Hilton’s new ‘points pooling’ feature is now live

Hilton Honors has now launched the latest of the new features that were promised during the scheme relaunch in February – points pooling.

See here at hilton.com for details.

This is, very simply, a way of allowing up to 10 people to transfer their points to you without charge.

Whilst you have always been able to pay to transfer points to someone else, the fee meant it rarely made sense.

In theory, pooling is designed to allow groups of family or friends to merge their points in order to do a joint redemption.  The example Hilton is using is pooling points to redeem for a suite which may be a better deal than two people individually redeeming for standard rooms.

In reality, there are no restrictions on how pooled points can be used.  You can use them for anything, even a non-room redemption such as airline miles, or indeed not use them at all in the short term.

This has a few implications:

there is no excuse any longer for having your Hilton points expire – you can just move them to a family member

it is worth badgering family or friends who may be doing a one-off Hilton stay to sign up to the programme, because they can transfer their points to you afterwards

this is a partial solution to the problem of Hilton only allowing you to earn points from two rooms per stay – if you need 3+ rooms, you can now book the rest in the name of someone else and then pool those points with your own afterwards

it presumably lets you get around the cap on the number of Hilton points you can buy each year, as you can buy via a friend or family member and then pool those points with yours

it lets you transfer points from a member without status to a member with status, in order to receive status benefits when booking redemption nights

You can transfer a minimum of 1,000 points into a pool with an annual maximum of 500,000 points, across no more than six transactions.  The total amount of points that you can receive via pooling is 2,000,000 per year.

Overall, I can only see positive benefits from points pooling.   You can find out more on this special page of hilton.com here.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (June 2025)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th August 2025, the sign-up bonus on the Hilton Honors Plus debit card is TRIPLED to 30,000 Hilton Honors points. You will also receive Gold Elite status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card. Click here for our full card review and click here to apply.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

You can apply for either card here.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

30,000 bonus points (to 14th August), Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, 50% fee discount, Hilton Silver status and 0.5% FX fees Read our full review

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

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 The Platinum Card from American Express in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• The American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• The American Express Business Gold Card (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• The American Express Business Platinum Card (50,000 bonus Amex points)

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton Honors 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.