Hilton Honors puts up redemption prices at top resorts

With no notice to members, Hilton Honors has increased reward pricing at some of its top hotels and resorts. These are primarily hotels under the Conrad and Waldorf Astoria banners.

Hilton Honors moved partially to dynamic redemption pricing a few years ago. It was a successful move, in my view, because it was a hybrid solution:

• when cash rates were low, reward pricing dropped – this ensured that redemptions were spead out more broadly across all hotels in the network, because the value was similar

• each hotel had a points cap, meaning that it was still possible to get outsized value on peak dates

This structure hasn’t changed. However, Hilton Honors has raised the cap at some of its leading properties. The old cap of 95,000 points – and it wasn’t that long ago when the cap was 50,000 points – has gone and a number of hotels are now over 100,000 points on their most expensive dates.

Here are some examples:

• Conrad Maldives – 120,000 points
• Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam – 110,000 points
• Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills – 120,000 points, photo below
• Waldorf Astoria Grand Waliea (Hawaii) – 110,000 points

To be fair to Hilton, there have been some big cash price increases at luxury hotels over the past year. Arguably the ‘pence per point’ value at these hotels if you redeem is not much different.

Cash rate increases have been driven by many factors – increased demand from people who saved money during the pandemic, reduced supply as hotels close off some rooms to manage guest numbers and distancing, and increased costs, primarily staffing.

The ‘five for four’ promotion remains, so a 5-night stay at any of these hotels will be cheaper than the rates shown above as long as you have Silver status or higher.

You can argue about how much the rest of the world is having to deal with points inflation due to the over-exuberent US credit card market. One of the US Hilton credit cards gives you 150,000 points for signing up, 14 points per $1 spent at Hilton hotels, 7 points per $1 spent on flights and restaurants and Diamond status. The annual fee for the card is offset by equivalent Hilton statement credits.

To put this in comparison, it would be possible for a UK resident to reach top tier Diamond status (60 nights) without earning 150,000 points from all of their annual stays combined.

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

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.)