Hilton Honors changes its rules to stop status benefits on Expedia etc bookings
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
Thanks to Loyalty Lobby, an unannounced change to the Hilton Honors terms and conditions was spotted last week.
Hilton has historically been very good about honouring your status benefits if you book via a third party site such as Expedia. Whilst you won’t receive Hilton HHonors points or stay credit for your room rate, you would generally find that – as a Hilton Honors Gold – you received an upgrade, free breakfast and free wi-fi.
You could argue that this makes good business sense. After all, if you have hotel status, you have presumably shown loyalty to that chain in the past via booking directly. It is not your fault if a client insists on booking you a room via a third party or if a hotel is cheaper on Expedia but in a way which means the Hilton best rate guarantee does not apply (eg Expedia says 11am check-out and the hotel site says noon check-out).
You may remember that I successfully got my Hilton benefits on a stay in Munich a year ago even though it was booked via Hotels.com.
The rule change means that Hilton properties no longer have any obligation to do this. This doesn’t mean that, overnight, all of the hotels will stop doing it but in time it will filter down.
The exact wording that has been added into the rules is:
On-property benefits are not awarded in the following circumstances:
Reservations booked through a non-Hilton Worldwide-direct booking channel or a non-designated GDS, third party website or any other channel, Rates available on “opaque” websites where the hotel brand and specific hotel are not known until the booking is made, or Third party hotel packages or travel packages not booked through one of the eligible channels.
Hyatt remains the only major chain which retains a policy of awarding on-property status benefits irrespective of how you booked and irrespective of whether your room rate will earn points.
How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (March 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:
- American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)
and for small business owners:
- American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)
The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
(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.)
Comments (20)