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Get tickets for the Goodwood Festival of Speed with your Hilton Honors hotel points

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Waldorf Astoria is an official sponsor of the Goodwood Festival of Speed again this year, and has made a selection of ticket packages available on the Hilton Auction site for ‘buy it now’.

These are decent value, especially for the Saturday and Sunday.  The price has been doubled from last year, however, when the tickets were an absolute steal.

For 50,000 Hilton Honors points, which I value at around £170, you get tickets for two people (Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday) plus a glass of champagne at the Waldorf Astoria bar.

What is not clear is if the bar is on a special viewing platform, as it was last year.  This allowed you to get a better view of the racing than would otherwise be possible.  It also isn’t clear if Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond members will be able to access the viewing platform again simply by flashing their membership card, irrespective of whether they get this special package.

Is this good value?

Saturday and Sunday tickets are sold out so this is your only chance to go

Friday tickets would usually cost £230 for two people, so the Hilton packages are a decent – but not outstanding – use of your points, unless you put a lot of value on the Waldorf Astoria champagne bar access.

Thursday is the cheap day, with a pair of tickets only costing £98 including a grandstand pass.  I would NOT redeem 50,000 Hilton points on this basis.

The festival runs from Thursday 4th July to Sunday 7th July.  You can redeem your Hilton points via the auction site here.

You can also bid for ticket packages which include a short helicopter ride around the circuit or a ride around the circuit as the passenger in a rally car, driven by a professional.

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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 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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th April 2025, the annual fee on the basic Hilton Honors debit card is halved from £60 to £30. The sign-up bonus is also easier to earn – you need to spend £1,000 either in the UK or abroad within three months. The usual bonus rule requires you to spend the full £1,000 outside the UK.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

10,000 bonus points, Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, 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 American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

and for small business owners:

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.

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (58)

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

  • meta says:
    10 Jun10 June 15:40

    O/T Couldn’t find an answer elsewhere. Just received an email from Iberia about an upcoming flight from Madrid to New York which states that I should arrive 4 hours before the flight due to new US requirements (in place since April 2018). Anyone knows if this really necessary? I am specifically asking about Iberia. Never had this kind of wording when flying from London.

    • Anna says:
      10 Jun10 June 16:14

      What requirements? I would ask for documentary evidence as I don’t know why Spain would require this and nowhere else, otherwise Iberia might be using this as an excuse to wriggle out of their obligations if passengers aren’t processed swiftly enough.

      • meta says:
        10 Jun10 June 17:15

        They are citing security measures. This is directly from the email. “New US entry requirements from 24 April 2018. In view of the security measures now demanded by the USA, you must arrive at the airport four hours before the departure of your flight to allow enough time to go through the security controls and reach the boarding gate.”

        I don’t usually arrive that early at the airport, so it seems totally unnecessary. I am sure it won’t take 4 hours to clear security and immigration. But then again don’t want to miss the flight due to this. Iberia website has the same wording beneath the check in deadlines. But I am more interested in actual experience as this seems really extreme.

        • Anna says:
          10 Jun10 June 18:29

          I would wasn’t to see the actual US policy on that. I have entered the US 3 times since April 2018 (admittedly not via Madrid) were the security checks any different for people going to the USA. Ditto on the way out.

          • Anna says:
            10 Jun10 June 18:30

            “I would want”

          • Anna says:
            10 Jun10 June 18:31

            Oh dear I have no typing skills today. The security checks were the same for everyone, regardless of where they were going!

          • Nonsense says:
            10 Jun10 June 18:36

            of course the security checks are the same – it’s just BS – ignore

    • Lumma says:
      10 Jun10 June 19:25

      At Madrid, the most severe check was someone examining my passport fully at the gate where the USA flights were departing from (he wasn’t very happy as the gold writing/image was virtually worn off my passport by this point), until this point nothing was any different than flying Spain to the UK so arriving earlier won’t make any difference as this was well after check-in and a couple of hours in the Iberia lounge

    • LoopyLou says:
      10 Jun10 June 20:17

      Fairly new to this site and first posting. Latter half of last year and also last month we experienced extra security checks at lhr. These are at the gate before boarding in T5 and cause delays. I travelled with my daughter last year to JFK and she was pulled over for enhanced security at the gate both for out and return journeys. Last month we went to Boston from againT5 and she was pulled over at the gate. A code (SSS?) is printed on boarding pass and anyone with this is stopped for extra checks. On each occasion she has been on a separate booking to me. She seems to fit similar profile to others – young, travelling alone.

      • Shoestring says:
        10 Jun10 June 20:20

        means nothing, that’s a random extra check code

        • Anna says:
          11 Jun11 June 06:53

          +1 – my OH had extra checks going to IAD last year but it only took a few minutes and took place during general boarding so there would have been no reason to arrive at the airport any earlier. You may also know in advance about this as you may not be able to check in online if you’ve been selected.

  • Russ says:
    10 Jun10 June 19:36

    Totally OT but travel related, my car’s just been written off and has a private number plate. Do I have to get the old plate back on it if I want to keep the personal plate?

    • Anna says:
      10 Jun10 June 19:56

      Yes you’ll need to swap it back (DVLA will advise what to do in the case of a write off) as the car will have a “scrapped” marker on it to prevent unscrupulous traders from patching it up and re-selling it.

      • Anna says:
        10 Jun10 June 19:59

        That wasn’t very clear, sorry! The two number plates will be linked to each other anyway, you need to advise the DVLA the car has been scrapped, and once you transfer the plate to a new car it won’t be linked to the old car any more.

        • Russ says:
          10 Jun10 June 20:22

          Thanks Anna. I wasn’t clear either as it’s a leased vehicle. It only happened today so I’m just letting interested parties know now and realized there’s a personal plate on it.

          • Anna says:
            10 Jun10 June 20:29

            Ah right. In that case the car will be registered to the lease company and it will be up to them to notify the DVLA. I don’t know how you go about registering a lease car on private plates, presumably the lease company advised you on that?

  • tom1 says:
    10 Jun10 June 20:49

    I stayed at Hilton Sorrento a few weeks ago for 60,000 points per night (cash rates around 250-300eur per night)
    The room at the £29 Travelodge last week (normal room, not super, new hotel) was far better. Modern, clean, comfy bed, endless hot water, USB sockets by the bed. Admittedly no free breakfast or exec lounge, but that doesn’t bridge the gap!

    Needless to say I checked out of the Hilton early and went to a nearby HIE.

  • Harry T says:
    10 Jun10 June 21:48

    OT:
    I’ve booked a trip to Florence/Firenze from 16th May to 23rd May 2020 (Avios flights booked from Edinburgh). Any recommendations for places to stay, especially places that are good value for points redemptions? And any recommendations for things to do are welcome too.

    I remember @Shoestring saying he lived there for a bit.

    • Shoestring says:
      10 Jun10 June 22:03

      I was a poor student!

      But things to do – David, the Duomo, the Uffizi etc – you can get a list online in a flash, I could get into the Uffizi for free so used to go daily just to look at one or two things.

      get yourselves up to Fiesole as well

      • Harry T says:
        10 Jun10 June 22:37

        Thank you so much. We are not wealthy, so the student perspective is a helpful one (my OH is a student at the moment). Looks like it will be hard to attain enough points for a weeks worth of hotels, so we may stay in Airbnb – any recommendations for the best area to stay for sightseeing?

        • Alex M says:
          10 Jun10 June 23:06

          I was going to advise airbnb – we stayed in a very lovely flat close to city centre but on other side of the river to save cost. Worked well for us.

        • Harry T says:
          10 Jun10 June 23:46

          Thanks, Alex. Do you remember which Airbnb it was or the area it was in? It’s my first time visiting Florence.

  • Russell Gowers says:
    12 Jun12 June 11:57

    Dammit! I’ve just bought tickets to the FoS on Sunday – hadn’t realised there were points packages available.

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

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