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Review: Is Hilton Honors the best hotel loyalty scheme? (Part 2)

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In my previous article, I outlined ‘the facts’ of the Hilton Honors loyalty scheme. This article is my personal opinion, highlighting areas where I think you might want to focus.

The full series of articles can be found here:

The 10-second summary:

Strong points – best mid tier status of any scheme (Gold gets free breakfast outside the US and a ‘preferred’ room of some sort), good UK coverage, much improved luxury portfolio, Amex Membership Rewards partner, Hilton Auctions experiences, free online transfers of points between members, Gold status available via the new UK debit card, long-running status match scheme, guaranteed lounge access for Diamond members, no resort fees on redemptions, new Small Luxury Hotels partnership

Weak points – some UK Hilton-branded hotels dated, US ‘free breakfast’ now a small F&B credit, regional differences in how status members are treated, redemption rates can go up without notice

The longer version:

Let’s look at the good points first. Hilton Honors offers the best mid tier status of any of the hotel schemes. Once you have a Hilton Honors Gold card, you will receive free continental breakfast at non-US hotels and a ‘preferred room’ of some sort at most of the Hilton brands.

(Breakfast at US hotels has been replaced by a F&B credit. This is rarely enough to pay for breakfast, but is more flexible as it can be used at the bar or for other meals. Opinions on this change vary.)

You can status match your existing mid-tier hotel card and get upgraded for 90 days, with an extension if you hit a stay target.

Since September 2024, you have been to get Hilton Gold status simply by holding new Hilton Honors Plus UK debit card – review here, apply here. It’s not a one-off – as long as you keep the debit card, you’ll keep your Gold status.

Hilton Gold is also free if you hold an Amex Platinum credit card, although at £650 per year it is far more expensive than the Plus debit card.

Put simply …. it is easy to earn mid-tier Gold status, and the benefits are surprisingly good once you have it.

I am impressed with the way that the portfolio has been refreshed in recent years. We have seen impressive new upscale Conrad and Waldorf Astoria hotels and decent Hampton budget properties. I would rank Hampton above Holiday Inn Express and indeed most Holiday Inn properties. 

There is also a deliberate attempt to bring in more upscale hotels, with the Curio brand attracting smart independents and the new LXR brand attracting luxury owners who don’t want to be tied down by Conrad or Waldorf Astoria brand standards. The 2024 partnership with Small Luxury Hotels has added a lot of good redemption options.

The core Hilton brand has seen a resurgence in the last decade with openings such as Tallinn and Paris Opera which we have reviewed, as well as London Bankside.  It’s fair to say, however, that the best options will be found with other brands.  Canopy – effectively a modern Hilton – has potential and is now in London and Paris.

Hilton Honors review

The Curio brand, which attracts leading independent hotels, has grown impressively.  The biggest issue is churn – because hotels don’t rebrand, it is easy to leave Hilton if the benefits aren’t as promised, and quite a few do. The new Lost Property St Paul’s in London is an example of a new-build hotel joining Curio at opening, which confirms the growing strength of the brand.

There are still some identity issues in the portfolio.  I defy anyone to explain the difference between a Conrad, a Waldorf Astoria and a LXR. Why is the smart Venice hotel branded as Hilton? Why is there no real distinction in the UK between Hilton and DoubleTree? Indeed, why are UK DoubleTree properties superior to Hilton when the opposite is meant to apply?  I am also confused about the difference between Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn, both of which are being rolled out aggressively at the moment – note that Garden Inn doesn’t offer free breakfast.

There are also variations in how status members are treated. Due to the huge number of people holding Gold status in the US via credit cards, you won’t get much recognition from a property there. On the other hand, a Gold travelling in Asia can often do very well for upgrades and benefits. Even Diamond status is now being diluted as one of Hilton’s US credit cards gives it away as a benefit.

I am happy to move across a slug of Amex Membership Rewards points at 1:2 when a suitable redemption opportunity comes up.  Even buying points can prove to be excellent value – in December 2020 I bought almost 300,000 Hilton Honors to cut the cost of a stay at Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah Dubai by a ludicrous 62%.

The Hilton Auctions ‘redeem points for experiences’ scheme continues to impress.  It isn’t on a par with Marriott Moments but it is the second best platform in the industry, ahead of IHG, Accor and Hyatt.  Hilton does a bad job of promoting this, which means that UK events often consist entirely of Head for Points readers if we choose to get behind a particular one! I like to keep 100,000 points in my Hilton Honors account at all times in case a good ‘buy it now’ event pops up.

If you’ve got Hilton Gold and you avoid staying at the most dated UK Hilton properties, you will probably have a decent stay. This is especially true at Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, Curio, Canopy and Hampton branded hotels where it’s hard to go very wrong.

Interestingly, top-tier Hilton Diamond status is generally seen as having only modest extra value. Unless you stay at hotels with a lounge, where you are guaranteed access, you get little extra at most places than a Gold.  A better strategy may be to secure your Hilton Gold requalification and then focus on achieving mid-tier status with another chain.

Is Hilton Honors worth joining?

What has changed in recent years?

Since 2017, Hilton has had a unique model amongst hotel loyalty schemes – if cash rates are low, the redemption rate dropped in tandem.  If rates went up, the reward price was capped. It was a win-win for members.

In recent years we’ve seen other tweaks – higher earning for elite members and lower earning for Blues and Silvers, and the introduction of milestone rewards to keep members going after they hit the requalification threshold. That said, Hyatt and IHG do milestone rewards better with a broader range of benefits.

I’d also like to praise the free ‘points pooling’ feature, another relatively recent innovation.  This allows me to sweep across points earned by my (Gold) wife on her work trips into my (Diamond) account.  This makes it easier to earn the points needed for a redemption and ensures that we maximise status benefits when we do.

2024 saw the launch of the two Hilton Honors UK debit cards, partially filling the gap left by the closure of the Hilton Honors credit card. These offer Silver or Gold status for as long as you hold the card. Full details can be found here.

Hilton Honors review

Conclusion

I have a soft spot for Hilton Honors, possible because I have been a member of it and its predecessor schemes for 30 years. What impresses me is:

  • decent new hotel openings, both in the luxury and mid-market sectors
  • the success of Curio in attracting high-end independent hotels which often have a spark missing from ‘mainstream’ Hilton properties
  • the addition of Small Luxury Hotels, bringing a lot of high end redemption options which can be excellent value, and

Hilton also doesn’t get enough credit for not charging resort fees on redemption bookings. This makes no difference in Europe, where such fees are banned, but does save you money in the United States.

The removal of reward charts and the tendency to increase the points pricing ‘cap’ at specific hotels with no notice means that you need to remain vigilent, however. I’d also expect Hilton to keep chipping away at the Gold ‘free breakfast’ benefit.

Diamond is under more pressure since IHG One Rewards relaunched with meaningful benefits, including pre-bookable suite upgrade vouchers, free breakfast and free lounge access. When you look at the small print, Hilton Honors doesn’t guarantee much – no late check-out, no upgrade. Only breakfast and lounge access (if Diamond) are benefits you can rely on.

If forced to choose, I think that Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status still has the edge on Hilton Diamond. You have the guaranteed 4pm late check-out, lounge access, the five annual Nightly Upgrade Award vouchers, a more pro-active approach to upgrades and the lower nights target (50 v 60, with 15 of those 50 elite nights available for free via the UK Marriott Bonvoy American Express card).

Hilton’s saving grace remains the cap on individual hotel reward night prices. This creates genuine value in peak cities on peak nights that IHG and Marriott can no longer match.

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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 (59)

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

  • Josh says:
    26 Jan26 January 06:49

    U should add that Marriott lounges in Europe and Asia are far better than Hilton lounges. an important point for some.

    • Lee says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:42

      Hilton lounges’ F&B quality has fallen so much. Now it is better to bring in your own

      • Josh says:
        26 Jan26 January 13:20

        Agree 100 percent. Lounge quality has fallen completely. Recent Hilton lounge visits in Milan, Barcelona, and France. Have been depressing..
        marriott Lou gets are so much better

        • Ryan says:
          26 Jan26 January 18:47

          Hilton Parage Old Town has a fabulous lounge. Great selection of food with pour your own spirits.

  • MARTIN KEITH WHITEHEAD says:
    26 Jan26 January 07:50

    My wife and I are both retired and have spent the last 6 months travelling, living in numerous Hilton hotels, having decided to sell our house and put our possessions into storage. We cannot fault the way we have been treated under the Hilton Honors scheme. We have always received a good upgrade, even during reward stays.We have just completed a 5 day reward stay at the superb Doubletree in Brighton, where we received a many tiered upgrade to a King luxury room with balcony and sea view. They also gave us a reduced car parking fee from £27 down to £10 a night! We are, at present, enjoying another 5 day reward stay at the marvellous Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.This hotel is part of the SLH group and the only 5 star seaside hotel in the UK. Here, we received a free upgrade to a junior suite! We recommend the Hilton Honors scheme to everyone we meet and ,as you can imagine, we have had very many conversations with other hotel guests regarding our rather peculiar lifestyle!

  • John says:
    26 Jan26 January 07:57

    I almost never stay in places which are hosting events / sold-out and inflating prices. I also generally go for mid-tier hotels.

    In 2021 I bought 240k Hilton at 0.5 US cents for a planned redemption but had to cancel it. I am still stuck with all of those points as I would have got less than 0.5c for every Hilton stay since then (even before taking Amex offers into account) – typically only about 0.3p per point was on offer *and* the cash price was typically 1-1.5x the price of an equivalent IHG, so in effect as low as 0.2p per point.

    Over the same period I have earned and burned over 300k IHG points entirely from staying at IHG (bonus packages + promos) and I got at least 0.6 US cents for every IHG redemption, at a price I would have paid if the hotel had offered it.

    I can’t speak for Marriott as I have never set foot in one and if I ever need to, I will probably go through the (devalued) hotels.com

    • Ken says:
      26 Jan26 January 11:23

      I find it pretty easy to get 0.4p but not accounting for points I might have earned if paying cash.
      Plus free breakfast as Gold.

      Why hang on to the points?
      Redemptions don’t generally get cheaper
      Even if you are getting 0.3, what will you get in another 4 years time

      • John says:
        26 Jan26 January 21:00

        True but I have ideas to spend them at a nicer expensive property – the trouble is finding time to go there

  • Ian says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:10

    It is very easy to get 0.5p per Hilton point and I never use points on leisure stays less than 0.4p

    The US change doesn’t affect me despite often spending 20 nights a year there as places like Home2 Suites offer free breakfast and the ability to cook food on a hob or microwave in the room or maybe a bbq outside. (wish this chain was in the UK).

    Diamond is far too easy to get in the USA.

    Diamond is obtainable in the UK with just 30 nights if these are stays. Far easier than Marriott.

    If other chains offered Breakfast to more members or included it on the loyalty level given by Amex Platinum then I suspect many more would stay. I know we would.

    For now I am happy to stick with Hilton.

    Hopefully they will add a new level. But not sure if it will happen as they like to keep the Americans happy.

    • Sam S says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:49

      One way (which would probably never happen) is for Hilton to start recognising the number of years someone has been Diamond (exclusively through their qualifying stays/nights) – say 3 years, 5 years – then 10/lifetime.
      And all the Aspire/Surpass CC diamond freebies are simply diamond (regardless of how long they’ve held the card).

      • John says:
        26 Jan26 January 09:29

        Well a very small number of hotels have extra benefits for lifetime D (which requires 1000 nights or $200k spend less fees/taxes) not just 10 years.

        I suppose Hilton could formalise some extra benefits for LTD

  • Ranger43 says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:13

    The few Garden inn’s I have stayed at give you a free breakfast as Diamond (UK &Asia), also the Garden inn Glasgow gives you a free drinks voucher.

    • TJones says:
      26 Jan26 January 09:08

      Breakfast is a MyWay benefit choice at Garden Inns. The alternative is 750 bonus points.

    • Panda Mick says:
      26 Jan26 January 09:13

      I know one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but the difference between the HGI HX and Hampton Croydon is quite big. But, as Rob says, there seems to be a trend amongst hotel companies to have, IMHO, too many brands

      I wonder if part of this is hotel owners: Do they get to choose which brand they will use when building, or buying into Hilton?

      • Jonty says:
        26 Jan26 January 09:30

        HIX Croydon is fine once you’re actually in it, but its location and environs are, erm, edgy? Nowhere near as handy for the station as the Hampton Croydon but great if you enjoy jerk curry and a Red Stripe beer. Perhaps not a key HfP demographic

      • John says:
        26 Jan26 January 09:30

        Of course they get to choose as long as they (promise to) meet the brand standards and sometimes depending on what other brands already exist nearby

      • JDB says:
        26 Jan26 January 10:16

        The big hotel groups will continue to have too many brands because it enables them to sign up new hotels very close to existing ones under a different banner to avoid breaching any agreements. Hilton and IHG then don’t make much if any effort to ensure compliance with brand standards or require proper levels of maintenance. Marriott is somewhat stricter as it has a greater ongoing hold over owners. Hyatt has always been and remains an exception on most fronts.

      • RussellH says:
        26 Jan26 January 11:08

        In my (agreed) somewhat limited experience he difference between a Hampton and a Garden Inn is pretty obvious.
        All Hamptons I have visited – Newcastle, York, Blackburn come to mind – are very similar to an HI Express the minute you go through the door. One huge space that includes reception, bar, lounge and eating area. I get the feeling that the overall standard of the building and fittings is a notch up from HIE.
        The Garden Inns seem to be, at the very least, laid out more like a more upmarket place, with a dedicated reception area. Staff at garden Inns do not seem to have to leave people waiting for a drink to hang around while they check in a number of new arrivals (or vice versa).
        And Hamptons seem to have surlier staff – particularly obvious in Newcastle, where the HIE and the Indigo staff were always much more cheerful + friendly.

        • Ryan says:
          26 Jan26 January 18:51

          Hampton Newcastle is dreadful.

          • John says:
            26 Jan26 January 21:02

            Agree. I said as much in one of the SALTs (post-stay surveys) and the manager’s response was literally “better luck on your next stay”!!!

  • Domo1915 says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:31

    Hilton seems a good scheme if you’re a couple using the 5 for 4 and can redeem against the and standard room at 60k points a night when you’re family of 4 you tend to only get option to book a suite at 200k+ a night. Is there a way round this?

  • Travel Strong says:
    26 Jan26 January 09:21

    One thing that brings me back to Hilton time and time again is… An app that actually works!

    I can quickly browse as a list or map view, price up and see the breakdown by night (whether points or cash), book and cancel with ease, and see benefits by brand at a glance. Never had any issue whatsoever.

    By comparison – Marriott app falls over regularly, forcing you to use the web browser… Which then has a truly awful map view interface that I struggle with for 5 mins then inevitably give up. I cannot understand how such a huge failure can go unfixed for years.

    • John says:
      26 Jan26 January 09:32

      I was unable to do certain tasks on the Hilton app (as well as the website for that matter) for over 12 months, but the problem has fixed itself recently.

      • Travel Strong says:
        26 Jan26 January 10:03

        Interesting… Makes me wonder ‘is it just me?!’ with the total failure of Marriott map view! … But it seems to be the case on different devices/networks/signon status spanning several years.

        • Chabuddy Geezy says:
          26 Jan26 January 14:55

          I could never sign up to IHG promotions as it would always launch and then crash the app. Ended up deleting the IHG app.

    • Sam S says:
      26 Jan26 January 19:19

      One annoying thing about the Hilton app is they still can’t be bothered to do a simple update to allow you to view rates for hotels outside of UK in GBP rather than local currency.

      • John says:
        26 Jan26 January 21:04

        One annoying thing about the IHG website is that it forces you to view rates for hotels in the currency of your IP address and you have to keep changing it every time you change a search parameter.

  • Gary says:
    26 Jan26 January 09:45

    Managed to get breakfast at Hilton Gaslamp San Diego within the $15 F&B credit by ordering from the KIDS menu 🙂 they refused to give us the included juice though, as we weren’t actual kids….

    • Michael C says:
      26 Jan26 January 10:05

      Love this! The evening menu at the LGW Hampton also has decent/fairly substantial “kids'” dishes!

    • Ian says:
      26 Jan26 January 12:45

      I think I would’ve complained to corporate about this 😂 😂

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

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