Hilton Hhonors is the hotel guest loyalty reward program for those staying at Hilton family hotels including Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Doubletree, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Conrad and the Waldorf-Astoria Collection. There are over 3,000 hotels in 82 countries within the Hilton family. Hilton HHonors has intense competition with other hotel reward programs such as Hyatt Gold Passport, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Marriott Rewards. In many cases, those rival hotel rewards programs give out more free nights than at the Hilton HHonors program. However, recent promotions at Hilton in 2010 have started to turn this tide.
Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold, and Diamond VIP Tiers
All members begin in the blue tier where they earn points and airline miles for each paid hotel stay. Signup can be done at a Hilton family hotel or online. For frequent travelers, here are the Hilton HHonors VIP tiers by hotel stays:
- Hilton HHonors Silver VIP - 4 stays or 10 nights
- Hilton HHonors Gold VIP - 16 stays, 36 nights, or 60,000 base points
- Hilton HHonors Diamond VIP - 28 stays, 60 nights, or 100,000 base points
Members who have the Hilton HHonors Amercian Express Card automatically get Silver VIP. Those who manage to spend $20,000 in a calendar year automatically get Gold VIP. Those with the Hilton HHonors Surpass card automatically get Gold VIP status for the first year. After that first year, spending needs to reach $20,000 to earn Gold VIP status and $40,000 to get Diamond VIP status.
Hilton HHonors Free Night Redemption
Free hotel night redemption is easy since any hotel in the Hilton family can be booked for points as long as there is room available. For VIP members, there are discounted VIP rewards for fewer points available. Those with a Hilton-affiliated American Express card have even more options for discounted reward redemption. Without promotions, it can take many paid stays at cheaper properties to earn one night at an expensive property even with Diamond VIP bonuses. Thankfully, Hilton does occasionally hold promotions to earn free nights faster.
The Hilton family of hotels contain everything in the cost spectrum from budget stays at the Hampton Inn and the Hilton Garden Inn to premium resorts under the Conrad and the Waldorf-Astoria label. Because of that, the ideal strategy for members in Hilton HHonors is to pay cash for cheap hotel stays in the United States while using points for stays in expensive properties including those located outside of the continental US. Some popular Hilton properties for redemption include the Hilton Arc de Triomphe in Paris and Rome Cavalieri. For members residing in Europe, earning a cheap stay is difficult since there are far fewer cheap Hilton family options there.
Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold, and Diamond VIP Benefits
Silver status in Hilton HHonors is not worth much. It provides for free use of the hotel's fitness center, if available. On the other hand Gold and Diamond have many more benefits. Both Gold and Diamond guests get free breakfast and a free room upgrade, if available. There are other small amenities for Gold VIP and Diamond VIP such as a welcome gift of water bottles and snacks upon check-in or bonus points in lieu of a welcome gift. The difference between Gold VIP and Diamond VIP is not significant. Diamond VIP may have a better chance at a room upgrade and slightly bigger welcome gift. But for most hotel stays, there doesn't seem to be much difference with guest treatment between Gold VIP and Diamond VIP.
2010 Hilton HHonors Point Devaluation
In January 2010, Hilton increased the points required to redeem for a free hotel stay. While other hotel reward programs were giving out more free nights due to the poor economy, Hilton stood firm and provided far less rewarding promotions and ended 2009 by announcing a significant devaluation of Hilton HHonors points. This lead to an onslaught of point redemption requests prior to the devaluation.
Subsequent to the devaluation, Hilton HHonors started two promotions where guests can earn a free night at almost any Hilton property after 4 stays with promotions during the first and second quarters of 2010. The astute traveler stayed at Hampton Inn and other cheap properties in the US to earn free nights. After the promotion, he redeemed the free nights at expensive overseas hotels.
Despite the recent promotions from Hilton, Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards and Hyatt Gold Passport have aggressive promotions where a free hotel night can be earned in as few as three hotel stays. It will be hard to justify continued loyalty to Hilton without additional promotions or significant improvements to Hilton HHonors. The best move may be to wait for Hilton to come out with another great promotion and then shift travel budget dollars as warranted.
