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Some fun uses for your Hilton HHonors points via Hilton @Play

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Hilton @Play is the Hilton equivalent of Starwood’s SPG Moments.  It allows you to use your Hilton HHonors points for interesting ‘experiences’ rather than (more) hotel stays.

To be honest, the UK offering from Hilton @Play has been underwhelming so far.  This was partly down to the quality of the events and partly down to the relatively crazy pricing.  In some cases, it looked as it Hilton was simply buying you a ticket using a relatively poor exchange rate for your points.

At the moment, however, there are a few interesting UK events which have some value:

LONDON YACHT, JET & PRESTIGE CAR SHOW VIP EXPERIENCE – LONDON, UK – MAY 4-7, 2016 – 75,000 points

There were two of these packages left but it was down to one as of last night.  The nominal headline item is two VIP tickets to the show, which is spread across Old Billingsgate Market and St Katherine Docks.  As VIP tickets are not normally sold it is not clear what they offer.  Standard tickets to the show are easily available for free (I had a leaflet through my door with a pair attached) so I don’t value those highly.

However, it comes with a night at the London Hilton Park Lane including executive lounge access.  A redemption night at Park Lane is usually 80,000 points and that does NOT include lounge access.  This package is a decent redemption even if you have no intention of visiting the show.

Bicester Village

VIP CHIC OUTLET SHOPPING EXPERIENCE – BICESTER VILLAGE – Auction, currently 135,000 points

Again, this is better than it sounds.  You get:

One night stay for two in a suite at London Hilton on Park Lane, including breakfast
Chauffeur drive pick-up / drop off from the hotel
Lunch for two @ Villandry at Bicester Village 
Champagne reception and VIP room access for two
VIP discount Card for two
£250 gift card
Half day Stylist session
Hands free shopping

Let’s focus on the good bits.  The auction winner gets a night in a suite at Park Lane and a chauffeur driven trip to Bicester Village (which is quite a long drive, probably 90 minutes in bad traffic) where they are given £250 to spend and a free lunch.

Remember that you also earn Avios points on all your spending at Bicester – take your receipts and BAEC card to the Customer Services desk before you head home!

UDDERBELLY FESTIVAL – SOUTH BANK – 10,000 points

Hilton is the lead sponsor of the Udderbelly Festival on the South Bank this Spring.  There are LOTS of tickets available on Hilton @Play for many of the events.

10,000 Hilton points, which I only value at £30 when used for hotel rooms, would get you:

4 tickets for The Amazing Bubble Man

2 tickets for Closer by Circa (some days have 4 tickets for 20,000 points)

4 tickets for Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids

4 tickets for Card Ninja

The Hilton @Play website is very buggy.  Searching by UK events will not bring these up – you need to look at ‘All Auctions’ and scroll through the pages to find the relevant dates.

If you have some unused Hilton HHonors points looking for a home, there may be something for you here.  If you are willing to travel, there are also a lot of concert tickets available, eg Coldplay, Sting and Rihanna in Berlin.

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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 Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable 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:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

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.)

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (50)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Nick says:
    12 Apr12 April 06:36

    Double Avios when spending at Bicester Village at the moment. Finishes sometime in May.

  • Danksy says:
    12 Apr12 April 06:57

    The devil is always in the detail! What a good find!

  • Scott says:
    12 Apr12 April 08:15

    If you’re having a half day stylist session, on top of getting there and back, that’s not exactly going to give much time for shopping – suppose that would help the husband’s credit card balance 😉

  • Sohan says:
    12 Apr12 April 08:32

    They even have a Coldplay concert in “Zurich, Germany”…!
    Hee hee, someone at Hilton needs to work on their geography

  • Alex W says:
    12 Apr12 April 09:49

    Trouble is I don’t have any “spare” honors points. Hoe on earth people earn a million points for 2 weeks in the Maldives is beyond me!!

    • Rob says:
      12 Apr12 April 10:30

      To be honest, some of these deals are better than redeeming for hotel stays!

      People going to the Maldives tend to buy HH points when they are reduced as it is still far cheaper than paying cash at Rangali. You can also convert from Amex and Virgin Flying Club remember.

    • Brian says:
      12 Apr12 April 10:34

      Credit card sign-ups, probably easier in the States, Virgin transfers…

      • Alex W says:
        12 Apr12 April 13:45

        I’ve got the Barclaycard and free night certificate… just checked the exclusions and surprisingly it appears that Rangali is NOT excluded!

        I see the lower post regarding e-rewards… I didn’t realise Hilton was a partner. I had given up on that mind-numbingly tedious process for Avios but I might have to have another dabble for some HHonors!

        • Rob says:
          12 Apr12 April 14:15

          No reason to excluded Rangali … it only needs the same number of points as any other top-end Hilton redemption so there is no additional cost to HH if you use your voucher there.

    • Anon says:
      12 Apr12 April 22:48

      Intend going back for 12 nights next year, working on the points, just like Rob says…. Bought some for equiv of £280/night and Tesco–>Virgin->Hilton

  • nerd. says:
    12 Apr12 April 10:17

    Wish I’d known about collecting Avios at Bicester Village when I was there a couple of months ago! 🙁

  • Nick_C says:
    12 Apr12 April 10:34

    I would value 10,000 Hilton points at more than £30. We are going to a family lunch in Sheffield at the end of May. I got the Doubletree for 10,000 points a night. The cash price is £89.

    Or next week you could stay at the Waldorf in London for £312, or £65 + 24,000 points; giving you a points value of more than £100 per 10K points.

    • Brian says:
      12 Apr12 April 10:56

      Your Sheffield example is fine, given that I assume you need to be there and that there were no better deals. I don’t think you can use the Waldorf example is proof that the Hilton points are worth more – unless it’s the only hotel that you would consider. Which is unlikely in London…

      • Nick_C says:
        12 Apr12 April 13:22

        It’s not the only London hotel I would consider. That would depend on why I’m staying in town. But I have used it in the past and it’s a great location. After a night out around Covent Garden, its very nice to have a 5 minute walk home while your friends head off on the night bus.

        Sheffield BTW is a great base for the Peak District and Chatsworth.

        • Nick M says:
          12 Apr12 April 13:44

          We stayed at The Sheffield DT last month… very impressed and will definitely stay again in the future to break up a long journey

    • Rob says:
      12 Apr12 April 14:18

      I have redeemed a lot of Hilton points and 0.3p is a fair valuation, or 0.5p for cash and points (but that assumes it is available and that you actually want to spend some cash). In any event, you can buy the points for not much more than that whenever Hilton runs a 100% bonus – and you can’t value something at a higher price than someone else is selling it for.

  • Jenny says:
    12 Apr12 April 10:46

    I have 4200 HH points due to expire very soon. Is it worth topping them up with Amex rewards points? It seems daft to top them up to 10’000 points just to gain 1000 avios, but open to ideas. Thanks.

    • Nick_C says:
      12 Apr12 April 10:55

      Join e-rewards and do a few surveys. I get 28,000 HHonors points a year from e-rewards. Even if you don’t have that much spare time, it doesn’t take long to get the 1000 points you need to keep your account active each year.

      • Alex W says:
        12 Apr12 April 14:11

        Can’t see Hilton as an option on e-rewards – are you transferring via Virgin atlantic?

        • Nick_C says:
          12 Apr12 April 17:35

          That’s interesting. I can cash in 8000 e-rewards points for 7000 Hilton points every 3 months. My original invitation to join e-rewards came from Hilton.

          My other travel redemption partners are:-
          Air France/KLM, American Airlines, Avios (x 3), Etihad, German Wings, United, and Virgin Atlantic

          • ahop says:
            12 Apr12 April 18:44

            Nick_C

            Are these all individual accounts, each linked to a separate reward scheme or can you cash out to any of the above from one single account?

          • Nick_C says:
            12 Apr12 April 18:53

            I have only one e-rewards account, and those are some of the options for spending points on my account. Sounds like different people have different options.

            I also have the option to exchange for vouchers with Amazon, Boots, Sainsbury’s, M&S, and a few more obscure places.

    • Nick M says:
      12 Apr12 April 13:48

      Take out the credit card and get them up to a “useful” number of points… there are a reasonable number of options from 10k points which you’ll have after spending £1650 (assuming you use the card for incidentals to trigger a 2500 bonus with the free night)

      • Jenny says:
        12 Apr12 April 23:02

        Thanks all. I’ll definitely give some thought to both ERewards and applying for the credit card. Cheers.

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