Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Why the Hilton HHonors Visa is the ideal starting point for the new miles and points collector

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One of the first posts I wrote for this site back in mid 2012 was about the Hilton HHonors Platinum Visa card.

And, way back in 1989 or so, the very first travel deal I snagged was with Hilton. They had just launched their nascent loyalty programme which carried (I think) a £20 fee. However, joining up got you a free weekend night anywhere in the UK except for Hilton Park Lane. I quickly spotted the value of that one, especially as the Hilton Park Lane Mews had not been excluded.

Whilst now run separately, the Mews used to be a de-facto extension of Park Lane – the back door was opposite the front door of the mews hotel – with cross-charging etc. My brother and I had a very pleasant London weekend for my £20.

The representative APR on the card is 18.9% variable.

What I like about the Hilton Visa card is that the deal is VERY simple and VERY easy to reach.

Get the card (it’s free)

Spend £750 on it in 90 days, which is not a strain

Get a free night at ANY Hilton Group property, anywhere in the world, as long as you stay at a weekend (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) and within six months of triggering the voucher.

You don’t need to focus on the mid-range Hilton properties, you can also stay at the luxury Conrad or Waldorf-Astoria brands.  Free night at the Conrad Maldives or Waldorf-Astoria Rome? No problem. Conrad New York? Conrad London St James?  Conrad Algarve?  You’re in (as long as they have standard award availability). Easy.

The best way to get excited about ‘miles and points’ as a hobby to have a successful redemption under your belt.

What could be better than booking a European weekend away using Avios and Reward Flight Saver (so minimal taxes) and then staying in a top-end Waldorf-Astoria or Conrad hotel for free (or even a slightly worse Hilton, Doubletree or Hampton!)?

The whole flight and hotel weekend – assuming one night away for two people – will only require 18,000 to 30,000 Avios plus £70 taxes in Economy, depending on where you went in Europe. You will be getting a package worth £500+ if you pick a suitably expensive hotel.

Of course, your partner could get their own Hilton credit card and get their own free night voucher. That would get you a 2-night stay and you could be pushing £750+ of value from your weekend away.

Why I don’t recommend keeping this card in the long term

Long term, I don’t recommend keeping the Hilton card unless you are a dedicated Hilton HHonors collector. You only earn 2 points per £1, so you would need a ludicrous £35-40,000 of spending to get one free night at the Conrad New York. If you occasionally need some Hilton points to top up your account from hotel stays, you could transfer American Express Membership Rewards points instead.

Even if you do collect Hilton points via hotel stays, there are good reasons NOT to collect them via this credit card.

The first alternative card is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.  This is why you should consider Amex Gold instead for day to day spending:

you receive the same 2 Hilton points per £1 of spending if you transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors

…. but Amex has many other airline and hotel partners too.  Your points remain flexible – up until the day you choose to send them to Hilton, you retain the option of using them for Avios, Starwood, Club Carlson, Virgin Atlantic or even retail gift cards.

… Amex Gold is free for the first year and has a sign-up bonus of 20,000 American Express points, which convert into 40,000 Hilton Honors points

… and you get two free airport lounge access passes as well

You may also want to take a look at American Express Platinum which I reviewed here.  Whilst this card is expensive, it comes with a lot of valuable travel benefits including Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as you keep the card.

Two quick warnings before you apply ….

Remember that the free night voucher must be used within six months.  If you applied in Autumn and spend the £750 by the end of October, you would need to use it before the end of April.  This may not be convenient for you.

Secondly, under new rules introduced this year, the voucher is meant to be a ‘one time only’ deal.  If you reapply for the card after cancelling, you are not meant to get another one.

As a good ‘first card’ for newcomers to this hobby the Hilton Visa has a lot to recommend it.  For long term spending, however, I would recommend Amex Gold or Amex Platinum instead as the points are worth the same but are far more flexible.  The application page is here.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (54)

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

  • Genghis says:
    4 Oct4 October 04:14

    My wife and I used one this weekend gone at Conrad HK along with two nights paid stay. Combined with Hilton diamond status from one of last year’s matches, it turned out to be great. Got upgraded to a harbour view suite (around £650/night), lounge access with breakfast, afternoon tea, free flowing booze (like you have to tell them to stop filling your glass!) during cocktail time. So spent £400 cash for 2 nights (and got HH and Virgin shopping portal points) in the summer sale and got around £2k of room plus value of food and booze. Excellent end to our China trip.

  • PalCsaky says:
    4 Oct4 October 04:33

    What is the churning frequency for this card?
    And off topic: Did anybody get the 100 heathrow rewards points for downloading their app? (https://headforpoints.com/2016/05/26/100-free-heathrow-rewards-points-100-avios-for-downloading-their-app/)
    I downloaded on 2 devices for 2 different HR accounts but none of them have been credited.

  • Nick says:
    4 Oct4 October 05:49

    I’ve been using the HH Platinum Visa for years now to get HH Gold status. However, what is an annoyance, is that they no longer show your eligible spend to date on getting to the £10K target on the HH Visa website. This was possible before Barclaycard took over the administration recently, when there was a clear indicator on the website of the spend to date, but there is nothing like that now.

  • Boris says:
    4 Oct4 October 06:07

    Are we story swapping? 😀

    Used mine story swapping on the last possible weekend for a room -> upgraded to a corner suite (Diamond via status match to Accor Plat) at the Sydney Hilton for my pamper night on the holiday. Approx £450 value. Booked it from the Hotel Lobby, and the clever US call centre forgot where Oz is located and booked me for the previous night.

    Eventually sorted by the excellent reception after 90 minutes, and I should be getting 50k points back as compensation for the trouble. Still to arrive so I need to drop them an email.

    To be fair I had at least one dateline embarrassment myself.

  • Simmo says:
    4 Oct4 October 06:38

    Am I right in thinking if you cancel the free night redemption you get the points back (I.e the points value of the hotel you picked?)

  • Oli says:
    4 Oct4 October 06:52

    I’m not sure how this works when travelling as a family with kids? I understand the free night is for a standard room for 2 people?

    • John says:
      4 Oct4 October 07:17

      Some standard rooms fit 3 people. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay the hotel’s charge for an extra bed or whatever. Ask the hotel directly – or just deposit the kids with their grandparents

    • Chelseafi says:
      4 Oct4 October 07:28

      Depends on hotel. I had 2 nights (me & OH got one each) & family stayed in very nice room on our US trip this summer, plus got free breakfast being gold, they saw we had four in room & gave us vouchers for all (kids 18 & 16)

    • Talay says:
      4 Oct4 October 07:43

      My wife and I used 2 vouchers at the Conrad St James in London and without status at the time, we were offered a cheap paid for upgrade to a suite with lounge and inclusive a la carte breakfast (or the buffet).

      We were travelling with our child and they put in another bed, though I doubt they could have done so in the small standard room.

      Perhaps a combination of the season, it was the week or so before Christmas, the fact that we also booked a couple of nights on an Amex deal (£50 back on £150 spend) to extend the stay and when they offered we negotiated, it was a very pleasant 4 day stay.

      When I wanted to stay again, I telephoned the hotel direct, as I got a far better response, customer service and price than online or through the call centre.

      The USA one also attempted to mess up my two vouchers as well !

    • Raffles says:
      4 Oct4 October 08:49

      Some hotel can take 4 in a standard room and so you are OK, eg Park Lane in London. Otherwise you need to ask the hotel first for an upgrade price and then make sure they do the upgrade as soon as you book.

  • Daniel says:
    4 Oct4 October 06:58

    A couple of questions re this card:
    1) is it still the case that you must have not held ANY barclaycard card for 6 (or 12?) months prior to application?
    2) and you can only apply for this card once?

    So be strategic about when you earn and burn this reward, because its a one-time deal!

    • Genghis says:
      4 Oct4 October 07:18

      A one time deal that may be withdrawn at any moment. My advice is use it for something decent but don’t plan on using it for that trip to Rangali you have planned in 5 years’ time…

    • John says:
      4 Oct4 October 07:19

      Yes in theory, but it depends whether barclaycard’s computer manages to match your application to your previous cards. Unless a barclaycard and experian programmer come on here to reveal what exactly they do, nobody knows.

      • Talay says:
        4 Oct4 October 07:44

        Yeah, we could sure do with a couple of them, a real high level mortgage underwriter and a few key others.

        I am sure there is a business opportunity in there somewhere 🙂

        • John says:
          4 Oct4 October 07:49

          If you’re going to break your NDA anyway, you might as well reveal some juicy secrets and go into hiding on some tropical island instead of helping people earn a handful more points…

  • Mr Fluff says:
    4 Oct4 October 07:44

    Can the voucher be used to book a room for someone else, or does it have to be the cardholder that redeems it?

    • Richmond says:
      4 Oct4 October 08:33

      You can book room for someone else on a phone. I booked weekend for my friends in Waldorf Amsterdam. Sent them on BA in CE using avios and booked room in WA with voucher. They were upgraded to better room from basic reward one. I had no time to use my voucher but I think it was excellent use for them. Room price was around 600 euro cash on the same dates.

      I use my HHonors card as main one right now and putting all personal and company expenses on it and getting quite good results. Gold status above £10K spend is added bonus. I stopped collecting avios with cards some time ago as flights are bringing me enough of them.

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