Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 25% off UK and European Hilton hotels for public sector workers

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Whilst it disappeared for a year or so during the pandemic, Hilton has an attractive discount code for UK residents who work in the public sector.

If you work in a qualifying role then you will save 25% on the Best Flexible Rate at many Hilton Group properties. The only exception is the budget Hampton chain, where the discount is 15%.

The deal isn’t as good as it was pre-covid when you got 30% off, but it’s still not to be sniffed at.

Hilton hotels public sector discount

The discount isn’t a ‘true’ 25% because these rates are non-refundable. You should be comparing the price to the Advanced Purchase rate which is always lower than Best Flexible – but you should still be making a saving.

The rate is only meant to be used for ‘leisure stays’. You may find that some hotels restrict it to Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights although the rules have no date restrictions.

Here’s a pricing example from Hilton Bournemouth for 6th to 8th October:

  • Public sector rate (automatically includes breakfast at this hotel) – £141 per night
  • Advance Purchase Rate with Breakfast – £173 per night
  • Advance Purchase Rate (room only) – £150 per night

If you don’t have Gold or higher status in Hilton Honors, which gets you free breakfast, then this is a very good deal. You’re saving £32 per night on the next cheapest option.

If you do have Gold or higher status in Hilton Honors you are only saving £9, because you would get breakfast included even on a ‘room only’ rate.

What is a ‘public sector’ worker?

There used to be a complex definition of what counts as a ‘public sector’ worker but Hilton appears to have scrapped that for an easy life. All it now says is:

Offer is valid for leisure bookings by employees of the Government/Public Sector (Including Charitable and Non-For-Profit organisations) and is subject to availability at participating hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio. Offer is valid for up to two rooms per Government/Public Sector employee per stay only and must be booked directly through Hilton owned booking channels. Requests for additional rooms will not be granted. Government/Public Sector ID is required at check-in.

No idea why it says ‘airline’ identification, though ….

You can find further details at this website.

You can also book by going to the main Hilton website and – on the first booking page where it asks for a city – click the ‘Special Rates’ button and enter Hilton promotional code LHH1PN.  Not all UK and European hotels participate but many do.

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 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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

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:

and for small business owners:

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.)

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (53)

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

  • ianM says:
    19 Sep19 September 07:53

    Occasionally the public sector rate is above the lowest, I suspect because it includes breakfast, so if you have gold or diamond it’s not an automatic saving.

    • michael says:
      19 Sep19 September 12:41

      yes, i’ve found this before. didn’t realise the public sector rate came w/b’fast but as Gold I maybe didn’t look or notice.

  • Philondon says:
    19 Sep19 September 07:59

    In the promotional codes section there are also various tick boxes. One said “government/military rates”. Has any government employee used that code? Or is it only a code for official bookings for government departments? Does anyone know?

    • Skywalker says:
      19 Sep19 September 08:16

      If someone has a .gov.uk work email address, I guess that would qualify them to use that rate?

      • Philondon says:
        19 Sep19 September 08:22

        Excellent idea. Thanks.

      • Matty says:
        19 Sep19 September 08:25

        I left my ID in the office once. I was asked for ID at the Double Tree in Greenwich. I opened my laptop to show my email address, which was a gov.uk address. This worked.

    • Matty says:
      19 Sep19 September 08:19

      I use the Government / Military rate. It says an ID-Travel Order is required at check in. I just show my government ID. I was asked for ID at the Brighton Double Tree in June.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      19 Sep19 September 09:05

      That govt/military rate is for US federal employees and military. As the major chains are US-centric, they don’t specify this.

      Bizarrely the UK civil servicr travel agent CTM used to offer these rates as bookable. Then in the smallprint was the info re US only. I asked CTM to remove those rates from user profiles who were clearly logged in as UK public sector staff. They did nothing. I then spoke to Marriott about why they were doing themselves out of business by not offering a rate labelled as UK Government through CTM. Lo and behold, they added the rate.

      • Philondon says:
        19 Sep19 September 09:33

        Thanks for the info. I work for a UK local govt. It seemed to work for Matty above…. I assume he is a UK employee.

      • AL says:
        25 Sep25 September 21:53

        They used to have a public sector discount that was as freely available as Hilton but were draconian about ID and rate rules.

  • Philondon says:
    19 Sep19 September 08:09

    So I used the above code for Brighton Metropole for 2 nights and it came out as £203 a night. When I tick the govt/military box instead it’s £115.

    I hope that box is valid.

    • Andy says:
      19 Sep19 September 08:46

      If you’re eligible, then yes.

      • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
        19 Sep19 September 09:08

        He won’t be (assuming Phil is UK based and not working for the US govt).

        Those rates are centrally negotiated in Washington and sorted out via some rebate process. I had someone book me into a Hong Kong Marriott property using that rate. The hotel refused to check me and a colleague in on arrival and we had to switch to another rate.

        You may get lucky and not get queried but hotels are supposed to and you run the risk of being left without a room.

        • Pablo says:
          19 Sep19 September 11:17

          Marriott gov rate, with the exception of a handful of properties (moxy LHR being one), brings up the US gov per diem rate hence the refusal to check you in. Brighton metropole is a Hilton hotel, Philondon will be ok.

  • Rob says:
    19 Sep19 September 08:24

    Does anyone know of this includes volunteer roles please. I have ID for work I do with the Guide Dogs.

  • Dubious says:
    19 Sep19 September 08:26

    Do I have to declare these discounts to the privileges committee?

  • Mike Hunt says:
    19 Sep19 September 09:05

    Matty – I think the phrase “travel order” is an Americanism relating only to US Forces and Hilton are not referring to a NATO travel order which includes European forces

    • Matty says:
      19 Sep19 September 10:14

      Whenever I get asked for ID under this rate, my UK government ID is accepted. Reading the comments here, I suspect Hilton staff are not aware themselves.

    • Lady London says:
      19 Sep19 September 12:52

      Yes it would mean what used to be called a travel warrant in the UK I think.

      Such as could be issued for prisoners being transferred between prisons / other locations (not Guanatnamo) if public transport is being used.

  • Andrew. says:
    19 Sep19 September 09:40

    The IHG scheme tends to be keener, and covers hotels in the US too.

    I always take my ID with me just in case, and get asked for it about 50% of the time.

  • DevonDiamond says:
    19 Sep19 September 10:06

    Any reports that it works with police ID? (Not a warrant card, but a regular photo ID)

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!