for 2021 has become a 30% cut in targets for 2022, which feels fair.

You can find out more on hilton.com here – scroll down to the ‘Keep Your Status & Benefits through March 31, 2023’ link.

Your existing Hilton Honors status has been rolled over

Whatever level of Hilton Honors status you have, you will keep it for 2022.

Because of the three month stub period, you are guaranteed to keep your current level until 31st March 2023.

Your points won’t expire

All points expiry has been paused until 31st December 2022. To be honest, this was never a major problem with Hilton because any activity, not necessary a stay, was enough to keep your points alive.

It will be far easier to earn status in 2022

Hilton has reduced its status requirements for 2022 from its usual level. This will make it easier to retain your current level for 2023.

This is what you will need to earn in 2022 to gain or renew status:

• Silver – seven nights, three stays or 17,500 base points

• Gold – 28 nights, 14 stays or 52,500 base points

• Diamond – 42 nights, 21 stays or 84,000 base points

This is roughly a 30% reduction on the usual levels.

Your 2021 nights will be rolled over

To make it even easier to get status in 2022, your elite nights from 2021 will be rolled over.

(For clarity, this excludes any nights rolled over from 2020. My Hilton account currently shows 62 nights, for example, but 60 of those were rolled over from 2020. I will only carry two nights into 2022.)

This means that if you have 42 elite nights in the bag by 31st December 2021, you will renew Diamond for 2023 automatically. This is because your 42 nights from 2021 will be carried over into 2022.

Stays do not rollover – only nights. This is a bit odd but Hilton did the same thing with 2021 extensions.

Milestone bonus targets

This is less important for most people, but the 2022 milestone bonus targets will be:

• 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points at 30 nights
• 10,000 bonus points fo every additional 10 nights after that
• One-time 30,000 points bonus at 60 nights

Anyone with 40 nights can gift Gold status to a friend, which can be upgraded to Diamond status at 70 nights.

Conclusion

This is an impressive move by Hilton and will put pressure on Marriott, IHG and the other big chains to reciprocate.

The smart move is the rolling over of 2021 nights into 2022. This will encourage people to move their stays for the rest of 2021 to Hilton in the knowledge that they count for next year. In effect, Hilton is giving you 15 months to earn the nights required for 2023 status.

Let’s see what the competition does …..

You can find out more on hilton.com here.

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.)