Before I dove into the points & miles game (circa 2011), I was a bit of a Hilton fan. At some point they had given me free Gold status through some kind of promo with Delta Airlines. And I found that I really liked the free breakfasts and room upgrades that Gold status offered. So, when all else was equal, I picked Hilton for my hotel stays. Once I was deep into points & miles, though, I developed a taste for luxury — especially when I could get a good deal with points. Several programs offered ways to stay at luxury properties for reasonable numbers of points. Hilton offered that too, but they didn’t have many highly rated luxury properties. I found myself instead staying at Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood (now Marriott) hotels. And Necker Island too. Over time, my wife and I canceled our Hilton cards and invested our point earnings in other programs. We rarely stayed at Hilton hotels over the past 12 years. But now, things have changed. Hilton has expanded its high-end portfolio with luxury brands such as LXR Hotels & Resorts, Signia, and Curio Collection; added new hotels to their existing Waldorf Astoria and Conrad brands; and purchased the luxury lifestyle brand NoMad. Most significantly, Hilton has partnered with SLH (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) with nearly 300 luxury properties already integrated and more to come.
Hello Hilton. I’m back!
But would you mind making one little enhancement?…
Earning points & free nights
Thanks to Hilton’s partnership with SLH, I recently jumped on a couple of great opportunities to earn Hilton points and free night certificates. First, my wife and I signed up for the Hilton Business card while it still offered a free night certificate after $15,000 spend (as of July 1, 2024, the card no longer offers that feature). The welcome bonus at the time was for 175,000 points after $8K spend in 6 months. Plus, the card was already earning 5x for all spend (on up to $100K spend per year). So, after $15K spend on these cards, we each earned 175,000 points plus 75,000 (5 x 15,000) points plus a free night certificate. Next, we each signed up for the Hilton Surpass card which was (and still is at the time of this writing) offering 130,000 points plus a free night certificate after $3K spend in 6 months. Instead of stopping at $3K spend, though, we spent the $15K required to get a free night certificate. We each earned lots of points plus two free night certs from the Surpass card. Now, combined, we have oodles of points and six free night certificates. Or, we would have six except that I’ve already used three for an upcoming stay.
Going forward, I expect that we’ll each continue to earn a free night with $15K spend each year. Also, once the second year annual fee comes due for each of our Hilton Business cards, I expect we’ll cancel them and apply for the Hilton Aspire card which automatically offers a free night each year. That way, going forward, we’ll have 4 free nights to use annually.
Additionally, we tend to earn tons of Amex Membership Rewards points through welcome bonuses, referral bonuses, Rakuten portal spend, bonus categories and more. Membership Rewards points transfer 1 to 2 to Hilton and Amex often has transfer bonuses that increase the transfer ratio by 30% or more. When we see good transfer bonuses in the future, we’ll consider transferring a bunch of points to Hilton.
Redeeming points & free nights
To say that I’ve been excited about Hilton’s partnership with SLH would be a huge understatement. This partnership has unlocked many amazing properties. Some of these cost thousands of dollars per night if you pay cash, but you can now book them instead with free night certificates or points!
I recently used free night certificates to book three nights at the Hermitage Bay all-inclusive resort in Antigua. The reviews of this place are out of this world. And cash rates are out of this world too. If I had paid cash for the same room for the same three nights, it would have cost $11,071.38 after taxes and fees. That’s $3,690 per night. The same nights were bookable with free night certificates (which is what I did) or with points for 130,000 points per night. Compared to the cash rate, that’s a value of $3,690 / 130,000 = 2.8 cents per point (which is phenomenal for Hilton points).
The challenge with the SLH hotels is that standard room awards can be very difficult to find. Fortunately there’s an easy way to do it. See this post for details: How to find SLH hotels bookable with Hilton points & free night certificates.
Expanding luxury portfolio
Hilton’s partnership with SLH has massively expanded their luxury portfolio in one fell swoop. That said, they’re also investing in expanding their luxury portfolio within Hilton’s own brands: Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, NoMad Hotels and Signia by Hilton. A Hilton spokesperson told me that they currently have over 100 luxury hotels and have 60 more in the pipeline. Some that are opening this year include Ka La’i Waikīkī Beach, LXR Hotels & Resorts; Conrad Orlando; Conrad Bahrain Financial Harbour; Conrad Chongqing; Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island; Umana Bali, LXR Hotels & Resorts; and Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique.
My enhancement request: suites
One of the things that I love about Hyatt is that, unlike Hilton, they offer many ways to get a good deal when booking suites. Hyatt offers standard award pricing for both standard suites and premium suites. Additionally, they offer multiple ways to upgrade from a standard room to a suite. When traveling for a special occasion, I love being able to splurge by upgrading to a suite with extra points or an upgrade certificate while also knowing that I’m getting great value for my points. And for those who travel with a family of three or more, suites can be the best way (and sometimes the only way due to capacity limits) to stay together without booking extra rooms.
With Hilton’s own hotels (I’m not talking about SLH hotels now), unless a suite is considered a standard room, there doesn’t seem to be a way to get a good deal in advance. Suites are available only as premium room awards rather than standard room awards. And premium room awards usually (maybe always?) mean bad value for your points. And there’s no way to upgrade from standard rooms to suites with points.
My request to Hilton is this: follow Hyatt’s model and make suites within reach. Ideally Hilton would make one or both of these enhancements:
- Add the concept of Standard Suite Awards. Just as standard room awards are capped, by property, you could do the same with suite awards. For example, at a property that is capped at 100,000 points for a standard room award, maybe offer standard suite awards for 150,000 points.
- Offer Suite Upgrade awards. Once we’ve booked standard rooms, let us upgrade at the time of booking to a suite either with a reasonable number of points or maybe with some kind of elite benefit or milestone upgrade reward.
Wrap Up
Thanks to recent changes, Hilton Honors has quickly become one of my go-to hotel programs. It’s still not my single favorite program, but the race has become tight: Hyatt continues to offer the best top-tier elite benefits, but let us down with poor redemption value towards Mr & Mrs Smith properties; Marriott continues to offer the best selection of hotels worldwide, but elite benefits are inconsistent; And then there’s Hilton with its great SLH partnership, its expanding luxury portfolio, and the only program that offers uncapped free night certificates.
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Greg, how were you able to book individual nights at Hermitage Bay using FNCs? Did you have to call/chat? I’m not seeing any one nights in the website calendar, and the app calendar doesn’t show availability as far as I see (you have to click on each date to see availability).
Online chat. Super easy
were all 3 FNCs from the same account? i could see that working. i needed to use FNCs from different accounts and agents were not able to circumvent minimum stay (at another hotel).
Yes all from the same account. I don’t know a way to do it if they’re from separate accounts
As someone who travels fairly often for leisure, but minimally for work (maybe a conference or two a year), Hilton Diamond status via the Aspire is a great. If I was a road warrior for work, I doubt I would even consider Hilton as my primary chain. Compared to my other credit card hotel status (Marriott Gold and Hyatt Discoverist), Hilton definitely gives me the most benefits.
I see a lot of complaints about the credit in the US in lieu of breakfast. Having stayed at quite a few Hiltons in the US prior to this change, I have to say, it is not much of a loss. Honestly for me, I prefer it. I never had a great breakfast in the US at a Hilton property. Some were ok, many were really bad. Think a tiny corner of the overall buffet that you are confined to. And half the time, the server would still try to charge me for the full buffet, even when I kept to the sad corner. I am happy now I can skip this, and just order a drink or snack later in the day. Internationally, I have had some great breakfasts at Hilton properties.
In terms of late checkout, while 4pm would be awesome, I would much prefer that they just guarantee something. Right now it is based on availability, and IME, many properties just have a “never available” policy. I would gladly take 2pm guaranteed over “4pm based on availability.”
(wrong post, pls delete)
I’ll go as far as to say I’d prefer the dining credit over breakfast globally, not just in the US. Local food is often a top reason I visit a destination; hotel breakfast always misses the mark b/c they’re quantity over quality. I’ve had a few great hotel dinners tho and would happily use the credit there.
Hilton was my first loyalty program and first cobranded credit card. But after reaching diamond (nights not bought) and globalist the same year I was able to compare for myself. I thought Hilton diamond was laughable compared to Hyatt globalist. After a similar post another subscriper responded that I may find the opposite to be true in Europe. Shortly after I tried to book award nights at the Hyatt regency Paris Etoile and every attempt was rejected even though cash reservations were available. This is the first time in my 12 years with Hyatt this has happened. Even Maui Andaz accepted a points stay despite their reputation for rejecting award nights. Now I’m curious about how the other brands compare in Paris for allowing award nights. I’m in 10 hotel loyalty programs so I’m flexible.
Joe
Things I want more than Suite access:
1) 4pm late checkout
2) free breakfast in the US, or at least a voucher that would cover the full cost of a reasonable breakfast
3) Aspire credit to be usable outside of just resorts
4) ability to apply FNC online without having to call in
Great list. Regarding #4 I’d like that too but it’s not high on my list since online chat works too
I’m gonna be a cynic here. Noticed a lot of youtubers are pushing the Hilton ecosystem in the past few weeks. Does Hilton pay influencers to do this?
I’m sure they do, but they don’t pay us and we wouldn’t accept money if they tried to. We never publish sponsored posts. And we turn down opportunities to do so all the time.
Hilton offers flat rewards for most elites. If I stay at Embassy Suites 40 nights a year as is typical, my benefits are the same as a person who stays once. Many ES have moved to shortened–and drink limited–evening receptions. If I want 4 drinks and not the limit of two, I should have that option as a dedicated elite. Similarly, instead of a $10 credit for breakfast, it should be free as it used to be. Lots of moves discourage loyalty in lieu of encouraging it.
Most Hilton properties I’ve booked allow free Diamond suite upgrades but generally if 1 level above what was booked. Hilton typically has many more level rooms than Hyatt/Marriott so that really can be tough when using FNCs/points (& increase dramatically by level).
My favorite way of booking suites is amassing a ton of Honors points via AMEX (1:2) then book 1-lvl below w points and call the property several times for free upgrade or calling hotel to cash upgrade to a suite. Hilton is indeed the toughest, though.
I really enjoy Hilton but I have been wondering if your lagging in behind in amex, chase, or even different hotel points is it better to focus on building up your amount and ignore multipliers on other cards. Or does multipliers matter more? Maybe if the reason is for an upcoming trip vs just building up your points amount just to be ready for an oppurtunity? For example I have choice hotels MasterCard and I am very low on points but I have better cards for most categories so I guess my best option is buy points when needed or ignore multipliers and just use it for a couple months to build up that stash?
Points per dollar * transfer bonus (if any) * redemption rate per point = reward rate
To have an apple-to-apple comparison, one needs to look at reward rate. It being the combination of program points and card points. Too many people are obsessed with card category multipliers. Consider someone who gets 1x on a Hyatt card and can redeem at 2cpp. Now, if some other hotel’s points are worth 0.5cpp, it takes 4X to attain the same reward rate.
There are two card issuers that offer 5X and 4X, respectively, on all travel and dining. Everyone becomes aroused. And, then, one learns that those points are redeemable for 0.8cpp (or lower).
Certainly, there are subjective factors to consider. But, you get the idea regarding the pure economics.
Sorry Hilton sucks. Any time that anyone can buy top tier status then that status is ultimately diluted.
Writing this from a Hyatt hotel that I used a suite upgrade via my Globalist status that I earned. Just completed a stay where I was upgraded to a suite booking a room for 3500 a night.
My Diamond status has never given me that, ever.
Actually burning up all my hilton points next week so I can cancel my Aspire card when it comes up for renewal in October because I’m finished with Hilton.
Agreed. If anyone can buy “top-tier” status, it’s only top tier on paper, not experience.
While we’re throwing anecdotes: I thoroughly loved being upgraded to a two-bedroom villa in Waldorf Pedregal back in January which as going for $3k per night with my Diamond status using a couple free-night carts.
100% agree that Hilton’s high-level elite program is far below Hyatt and Marriott (and arguably IHG too).
My post isn’t intended to be about my evaluation of the elite program but the fact that their portfolio of hotels that I want to stay at, and which are bookable with points and/or free night certs, has grown very fast and is expected to grow more going forward. A post about their elite program would be VERY different.
Coming from IHG Diamond last year to Hilton Diamond this year, I can confirm that Hilton Diamond is way inferior (in the Americas). Hilton Diamond feels nothing more than Hilton Gold that comes with Amex Platinum. Even my humble Marriott Gold has consistently given me the promised one-category upgrade than Hilton Diamond had. IHG Diamond had consistently given me better treatment globally including Americas than Hilton Diamond for sure, and better breakfast benefits.
I get really annoyed at this “elite status” argument that I see everywhere. Upgrades at popular hotel destinations are so inconsistent nowadays that you can’t reliably say that top tier status is worth anything anymore, even with Hyatt, where you actually have to earn Globalist most of the time. I read enough travel forums to see Globalists constantly complaining about how their status got them zero upgrades at their fancy hotel. There are just too many darn people in the world for status to mean anything regarding upgrades, and that is the only advantage earned status has over purchased status.
I am personally very happy with just the food credit and the chance of late checkout. Any upgrades I get I just see as a bonus. Best practice is to always buy the room you want if it is going to significantly impact your travel to not get your upgrade. I have personally gotten close to $1K of value out of my purchased Diamond status through my Aspire card this year alone. There are not true elites any more. That argument is dead.
Hilton is my favorite program at the moment. I find that between Hilton and Marriott, they usually charge about the same number of points now for a standard room and considering that HH points are far easier to come by and their free night certs are uncapped, they are blowing Marriott out of the water in the awards space IMO. Hyatt is still the king of value for their points, but churning Chase cards is the only way for most of us middle-class, non-business travelers to reliably get large numbers of Hyatt points. Hyatt also just does not have the footprint that Hilton does.
I think that Greg is right that Hilton is a strong contender for the best rewards program in the points game right now, especially while they’re giving out their point like candy through credit cards and other spend bonuses, they keep their FNAs uncapped, and they top out the standard award price at most properties at only 100K-130K per night.
I’ve had a decent amount of success when it comes to diamond status and getting upgraded. Standard room to a nice suite in Miami and just recently at all inclusive in DR I was upgraded to a room with swim out pool. Plus if the cpp still works out well and I really want a room I will just pay for the upgrade but so far I have not had to do that.
Counterpoint: Hyatt’s loyalty status is virtually worthless if you’re not a Globalist, and their footprint is too narrow to be a great primary program. As an Explorist, I’ve maybe gotten one slightly upgraded room, with the rest being bog standard rooms (and often not even getting the view that I want, e.g. mountain view vs. city view in the same room type.) Hilton Gold (the comparable status at Hilton) at least has the hard benefit of a F&B voucher in the US and free breakfast internationally, and I’ve had about the same luck with upgrades at Hilton vs. Hyatt at that status level. I also unironically like the free snack at check-in at properties with free breakfast (e.g. Hampton.)
I also can count on there being a Hilton in almost every city/metro area in the US above ~50,000 or so, and it’s pretty common for them to have something even in a town of 10,000 – 20,000. Hyatt is extremely limited until you get into top-100 metro areas in the US, and even then you can be pretty limited (Omaha, the 54th largest metro area in the US, only has one Hyatt hotel in the entire metro. Hope the Hyatt Place doesn’t sell out when you need it!) It’s a huge limitation of Hyatt, and one that I feel is way too often discounted.
Greg, work on Hilton for a year and then report back. Never mind the FNCs. What will your experience have been with award inventory and redemption rates? Let’s all reserve judgment until then.
Fair point. Honestly I don’t know if a year will be enough. There’s a decent chance that all of my experiences with Hilton will be through SLH over the next year. I already know (from my prior experience with Hyatt/SLH) that I’m very happy with that part of Hilton. So the question will be whether my experiences with Hilton’s own properties are good or disappointing.
I’ve been going hard on Hilton for the last year or so because of the big welcome offers / NLL offers on their credit cards. I’ve found that unless you’re trying to go somewhere absolutely insane like the Maldives, you can pretty reliably find a good amount of standard award availability assuming you are booking far enough in advance. I’ve been able to book several slopeside Hilton’s during peak ski season and get a HH reward value of over 1 cpp. If you plan in advance, you tend to redeem at the top end of the awards chart, and you leverage the 5th night free benefit, it’s not hard to get a ton of value out of HH points. I have found that increasingly difficult with Marriott, and Hyatt point are just fewer and farther in between to earn.
Interested in your slopeside experiences! Where have you stayed?
I dipped my toe in the Hilton waters this Summer. As a Hyatt Globalist I was able to get a status match to gold and stayed at the Conrad Osaka and a Garden Hilton in the US. Conrad was beautiful but no upgrade even with suites available, that’s rare in my experience with Hyatt. Garden Hilton was what I expected, but the $10 breakfast voucher was laughable. I needed to stay in Seattle for a week and wanted to see if I could make a run for Diamond, but I couldn’t find a worthy Hilton to stay at. The 5 Hyatt’s in the Seattle area are all a lot nicer than any of the 30+ Hilton’s. Unfortunately Hyatt has ruined me and at least in Seattle the Hilton’s are pretty run down. Very different hotel chains so I’m not sure it’s a fair comparison, but I have pulled my toe out and I’ll stick with Hyatt for the foreseeable future.
150k standard suite for 100k standard room?
Please pardon me while I literally roll on the floor laughing. Seriously. What are you thinking?
Hilton standard room and premium room have completely different economics, particularly for hotels whose rooms are at 90k+. At these, premium rewards tend to start at around twice the standard. And that’s better view. Suites are many times.
Now, if you ask for paying the cash price difference, sure I can see Hilton making it work. But 1.5 times for suites? You kidding?
The 150K example was just that — an example. Hyatt makes it work at around a 50% increase, so we know it’s possible. And I wasn’t talking about making all suites available — it can be capacity controlled just as Hyatt does. Also note that Hilton execs read these posts so I’m not going to suggest a very high point price!
7-8 years as Diamond, many of those years earning it thru travel as opposed to the Aspire. Hundreds of stays.
Zero suite upgrades. They wouldn’t even give me them during COVID when the hotel was empty.
Marriott Titanium: almost always an upgrade, often times spectacular upgrades with welcome gifts.
I wouldn’t hold your breath on any from Hilton!
They’d need three enhancements:
-the suites (your article)
-4 PM checkouts
-actual breakfasts instead of ugly $15 vouchers
100%
Plus the ability to redeem FNC online
The lack of breakfasts kills if for family travel w/a toddler. Other than that, I do like the high-end Hiltons / SLH for luxury travel.
Guaranteed late checkout is the killer for me – is it not so hard to at least offer 1 or 2 PM for Diamond?
I’ve stayed in lots of perfectly decent Hiltons over the past decade (Conrad Maldives, Conrad Bora Bora, Hilton Fiji, Hilton Tokyo, Hilton Phuket, Conrad NY Midtown (now Marriott), Conrad Ft Lauderdale, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, Bakers Cay . . . I could go on). Unfortunately, I am reaching the point with Hyatt where within about 18 months I will have stayed at virtually every Hyatt that I would really like to visit, so going for those 60 nights as a Globalist doesn’t make sense and I will be looking elsewhere. The main enhancement I would really like with Hilton is a guaranteed late checkout. Marriott can do it for elites. Hyatt can do it for elites. Hilton makes me beg. Suites on something other than a complimentary basis would be great, but guaranteed late checkout would even be better since it can make the difference between an extra half day or more at the beach vs.spending that time at the airport.
I wasn’t a huge fan of bakers cay but I’ve been considering the Conrad Fort Lauderdale for a long weekend style trip. What did you think of that hotel?
Bakers Cay is a really weird hotel in my opinion—the common areas were great and the rooms were really basic and kind of disappointing. Conrad Fort Lauderdale was originally designed (so I was told) to be a Trump condo or hotel, and the room decorations are totally over the top (either incredibly impressive or ridiculously gaudy, your choice).
Conrad FL was originally a trump hotel and bought out to become the Conrad.
They are structured like condos with full kitchens and huge balconies in the suites with some that are larger than entire rooms!
Interestingly, they have 2 buildings. The ocean fronts are in a smaller building separated by the valet park from the main tower and sit above the restaurant and A1A.
That made it more “exclusive” and convenient, but much noisier from the road and the restaurant can get loud.
The intercoastals are in the main tower and unless changed, default upgrade for diamond is 1 bed intercoastal which I found a good deal with points at peak.
Their 2bed oceanfront which we also tried with a reasonable cash upgrade was truly impressive and could host a large group but again that noise!!
Both standard faire for Conrad look/feel.
Overall, it can be a good value and it has great views, access right across from the beach and the standard Us Conrad service (“okay”). But just be aware like all on the A1A, it’s noisy and know you’re at the farthest point on the strip (15 min walk) from the main restaurants and entertainment in the area.
Great point about 4PM late checkout. You can tell how long it’s been for me to stay at Hilton hotels by considering that I forgot that point. I added that into the post.
I can think of a few ways to spend half day at the beach after checkout.