There are a lot of ways to use your Hilton Honors points including for hotel stays, at Amazon, with Lyft, and transferring points to airlines.
In this post, we will cover everything you need to know about redeeming your Hilton Honors points.
Use Hilton Points for Hotel Stays
The best way to use your Hilton Honors points is for hotel stays.
Hilton no longer publishes an award chart with category levels. For example, you could previously book a Category 3 hotel with 20,000 points.
Hilton now prices hotels based on a range, which varies widely by hotel.Â
In the example below, you could pay a reasonable 25,000 points per night or more than triple that amount during high peak times.
The stated points range only applies to a “Standard Room Reward.”Â
Hotels can price their “Premium Room Rewards” outside the stated range at astronomical rates.Â
For example, even though the Superior Water Villa’s cash rate is only $48 more per night than the Water Villa, the points price is 318,000 more points per night.
If you want to check the exact pricing of your specific date, it is best to visit Hilton.com, enter your dates, select “Use Points” by first clicking “Special Rates,” and click “Find a Hotel.”
You will then see a map of the area and the points cost for your specific dates for each hotel.
The points pricing is heavily affected by the demand during your dates and location.Â
Examples of high demand dates, with the highest points pricing, typically occur around:Â
- Spring Break
- Holidays
- Large concerts or sporting events.
- During the winter near ski resorts.
- During the summer near beaches.
- During the summer in Europe.
- December in New York City.
- Weekends at leisure hotels.
- Weekdays at business hotels.
Additionally, some premium hotels rarely offer standard rooms at reasonable prices during peak times.
The Waldorf Astoria Park City Utah regularly prices the peak winter months at 350,000+ points per night from January to early April, with the price dropping to 63,000 points per night during the off-season.
Hilton Honors Points Value
- Top-Tier Hotels ($500+/night) = 0.85 cents per point
- Mid-Tier Hotels ($200-500/night) = 0.62 cents per point
- Low-Tier Hotels (under $200/night) = 0.61 cents per point
But most people would not pay $700+ per night for a hotel, we think 0.62 cents per point is likely a more realistic value for Hilton Honors points.Â
To come up with our Hilton Honors points value we looked at nine top-tier, mid-tier, and low-tier hotels.
Top-Tier Hotels
| Hotel | Points Cost | Cash Price | CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conrad Maldives | 95,000 | $1,110.83 | 1.17 |
| Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam | 95,000 | $821.91 | 0.87 |
| Grand Wailea (Maui) | 95,000 | $877.74 | 0.92 |
| Conrad Bora Bora Nui | 89,000 | $735.88 | 0.83 |
| Casa Marina (Key West) | 63,000 | $530.00 | 0.84 |
| Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos | 120,000 | $1060.80 | 0.88 |
| Hotel del Coronado | 95,000 | $727.53 | 0.77 |
| The Biltmore Mayfair | 95,000 | $625.95 | 0.66 |
| Conrad Tokyo | 95,000 | $649.03 | 0.68 |
Mid-Tier Hotels
| Hotel | Points | Cash | CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriel Miami | 48,000 | $267.30 | 0.49 |
| Hilton Garden Inn Charleston SC | 42,000 | $347.48 | 0.83 |
| LondonHouse Chicago | 49,000 | $411.55 | 0.84 |
| DoubleTree Los Angeles | 41,000 | $262.67 | 0.64 |
| Hilton Tokyo | 50,000 | $231.93 | 0.47 |
| Waldorf Astoria Berlin | 64000 | $333.40 | 0.52 |
| Hilton Playa del Carmen | 57,000 | $281.96 | 0.49 |
| Hilton Seattle | 49,000 | $341.34 | 0.70 |
| The Artic Club Seattle | 34,000 | $215.05 | 0.63 |
Low-Tier Hotels
| Hotel | Points Cost | Cash Price | CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| DoubleTree Lexington | 27,000 | $168.71 | 0.62 |
| DoubleTree Albuquerque | 24,000 | $135.22 | 0.56 |
| Embassy Suites Charlotte | 25,000 | $156.57 | 0.63 |
| Tru Columbia SC | 24,000 | $150.54 | 0.63 |
| Hilton Prague | 36,000 | $179.52 | 0.50 |
| Hilton Santa Fe | 31,000 | $194.37 | 0.63 |
| Hilton Garden Inn Omaha | 21,000 | $133.58 | 0.64 |
| Hampton Inn Seattle | 28,000 | $176.61 | 0.63 |
| Tru Knoxville | 19,000 | $125.46 | 0.66 |
Points & Money
You can also redeem a combination of points and cash for your hotel stay.
The value of each point with “Points & Money” is almost the same as when you redeem points for a free room.
There may be a slight difference since the more points you use, the less taxes you pay on the room.
Fifth Night Free
You can also get a fifth night free on award booking if you are a Hilton Honors elite member.
For example, if a hotel costs 30,000 points per night, you could book five nights for 120,000 points instead of 150,000 points.
The fifth night free does not work with Points & Money bookings.
If you move the slider from 120,000 points to 119,000 points, you have to pay the fifth night in cash ($138.32 in this example).
You also get a fifth night free for your 10th, 15th, and 20th consecutive night.Â
Plus, you can use this benefit an unlimited amount of times per year.
You can easily get elite status from credit cards to utilize the Fifth Night Free:
American Express Hilton Honors– Earns 7x points at Hilton, has no annual fee, and provides Silver elite status.
American Express Surpass– Earns 12x points at Hilton, has a $95 annual fee, and provides Gold elite status.
American Express Aspire– Earns 14x points at Hilton, provides Diamond elite status, offers a $250 airfare credit, $250 resort credit, Priority Pass, a free weekend night, and has a $450 annual fee.
American Express Hilton Business-Earns 12x points at Hilton, has a $95 annual fee, and provides Gold elite status.
Plus, all of the American Express Platinum cards offer Gold elite status:
You can also get Gold elite status with a FoundersCard membership, which offers nice benefits for frequent travelers and business owners.
Lastly, the Fifth Night Free only works on standard award rooms. It will not work if one date is considered a “Premium Room Award.”
Transfer Points to Airline Partners
You can transfer your Hilton Honors points to airline mileage programs, but transfers can take up to 30 days to process.
We don’t recommend transferring Hilton points to airlines because the rate is 10 Hilton points to 1 airline mile for most programs.
For example, Alaska Airlines miles are some of the most valuable airline miles, and we value them around 2.3 cents each.
Transferring your Hilton points to Alaska Airlines would value Hilton points at 0.23 cents each (2.3 cents/10).
We value Hilton points at 0.62 cents per point, so you could be almost 3x better off redeeming Hilton points for hotel stays rather than transferring points.
Transfers could make sense if you were 1,000 to 2,000 airline miles from a free flight, but you may have to wait a while for the points transfers to go through.
You are better off transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to airlines in almost all situations.
| Airline Partner | Transfer Rate |
|---|---|
Aeroflot
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
AeroMexico
|
25,000 HH points to 6,500 miles |
Air Canada Aeroplan
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Air Asia
|
10,000 HH points to 2,000 miles |
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Air New Zealand
|
5,000 HH points to 10 Airpoints |
Alaska Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
American Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
All Nippon Airways (ANA)
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Asiana
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
British Airways
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 Avios |
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
China Eastern
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Delta Air Lines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 SkyMiles |
Emirates
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Ethiopian Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Etihad Airways
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Eurowings
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
EVA Air
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Finnair
|
5,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Frontier Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
Garuda Indonesia
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Hainan Airlines
|
25,000 HH points to 10,000 miles |
Hawaiian Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
Icelandair
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Japan Airlines (JAL)
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Jet Airways
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
LATAM
|
25,000 HH points to 6,500 KMs |
Malaysia Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,200 miles |
Philippine Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Qatar Airways
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
SAS
|
8,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Saudia Arabian Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Singapore Airlines
|
4,000 HH points to 500 miles |
South African Airways
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
Turkish Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
United Airlines
|
10,000 HH points to 1,000 miles |
Virgin Atlantic
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
Virgin Australia
|
10,000 HH points to 1,500 miles |
Transfer Hilton Points to Amtrak
You can also transfer Hilton Honors points to Amtrak at a rate of 10,000 Hilton Honors points to 1,500 Amtrak Guest Rewards points.
However, we still don’t recommend you transfer Hilton points to Amtrak because of the sub-par transfer ratio.
Use Hilton Points at Amazon
You can use your Hilton points at Amazon by linking your accounts, but the rate is a very lousy 0.2 cents per point.Â
We don’t recommend cashing out Hilton points at that rate, unless your points are about to expire.
There were very brief periods of time when you could cash out Hilton points for 0.5 cents at Amazon, but this promotion hasn’t returned since 2019.Â
Use Points for Hilton Experiences
You can also redeem Hilton points for Hilton Experiences, which can be a very unique activity such as a virtual race against a professional driver.
Hilton Experiences can also include restaurants, tours, and spa treatments.Â
You can get decent value from redeeming your Hilton Honors points for Hilton Experiences, but you are probably better off redeeming points for hotels.
For example, the brunch for two in Singapore costs 50,000 points, but you can normally buy the same brunch for two for $233.16 USD, which gets you 0.47 cents per point.
Redeeming Hilton Points for Lyft
You can redeem Hilton Honors points for Lyft credits by linking your accounts.
We don’t recommend this redemption because you only receive 0.22 cents per point in value.
But the Hilton and Lyft partnership is a great way to earn 3 Hilton points per dollar on Lyft rides and 2 Hilton points per dollar on shared Lyft rides.
Donate Hilton Honors Points
Another option is to donate your points to the charity of your choice.
There are thousands of charities to choose from and donations start at 4,000 points.
The charity will receive 0.25 cents per point, which equals:
- $10 for 4,000 points
- $25 for 10,000 points
- $125 for 50,000 points
- $250 for 100,000 points
Using Hilton Points for Event Credits
You can redeem points for a discount on your next Hilton event, but the redemption rate is a very low 0.2 cents per point:
- 25,000 Points = $50
- 50,000 Points = $100
- 75,000 Points = $150
- 125,000 Points = $250
- 250,000 Points = $500
Pooling Hilton Points
You can pool your points with up to ten other Hilton Honors members for free.
A few things you should know are:
- You can transfer between 1,000 and 500,000 points each calendar year.
- You can receive up to 2 million points each calendar year.
- A person must be a Hilton member for at least 30 days and have a minimum balance of 1,000 points.
- You can make up to six transfers per calendar year.
- You can redeem points with pooled points up to six times per calendar year.
The Verdict
The best way to use Hilton Honors points is for hotel stays. You should try to achieve at least 0.60 cents in value when deciding whether to pay for a hotel or use your Hilton points.
