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Who hasn’t heard of the famous Hilton Hotels? Present all over the world, these high-end establishments seduce and think about their customers in a big way. That’s why they have developed a well thought-out and interesting loyalty program. Let’s take a closer look at this program.
How the Hilton Honors program works ?
The Hilton group has more than 4700 hotels around the world and different brands among which we can find Waldorf Astoria Hotels, Curio or Homewood Suites by Hilton.
How to become a member?
To become a member of this program, you must of course be a customer! You become a member as soon as you have accumulated 1,000 points simply by booking nights in one or more of the group’s establishments.
Booking a night usually earns you 10 points per dollar spent, depending on your level in the program. Some hotels are more generous and offer additional points by purchasing various services on site. However, this is not possible everywhere (Hampton by Hilton or Homewood Suites by Hilton, among others, only offer points for room reservations). Some properties are even more generous, such as Home2 Suites by Hilton, which offers 5 points per dollar spent on a room reservation.
It is also possible to earn bonus points easily. There are options available to program members for this purpose.
Conrad Hotel at Resort World Las Vegas
An option and interesting offers
To accumulate points faster, it is best to choose the Points & Points option which allows you to double your points with each reservation.
When you enter the loyalty program, you are a “Blue” member. Three other levels are available: Silver, Gold and Diamond, which evolve according to the number of reservations you make. These different levels naturally affect rewards, and it’s helpful to be able to accumulate as many points as possible to be able to afford great rewards.
The Hilton group regularly offers interesting deals. For example, you can benefit from various additional bonuses, such as 10,000 points if you accumulate more than 10 stays in a year. Or if you take advantage of specific promotions. These promotions are really interesting and deserve your attention.
Interesting perks for globetrotters
In addition to Point & Point, the Hilton program offers other benefits to travelers. As a partner of the Miles program, the HHonor (the program’s pet name) allows you to earn an additional 10 points every time you earn a Miles point. Booking a Hilton room also earns miles at the rate of one mile per dollar spent.
To take advantage of this great feature if you travel a lot, be sure to sign up for this option.
These options can be changed at any time to switch from one to the other.
I should add that people who are members of the American Express Membership Reward program (for example if you have an Amex Platinum card) can convert their points into HHonor. You will need a minimum of 1,000 American Express points to redeem, which is then done in increments of 100 points. A bonus of 25,000 points can be earned in your Membership Reward account if you spend more than $500 booking Hilton stays within the first three months, depending on current offers.
The levels of the HHonor program
Let’s go over the different levels of the program:
- Blue members are the beginner members. If they use Hilton hotels frequently, they can upgrade to the Silver level. They will need to stay a minimum of 4 stays (10 nights) per year. The benefit of being Silver is that a 15% bonus on each point is given.
- To become a Gold member, one must spend 40 nights (or 20 stays or 75,000 points) in a Hilton hotel in one year. The bonus is then 25%.
- The highest level of the program is Diamond. To reach this level, you will need to accumulate 30 stays (60 nights or 120,000 points) within a one-year period. The bonus is 50% on each point earned.
Whether you are Silver, Gold or Diamond, the fifth night of a stay of more than 5 nights is free.
What can you get with the Hilton Honor loyalty program status?
Now it’s time to take a closer look at the benefits of this system. In addition to the classic free nights, the program offers other interesting benefits that I will present to you.
Also read: Virgin Hotel Las Vegas, member of the Hilton Honor program!
One or more hotel nights
The main advantage of this program, in my opinion, is that it allows you to get free nights.
Depending on the level of the hotel chosen, the value of the night is naturally different. To give you some idea of how many points you need to treat yourself without spending anything, here are some guidelines.
For a free night in a standard room and a category 1 hotel, you need to accumulate 5000 points. For a category 4 hotel, you need to accumulate at least 20,000 points. For a category 10 room, you will need at least 70,000 points.
The date of stay and the type of reservation can also affect the number of points obtained.
In some establishments, it is possible to supplement your points if the number is insufficient with cash.
Discounted services
The HHonor program still allows you to take advantage of certain services at the selected hotels. You can obtain interesting rates (or even free treatment depending on the number of points accumulated and the level of the establishment) in the spas present, restaurant meals, cooking classes or golf lessons.
For your information, one HHonor point is worth an average of $0.01. So you can easily calculate if the offer you are interested in is worth its fair value in HHnonor points before you let yourself be tempted. I recommend you always check this, because in some cases you could spend more in points than in money.
HHonor is also a good solution for getting discounted rental cars. Avis, Budget, Alamo and National renters offer up to 500 HH bonus points, and the Hilton program offers up to 25% off.
How do I redeem?
It’s pretty simple. Do you have a significant amount of points? Well, choose the hotel you like via the Hilton app or website, then select the type of room you can get with your points when you book. And that’s it! It’s done. It’s very simple as you can see.
Keep your eyes open when you explore the booking site. You can also get free breakfasts with your points. All you have to do is indicate that you want to take advantage of it by simply checking the box. In short, everything is done to simplify your life.
So, how good is the Hilton Honor program?
As I said, you can easily find something to enjoy with this loyalty program. But I must point out that for this, it is better to have a small pool of points. You may find that this program, which is one of the most interesting ones currently on offer, has something for everyone who likes to stay in quality hotels.
Compared to other programs available, this one offers a good level of benefits and an equivalent point value. The partnerships offered with other brands are also very interesting. In short, if you often book a room in a Hilton, this is a very interesting choice to get free rooms.
