At Frequent Miler, we keep a database of point valuations called “Reasonable Redemption Values.” These are estimates of the “worth” of airline miles, hotel points, transferable points, and more. The idea is that we try to identify the point at which it is “reasonable” to get that much value or more from your points.
This information is critical for making informed decisions. In fact, it’s a key component of the First Year Value information shown on our Best Credit Card Offers page, and it’s similarly used to show which cards offer the best value for everyday spend and which offer the best category bonuses.
Hilton Honors has a weird hybrid approach to free night awards. Like IHG, they no longer publicly assign hotels to categories and can therefore dynamically price award nights. Behind the scenes, they seem to assign standard room award prices to each property (or to each category… or something).
It hasn’t been a great couple of years for Hilton fans. Last year, the median value of Hilton points dropped ~15% in average value at the same time that the maximum price for award nights has more than doubled, not coincidentally after Hilton added hundreds of very expensive properties from the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) portfolio. In addition, hotels in the 100K+ points/night range are slowly and steadily increasing in price, 5,000-10,000 points at a time.
The lack of an award chart makes it hard to quantify these small changes. That’s where this exercise comes in: by looking at the prices of Hilton award nights across its entire portfolio throughout the year.
Spoiler alert: what we found isn’t encouraging.
Overview
When we first started looking at the value of hotel points, we used a laborious process that involved manually comparing the cash and award prices of hundreds of stays each year, then using those results to create RRV estimates. However, we now have a much better way of pinning down the value of Hilton points.
Gondola is a terrific free hotel search tool that shows property prices in both cash and points and stores data for both types of searches conducted on its platform.
Gondola has shared this data with us to identify hotel program point values. Thanks to them, we now have access to the results of around 2.5 million domestic and international Hilton award searches across almost 8,000 properties, and each one lists both the cash and award prices for the same room. Using this data, we can provide a far better estimate of the “Reasonable Redemption Value” of Hilton points than we could obtain with manual calculations.
Over the last couple of years, Hilton has more than doubled the maximum number of points it will charge for a standard room, from 120,000 points per night to an eye-watering 250,000 points. Although some high-end properties are still technically “good value” at that level, it puts a substantial ding in the potential upside of Hilton Honors points, especially as more and more properties’ prices continue to rise further above 100K/night.
Together, it’s taken a toll on the value of Hilton points.
Based on Gondola’s data, the Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hilton Honors Points has declined noticeably to 0.35 cents per point, down from 0.41 cents per point last year, the second consecutive year that it’s dropped by 15%. After years of Hilton points being pegged at right around half a cent each, we’ve now seen them drop by ~27% over the last two years since it began its partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World. This is by far the worst decline in value of any hotel currency that we track.
Background
When collecting points and miles, it’s always a good idea to have a general idea of what points are worth. Let’s say, for example, that you have the opportunity to either earn 1,000 Hyatt points or 2,000 Hilton points. Which should you go for? If you don’t know what the points are worth, you’d likely go for the Hilton points. But, in our analyses, we’ve found Hyatt points to be worth over four times as much as Hilton points. Therefore, on average, 1,000 Hyatt points are worth considerably more than 2,000 Hilton points. In this post, you’ll find our best current estimate of the value of Hilton points.
Methodology
To determine the value of Hilton Honors points, we analyzed Gondola’s collected, real-world cash and points prices for almost 8,000 Hilton properties. Since Hilton award bookings are fully refundable, we excluded data on all non-refundable cash rates to ensure a complete apples-to-apples comparison. We also used the Total Cash Rate, which includes taxes and any local fees.
Hotel Programs that Waive Resort Fees on Award Stays
Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham waive resort fees when you book stays using points or free night certificates. For these chains, the resort fee does not need to be considered separately from the Total Cash Rate (which includes it). So, the RRV calculation is as follows:
RRV = Total Cash Rate ÷ Point Price
Hotel Programs that Charge Resort Fees on Award Stays
IHG, Marriott, and many other hotel programs impose resort fees on award stays. For these chains, the resort fee must be explicitly accounted for in the calculation. We do that by having Gondola subtract it from the Total Cash Rate. The RRV calculation is as follows:
RRV = [Total Cash Rate – Resort Fee] ÷ Point Price
Gondola Data
For our hotel RRV values, we use the median value from Gondola’s data. If the median is 1 cent per point, it means that half of all searches produced a value below 1 cent per point, and the other half above 1 cent per point.
- Gondola Median Observed Value for Hilton redemptions: 0.35 cents per point
(based on data as of May 27th, 2026) - Range: 0.11 to 1.74 cents per point
Hilton Honors Brand Comparison
Gondola’s data allows us to see how point values vary across a program’s different brands. Amazingly, even with Hilton’s massive coterie of brands, there is very little variation among them; almost all had a median redemption value of 0.34-0.39. There were a handful of exemptions:
| Brand: | RRV | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| LXR | 0.59 | +68.6% |
| Waldorf Astoria | 0.46 | +31.4% |
| SLH | 0.43* | +21.8% |
| Conrad | 0.41 | +17.1% |
| Homewood Suites | 0.41 | +17.1% |
| Home 2 Suites | 0.40 | +14.2% |
| Tempo | 0.40 | +14.2% |
| Hilton Grand Vacations | 0.23 | -34.3% |
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Hilton data, compared with those of most other hotel chains, is the consistency of the median value. There are 26 distinct brands within Hilton Honors, and all but a handful were clustered between 0.34 and 0.39 cents per point (in contrast to other chains, which had numerous brands with ~10% or more variance). That seems to indicate that Hilton is making a concerted attempt to price its standard awards at a consistent price; unfortunately, it’s significantly lower than the ~0.5 cents per point that has been standard for years.There were three notable places for outsized value: SLH, the luxury brands LXR, and Waldorf Astoria. This would appear to reinforce the view that Hilton’s “value” remains primarily at the high end. However, the RRV for SLH properties has also taken a 15% year-over-year dive, a huge blow to the appeal of properties that, for a short time, arguably represented the most compelling part of Hilton’s portfolio. What we’re left with is only one brand, LXR, that now consistently offers more than half a cent per point on award redemptions.
Hilton’s vacation rental arm, Hilton Grand Vacations, is the one terrible value. That’s been true for as long as I’ve been engaged with the program, and most vacation rental properties have absurd points prices when compared to the cash rates.
Hilton Honors Tier Comparison
Here’s a comparison of average cents-per-point value across various redemption levels:
Unlike many programs, there’s hardly any variance in Hilton between times of the year, days of the week, or how far out you book. It all hovers in that same 0.33 to 0.37 cpp range. The one big variance we see is when comparing different pricing tiers. Instead of being a program where value is concentrated on the high end, Hilton now seems to offer more bang for the buck at the very low end.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many hotels at that low end. As far as I’m aware, there are only two properties left in the world that can be had for 5,000 points per night (in Mexico and Colombia) and a couple of handfuls of 10k/night possibilities. They’re not even a blip on the radar compared to the 8,000 properties we have data on.
It’s worth noting that the 100K+ tier is dramatically affected by the low value of Hilton Grand Vacations, where point values are unusually low and pricing unusually high. If we remove those, the average would rise to be commensurate with the other tiers.
Hilton Honors Comparison by City
A new analytical feature that Gondola has added lets us check the relative value of hotel points across a “basket” of popular destinations. Unlike many other programs, the best value in Hilton Honors seems to be abroad, particularly in Europe. Nothing cracks the 0.5 cpp barrier, however.
| Brand: | RRV | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Paris | 0.45 | +28.6% |
| Cancun | 0.44 | +25.7% |
| Rome | 0.44 | +25.7% |
| Barcelona | 0.41 | +17.1% |
| London | 0.41 | +17.1% |
| Singapore | 0.41 | +17.1% |
| New York | 0.39 | +11.4% |
| North Las Vegas | 0.38 | +8.6% |
| Los Angeles | 0.37 | +5.7% |
| Miami Beach | 0.37 | +5.7% |
| Chicago | 0.36 | +2.9% |
| Bangkok | 0.35 | 0% |
| Washington | 0.35 | 0% |
| Honolulu | 0.34 | -2.9% |
| Orlando | 0.34 | -2.9% |
| Tokyo | 0.34 | -2.9% |
| San Francisco | 0.33 | -5.7% |
| Dubai | 0.32 | -8.6% |
| Sydney | 0.28 | -20% |
Results
Point Value
| Analysis Date: | 5/27/26 | 8/8/25 | 7/16/24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Point Value (Median) | 0.35 cents | 0.41 cents | 0.48 cents |
| Minimum Point Value | 0.11 | 0.19 | 0.19 |
| Maximum Point Value | 1.74 | 1.53 | 1.6 |
* Analyses starting 8/8/25 include international properties, as well as Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The median observed point value for Hilton points was 0.35 cents per point. This means that half of the observed results yielded equal or higher point values, and half yielded equal or lower point values. Another way to think about it is that without cherry-picking good awards, you have a 50/50 chance of getting at least 0.35 cents in value from your Hilton points when booking free-night awards.
Compared to our last analysis, and despite including SLH properties, the median value of Hilton points has declined by ~15% for the second straight year, resulting in a two-year drop of ~27%. That’s really, really bad.
Pick your own point value
| Analysis Date: | 5/27/26 | 8/8/25 | 7/16/24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50th Percentile (Median) | 0.35 | 0.41 | 0.48 |
| 75th Percentile | 0.42 | 0.50 | 0.57 |
| 90th Percentile | 0.52 | 0.63 | 0.69 |
* Analyses starting 8/8/25 include international properties, as well as Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
When we publish Reasonable Redemption Values of points (RRVs), we conservatively pick the middle value, or the 50th percentile. The idea is that by randomly picking hotels to use your points at, you have a 50/50 chance of getting this value or better.
But what if you “cherry-pick” awards? Many people prefer to hold onto their points until they find uses that represent good value. If that’s you, then you may want to use the table above to pick your own point value. For example, if you think that you’ll hold out for the best 10% value awards, then pick the 90th percentile. If you cherry-pick a bit, but not that much, you might want to use the 75th percentile (for example). We’re guessing that most cherry-pickers will land around the 75th percentile: 0.41 cents per point.
This analysis shows that those who cherry-pick good-value awards can expect to get around 0.41 cents per point in value or better. Discouragingly, this year’s “cherry-picking” value was last year’s median. The 90th percentile now is nearly what the median was in 2024. That’s how far Hilton points have fallen.
Reasonable Redemption Value for Hilton points: 0.35 CPP
Our Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hilton points was previously set at 0.41 cents per point, but we’ve now lowered it to 0.35 cents per point. RRVs are intended to be the point at which it is reasonable to get that much value or better for your points. Therefore, we believe the median observed value is a good choice for our RRV.
- Reasonable Redemption Value for Hilton: 0.35 cents per point
- Targeted Redemption Value for those who cherry-pick awards: 0.41 cents per point
Points are worth less for elite members.
With most hotel programs, elite members earn more points per dollar on paid stays than do non-elite members. As a result, the relative value of an award stay compared to a paid stay decreases. Similarly, when Hilton offers double-point promotions, the value of points decreases relative to cash. The following table shows median point values across various levels of elite status, with and without a double-point promo.
| Elite Level | Point Bonus on Paid Stays | Median Cents Per Point | Double Point Promo Median Cents Per Point |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | None | 0.35 | 0.35 |
| Silver | 20% | 0.35 | 0.34 |
| Gold | 80% | 0.34 | 0.33 |
| Diamond | 100% | 0.34 | 0.33 |
As you can see above, points are worth a bit less for elite members and during double-point promotions, but these factors don’t make a huge difference.
Should I buy Hilton points for half a cent each?
Hilton puts their points on sale for half a cent each so often that it would be wild to buy points for more than that. If there isn’t a sale going on when you need the points, wait a minute or two to see if one pops up. But even then, is it a good deal?
If you have a specific award in mind where points are worth much more than half a cent each, then it makes sense to buy points for that award. The question we want to address here is whether it makes sense to buy Hilton points prospectively to have enough on hand for whatever you need. Short answer: probably not.
Even by cherry-picking awards at the 90th percentile, you can only expect to get around 0.52 cents per point value or better, which would represent a paltry 4% savings. Personally, we wouldn’t prospectively buy Hilton points in the hope of saving only 4% if we were very selective.
Overvaluing vs. Undervaluing Points
There is no perfect way to estimate the value of points. Decisions we made here, in some ways, overvalue points and, in others, undervalue them. The hope is that these things roughly offset each other…
Factors that cause us to undervalue points
- For hotel programs that offer 4th Night Free Awards (IHG, with some credit cards), 5th Night Free Awards (Hilton & Marriott), or award discounts (Wyndham), we do not consider point savings in our analyses.
- For hotel programs that offer free parking on award stays to top-tier elites (e.g., Hyatt), we do not factor this in.
Factors that cause us to overvalue points
- We do not use discount rates (other than member rates) in our analyses. In real life, many people book hotels at lower (and sometimes far lower) rates by using AAA rates, government & military rates, senior rates, etc.
- We do not use hotel promotional rates. Often, individual hotels have deals such as “Stay 2 Nights, Get 1 Night Free,” which can greatly reduce the cost of a stay.
- We do not use prepaid rates in our analyses. Sometimes these rates are significantly lower than refundable rates.
- We do not factor in rebates, which can be earned from booking hotels through shopping portals.
- We do not factor in extra points earned on paid stays for those with elite status.
- We do not factor in rewards earned from credit card spend at hotels.
- We do not factor in hotel loyalty program promotions: most promotions, though not all, offer incentives only for paid stays. We often see promos offering bonus points, double or triple points, free night awards, etc.
- With hotel programs that waive resort fees for top-tier elites on paid stays (e.g., Hyatt), we do not factor this in.
Conclusion
Based on the latest analysis, our Hilton RRV has dropped to 0.35 cents per point, a 15% decline from last year. If we look at the numbers from only two years ago, only ~10% of the surveyed award nights offered the same value as ~50% of award nights from two years ago. That’s simply startling.
The idea behind using the median for our RRVs is that you have a 50/50 chance of getting that much value or more from your award stays, and so it is reasonable to expect to get that much value or better. For those more advanced, this post’s percentile results indicate it’s reasonable to expect 0.41 cents per point or better if you cherry-pick good-value awards.
This is a second straight year of disheartening data for Hilton. I (Tim) have noticed over the past couple of years that it’s been increasingly difficult to find previously “normal” Hilton properties whose awards are priced at ~0.5 cents per point – what I previously took to be the program’s baseline. Evidently, that’s not just me.
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Hey Tim, I’m just curious what would be your Surpass and or Aspire card strategy or have they lost their value? I mean let’s say you never took advantage of perks and you only had the free night certificate to lean on. Are they keepers?
Not Tim, but for what it is worth, if you can find an SLH hotel where you want to go that you can use the certs for, it can be well worth it. I used last years three certs for Turks and Caicos and this years for Queenstown New Zealand. 6 certs, $12,700 worth of hotel nights
how many certs do you get per year? Were you able to have a six night stay? I feel like these certs really only become meaninful when you can string enough of them together – like 5-6 nights.
We usually get three per year, one each from Aspire cards and one for spending $15,000 on a Surpass card. The Turks and Caicos trip was only three nights and, from our point of view, that was really long enough, maybe more than long enough. We wouldn’t return. The Queenstown stay is also three nights but is part of a larger trip to NZ and Australia. We tend not to stop in one place for very long! Our longest stay in any one hotel was 5 nights at the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo
Thank you for the thorough analysis. This article helps prevent me from speculatively buying points for SLH and focus more on FNCs. On the bright side, the devaluation might make it less likely to bonvoy uncapped FNCs!
I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love these analysis posts. I love how many angles you guys present this data. I look forward to the Hyatt one for sure with all the changes after things settle. Thanks!
Simply startling, indeed…because of how wrong it is!
Travel bloggers must live in a world that does not exist, because, in the real world, there is no basis for this site’s so-called RRVs. Anybody who cannot easily beat the so-called RRV of a Hilton point of 0.35cpp is not playing the game with a “full deck” (maybe because they’ve read too many travel blogs) and should hang it up.Really.
Since I will always pay cash instead of redeeming my Hilton points for any redemption that gets me less than 0.5cpp (the true monetary “worth” of a Hilton point according to Hilton), I would have stopped playing the game a long time ago if Hilton award redemption values I’ve actually gotten were anywhere in the vicinity of this site’s assigned RRV for Hilton points.
Putting my money where my mouth is, here’s a real-world case in point.
Between December 15, 2025 and January 15, 2026, I was on my 14th annual 4-Week Year-End Asian Escapade™ during which I stayed at 4 Hilton hotels, among others, and got the following redemption values:
Hilton Singapore Orchard:
5 nights; 65K points/night, 5th night free = 260K points total.
Total cash cost for 5 nights + taxes & fees = $1,669
Redemption value: $1,669/260K = 0.64cpp
=>greater than 0.5cpp and much greater than 0.35cpp (RRV of a Hilton point)
I was upgraded to a suite, so the value of my points was much higher.
AMANOR Chiang Mai, SLH
5 nights; 20K points/night, 5th night free = 80K points total.
Total cash cost for 5 nights + taxes & fees = $1,739
Redemption value: $1,739/80K = 2.17cpp
=> Much greater than 0.5cpp and much, much greater than 0.35cpp
I was upgraded to a suite, so the value of my points was much higher.
Angkor Village Hotel, SLH
5 nights; 25K points/night, 5th night free = 100K points total.
Total cash cost for 5 nights + taxes & fees = $1,333
Redemption value: $1,333/100K = 1.33cpp
=> much greater than 0.5cpp and much, much greater than 0.35cpp
I was upgraded to a premium room, so the value of my points was much higher.
Hilton Bangkok Grande Asoke
3 nights; 45K points/night = 135K points total.
Total cash cost for 3 nights + taxes & fees = $865
Redemption value: $864/135K = 0.64cpp
=> Greater than 0.5cpp and much greater than 0.35cpp
I was upgraded to a suite, so the value of my points was much higher.
The rest of the trip was spent at IC Bangkok (4 award nights, 4th free), voco Singapore Orchard (1 CC FNC ) and Conrad Bangkok (1 expiring Aspire FNC).
I booked those award stays quite effortlessly at locations that I actually wanted to visit. Now, please tell me the relation that this site’s RRVs has to the redemption values of real-world award stays like mine above. The mean redemption value (0.64cpp, 2.17cpp, 1.33cpp, and 0.64cpp) over the 4 stays was 1.20cpp or 3.4x (1.20/0.035), i.e., in the stratosphere, relative to this site’s so-called RRV of a Hilton point.
See the problem now?
I’m assuming you overlooked the sentence that says “RRVs are intended to be the point at which it is reasonable to get that much value or better for your points.”
I’m also assuming you overlooked the part of the post that stated you can get more than 0.5 cents per point of value if you book awards in the 90th percentile.
I’m also assuming you overlooked the bullet point where it says “For hotel programs that offer 4th Night Free Awards (IHG, with some credit cards), 5th Night Free Awards (Hilton & Marriott), or award discounts (Wyndham), we do not consider point savings in our analyses,” seeing as the calculations for many of your own stays that you highlighted take into account that benefit.
I’m also assuming you overlooked where in your own comment that you admitted that you cherry-pick awards and so don’t book anything below a certain threshold. That’s great and absolutely worth doing if that’s the approach you want to take (it’s the same approach I tend to take too), but the purpose of these valuations is to show what kind of value someone can reasonably expect to get when redeeming their Hilton points, not what they can expect to get if they’re also willing to drop potentially thousands of dollars on paid stays in order to not redeem for less than 0.5cpp.
The data is based on searches at almost 8,000 different properties, something that’s far more evidence-based than a handful of cherry-picked awards where it was possible to get 0.5cpp or higher.
All your assumptions about my assumptions are wrong. I made no assumptions. I just presented real-world data on a multi-hotel award redemption that shows so-called reasonable redemption values (RRVs) to be quite unreasonable (URVs) 😉
The result of 8000 searches are only as good as the search criteria and assumptions…e.g., the number of properties in the US vs in Asia, or high-end vs. low/medium-end properties being included in the sample will skew the results…
The ultimate determinants of a “reasonable redemption value” are each individual’s travel preferences and circumstances, and whether not one plays the game with a “full deck”…
It’s 8,000 properties, not 8,000 searches, so nearly the entirety of Hilton’s portfolio. That’s why it’s far more evidence-based than a grand total of four data points by one person who’s confirmed that they cherry-pick awards and have a firm limit on the redemption value that they must get in order to redeem Hilton points. Again, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you having that limit, just that it’s not reasonable to expect the average person to get that much value.
As mentioned on the main Reasonable Redemption Values page, “Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs) are estimates of how much value you can reasonably expect to get from your points. With almost all points programs, it’s possible to get very little value or, sometimes, huge value from your points. RRVs are intended to be mid-point values that are reasonably easy to achieve with just a bit of work in finding good rather than poor value awards.“
Stephen, don’t waste your time with this guy. He’s a well know Hilton troll. No data, analysis, or commentary that you offer will ever be good enough for him. He will die on the HILlton for them.
Which is more valuable: 1.5 cents/Hyatt points or 0.5cent/Hilton point? See? You failed again and are the troll for being clueless.
G’day.
The point remains the same: the criteria and assumptions drive the results.
Believe it or not, my so-called “cherry-picked” evidence is real-world evidence and not some abstract concept about points redemptions full of assumptions.
RRVs are values that anyone who plays the game with a full deck should not strive to achieve, at mid-point or otherwise, because it is a distorted picture of the real-world.
G’day…
Your assumption is based on four hotels booked in Asia for stays that took place 6 months ago and includes the value of the 5th night free benefit. Our analysis is based on 2.5 million hotel searches all around the world within a far more recent timeframe, so the data used for this post is far more up to date.
“Your assumption is based on four hotels booked in Asia for stays that took place 6 months ago and includes the value of the 5th night free benefit.”
Please be serious! There are no assumptions at all. The data I presented was of actual real-world redemptions. It’s your simulations that are search criteria- and assumption-based, so that it makes no difference whether they Monte Carlo or Gondola-based simulations: The results are only as good as the search criteria and underlying assumptions!!!
Glad you’re getting great value out of Hilton Honors when and where you want to travel! I agree with everything that Stephen said, just a couple of quick points:
We explicitly do not include 5th-night-free rates, as it says in the post. That’s because you need to have enough points and the appropriate schedule to maximize it. The vast majority of hotel stays aren’t five nights long; if you arrange your schedule around it, as you obviously did, it provides great value. That’s the same methodology we use for other programs with similar benefits, like IHG and Marriott. If you always use the 5th-night-free when you travel (as your examples seem to indicate), just multiply each tier of our values by 1.25.
As Stephen noted, our RRV isn’t based on 8,000 searches; it’s 8,000 properties and over 2.5 million searches – across the world and throughout almost all of Hilton’s properties. That means that 1.25 million of those searches produced a redemption value of better than .35 cpp, and 250,000 of those searches produced a value better than 0.52; coincidentally, that’s almost exactly where your two, non-SLH redemptions were at if you take out the 5th night free, or put another way, if someone wanted to book either of those properties for anything other than 5 nights during the exact same time as you.
I want to emphasize that we arrive at our number conservatively, based on a vast amount of data, and we go to great lengths to be clear about what the number means, how we arrived at it, and how it may or may not apply to you. It sounds like your number would be higher given your travel patterns. Good for you!
Well, those are the types of search criteria and assumptions that are the reason why so-called RRVs fail to reflect the real world and make them meaningless.
With the favorite pass time of travel blogs and their discussion boards being to rank loyalty programs, you should not exclude 4th/5th award night free — the single most valuable perk in hotel loyalty — which is available to Hilton, IHG and Marriott members but not World pf Hyatt members,and then turn around and rank the WoH’s point as the “most valuable” based on your RRVs!
I’m not sure if you’re aware of the concept, but people often book stays that are 1-3 nights long.
I fail to see the point, if there is even one, given that lots people also book stays that are 4-5 nights long, which you completely leave out your searches,but should also include for real-world, “ecologically” valid results that are not skewed by search criteria. or assumptions.
In fact, folks who play the game with a “full deck” prefer to go for 4/5-night award stays because they yield the biggest bang for the points, and yet you peddle redemption values derived without including these highly valuable award stays as “reasonable”. Get real…
The average hotel stay in the US is reportedly 1.8 nights.
We also specifically state in the post that we don’t factor in 4th/5th night free benefits in order for readers to account for that themselves if it is a valid factor for them.
While I try to book 4th/5th night free stays myself where possible to maximize value, I’ve also booked plenty of 1-3 night stays because that’s all we needed. There’s no point booking an additional 2+ nights to a stay in order to save the cost on one of those nights.
True, but there are also lots of legitimate reasons for booking more than 3 nights. Traveling to a cool vacation spot across the world where it would make little sense to stay 3 days or less and turn around, comes to mind.
It is also not human nature not to take advantage of freebies, the miles/points game itself being Exhibit A. If you are going to book 3 nights at an IHG hotel, but can get the 4th free by simply booking it why not go for it?!!!
Oh, he’s just using this as an excuse to brag. Ignore
“ I was upgraded to a suite, so the value of my points was much higher. “
Assuming you would also have been upgraded to a suite on a cash booking, I don’t think the value of your points was higher. The points – cash ratio remains the same.
Nonsense.
Dude, chill pill time!
The article invites you to Pick your own value. Personally, I consider myself an 80 percenter and look at the 80th percentile value — I don’t want “average” value. Also, your (small) data set is over six months out of date and limited a specific part of the world.
Can you beat the median RRVs in this article? Yes. Do the RRVs represent exactly what they say they do? Also yes.
I have two problems with hotel point valuations in general:
But that’s just me. It’s -> still valuable <- to know what the cash value of the points are in a systematic fashion. And, while I expect to redeem at not less than the 80th percentile of value that’s true across all hotel currencies (I wouldn’t take less than 2 or 2.1 cents per point for a Hyatt redemption, for instance) and so the relative values are still interesting.
Which is precisely why the values have no real-world utility or meaning…
It is extremely unfair and dishonest for you to tell a friend that they should go all in on Hilton because you can get 1 cent/point on better on all their points and then they (like the general public for the most part, not us optimizers) go and spend 60K at a Hampton Inn that costs $250/night.
(This has happened to a lot of friends of mine who get into points/miles!)
It would be more reasonable to tell them that on average Hilton points are worth 0.35 cent/point but it is possible to get more value sometimes with additional tips/tricks and then let them make that decision there about what they want to do with their Hilton strategy.
The audience for this article is not us who have been redeeming Hilton points for years. It’s for the beginner who has no idea what they’re getting into. Is it not fair to say that most people are not redeeming Hilton points for the redemptions you’re getting?
It invites you to pick your own value at which you want to make your redemption. Which is precisely what you’ve been boasting about doing.
But that is truly, utterly silly. Anyone who would redeem their Hilton points for much less (e.g., RRV = 0.35cpp) than 0.5cpp, which is what Hilton sells their points for with a 100% bonus (meaning the cash and the points are equivalent and interchangeable) needs to have their head examined!
If they’re buying points for 0.5cpp then of course they should ensure they’re getting at least 0.5cpp of value.
Buying points isn’t the only method of earning Hilton points though. People earn them through paid stays, through welcome bonuses, through credit card spend, etc. If you’re an Aspire cardholder who’s booking paid stays and earning 10X base points, 10X bonus points for being a Diamond member, 14X points for paying with the Aspire card, and bonus points from any kind of promo at that moment, redeeming for 0.5cpp might not feel as essential seeing as you’re racking up 34X points per dollar.
PARTING SHOT
You know what? You’ve peddled your RRVs of Hilton points at such low values for so long that you’ve lost touch with what it now takes to earn enough Hilton points to afford decent award stays!
— CC bonuses points are a one-off and, thus, unsustainable.
— For all practical purposes, Hilton Honors has stopped offering its previously lucrative promos (seen a Hilton 2x or 3x promo lately), most likely to force members to purchase points.
— Unless one is a “road warrior”, points earned through revenue stays, even including 14x bonus points from the industry-pending Aspire card, are no longer sufficient after the recent whirlwind of devaluations.
That leaves purchasing points at half penny a piece with a 100% bonus as the best (maybe the only) way to afford decent, including high-end, award stays at Hilton hotels. How decent? Just like my 4-hotel stay in the comment at the top.
Had I paid cash for those 4 stays, the total cost in cash would have been $5,609. Paying using points, the total cost of the 4 stays was 575,000, all of which I paid with Hilton points I purchased @0.5cpp (I’ve been targeted yearly with the offer to purchase 240K HH points + 100% bonus = 480K @0.5cpp).
So, instead of paying $5,609 in cash for the 4 stays, paying 575,000 points purchased at 0.5cent a piece means that I effectively paid just (575.000 points * $0.005/point) = $2,875.
See that? Using purchased points only, my 4-hotel stay cost me almost exactly half ($2.875/$5,609) what I would have paid if I’d paid using cash. That’s called playing the game with a “full deck” 😉
Hilton’s and IHG’s “buy one point, get one free” (BOGO) points sales. without a doubt, make the two programs’ award stays by far the most affordable these days. Marriott is somewhere in the middle, and, with the poorest % bonus of any program on purchased points, Hyatt’s award stays are now so completely unaffordable after their brutal devaluation that World of Hyatt is a hotel loyalty program in name only.
There you have it: the whole truth, nothing but the (evidence-based) truth.
G’day
I am still pretty bullish on Hilton. Yes, you’ve really got to cherry pick, but I’ve pretty easily been able to find high-end or peak-season hotels that net about 1 cpp in value that I can stretch even further with the 5th night free benefit. Budget travelers need not apply, but I think there is still some solid value in the Hilton program, especially when you consider the value you can get and the FNA games you can play with the HH credit cards.
I think the real value of Hilton is using the FNC for luxury SLH properties where you can still get great value. I stayed at Grand Hotel Victoria in Lake Como in April which I think was about .9 CPP. Next month, I am looking forward to staying at Canaves Oia Suites in Santorini for 2 nights. I calculated a value of 1.05 CPP on this one. I think I am calculating these correctly, although they were booked last year. I plan to keep booking at the high end aspirational properties with these FNC. It feels like a dream to stay in these properties. My family and friends cannot believe it! I’m grateful!
In conclusion, never by HH points even with a 100% bonus. Only positive thing I have found is staying at a property on points for 4 nights and get a fifth night free to get a decent 0.5 cents per points.
Does this significantly change your take on the Aspire and Surpass card? Might be nice to roll out updates on those card reviews. Thanks Tim Great Post! It’s hard to watch a program destroy its award program.
Considering how dogshit HHonors points are now, Aspire might be the only one worth getting, and that too only because of its multiple credits. Surpass and no AF Hilton cards offer little to no value, especially when they don’t have a FNC included in the SUB.
If you have the capability of spending $15k for the FNC on the Surpass, it changes the math on that card. Spend $15k in year 1 for FNC, spend $15k in year 2 for FNC, then upgrade to Aspire (netting another FNC), then spend $15k more for the $30k Aspire FNC. A lot of spend, yes, but a lot of FNCs that are very valuable.
I agree. Hilton cards are only useful for chasing FNCs, rather than amassing heaps of disHonors points. It’s still a lot of spend for a very long game for 3 FNCs. But it might be appealing to many folks here.
Agree, avoid Hilton credit card spend except for the edge cases of FNCs.
That really depends on what kind of returns you’re looking for on your spend. If you’re playing the SUB game, then yes, you’ll absolutely get better value putting that $15K spend towards a new welcome bonus. However, even if you’re getting middling value out of your FNAs at a $500 a night hotel, you’re still netting over an extra 3% return on $15K spend on top of whatever you value the HH point earnings at, which is honestly a pretty solid return for not that much effort.
They are also useful for the credits. Assuming that you actually stay at Hiltons and hold multiple cards, the Surpass, Aspire, and Biz cards easily pay for themselves with the credits plus the elevated earnings on the amounts you get back from the credits. Even aside from cpps above the RRV, these cards really can be useful for (1) short stays at Resort qualifying hotels (aka precruise stays in San Juan or Miami or Ft. Lauderdale), (2) 5 night stays where you get the 5th night free, and (3) cheap airport hotel stays when your household holds more than one card (a Surpass and Biz credit to make an airport positioning night free).
That’s a good question. As Michael notes below, if you’re getting them new, both are worth getting for the first year when you factor in the welcome offers.
I think that the Aspire still has pretty good value as an upgrade/downgrade option as well (see here for more details).
I just upgraded one of my cards right before the anniversary, and will downgrade it next July. I’ll get 4x$200 in hotel credits, $300 in flight credits, and 2 free night certificates for ~$600. That’s worth it for me.
It could still make sense to pursue the FNC; after all, it still gets all the same hotels it used to…it’s just adding additional nights alongside it that will cost you more. My wife and I both have two Aspires on the same upgrade/downgrade track, which I like because we can book two nights at the same hotel without incurring the points cost for additional nights.
Sad to see Hilton points continue to decrease in value so substantially over the last 1-2 years. Might be worth burning my current stock pile of 282k points before they are only enough for 1 night!
For a while I had been pretty happy to spend 15K on the Hilton Surpass every year for the additional FNC on non-category spend because at least the points earned along the way could be pretty good value in addition to the FNC. I think I’ll have to reevaluate whether it’s still worth doing so compared to other catch all transferrable points cards or even the Hyatt personal card.
I mean if you’re able to redeem those FNCs for ~$700-1,000/night room rates, that’s still pretty solid value.
Yeah that was a “I need to go to sleep” question once I thought more about it haha
Update of RRV after significant deval in September?
Great methodology, but in multiple recent searches in many different locations I’m not seeing the calculated RRV supported. I’m thinking under the radar devaluations since last August. Time for an update of Hilton RRV.
You were right! We just updated and the RRV dropped by 15%.
Hampton Inns used to be my go-to place for road trips and business travel. That was before the devaluation when I could regularly find them for 20,000 pts/night. Not any more. 34,000 seems to be the norm now. Sorry Hilton. You lost my business with that move. I just need a bed, a shower, and a TV for the night. I’m not giving up that many points for a 12 hour stay. Choice has my business now.
I can appreciate that. For years, I used to think of Hilton, IHG, and Choice points as all being relatively equivalent in value. Now, both Choice and IHG are, on average. 50%+ more valuable.
Crazy world.
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Hilton value is in the FNCs (and I guess the breakfast?). If they Bonvoy that, the party will be over.