Hilton Honors launches ‘Points Explorer’ – what does it offer?

Hilton Honors has launched ‘Points Explorer’.

Hilton Honors is the hotel reward scheme which doesn’t have a reward chart.

That’s not entirely true.  Whilst the charts are no longer published, hotels are still working to the old category caps which set a limit on how much each hotel can charge per night.  What is new now is that, on cheaper nights, Hilton reduces the cost of a reward night so that you are never getting worse value than roughly 0.3p.

The problem with not having a reward chart is that members who don’t fully understand the scheme seem to be struggling to know what it will cost to get away.  Hilton has now launched a new tool called ‘Points Explorer’ to help which you can find here.

‘Points Explorer’ can be customised by city, country or continent and can be filtered by the number of points you want to spend.  It shows you two bits of information:

the maximum number of points that the hotel is allowed to charge

the lowest number of points that the hotel has actually charged on any night

Whilst it doesn’t show you the points needed on any particular night, it helps members with smaller balances identify properties which they can definitely afford as long as they have more than the capped amount.

For longer stays, you will need to adjust for the fact that status members (Silver and above) get five nights for the points of four when booking standard redemption rooms.

You can try out ‘Points Explorer’ here.

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

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 and they come with generous sign-up bonuses. 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)

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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.)