The Complete Guide to Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors is the loyalty program of Hilton hotels, which covers more than 6,800 properties across 122 countries. Join Hilton Honors to earn points, which you can redeem for free hotel stays.

Earning Hilton Honors points is relatively easy, as it can be done by spending money at Hilton hotels, with partners or with a Hilton Honors credit card.

The Hilton Honors loyalty program stands out for a few reasons. Those include the ease of earning elite status (assuming you're willing to apply for a Hilton credit card), the high-value benefits that come from elite status such as daily food and beverage credits, and the many avenues for getting free hotel night stays.

Even if you have just Hilton Honors™ Silver Status, the lowest tier of them all, you can get a fifth night free when booking four nights with points.

In this ultimate guide to the Hilton Honors program, you'll learn how to maximize your points earning efforts, quickly level up your elite status, get fancy benefits on Hilton properties including free food and VIP status, and ultimately get those free Hilton night stays.

Based on our latest analysis, NerdWallet values one Hilton Honors point at at 0.6 cent each. In other words, you should aim for award bookings that offer 0.6 cent or more in value from your Hilton Honors points.

Sure, this is a relatively low value compared to many other hotel loyalty programs, but this should assuage some concerns: Hilton Honors points are relatively easy to come by. You can earn multiple points per dollar spent at participating hotels, depending on your elite status and which credit card you use. Credit card signup bonuses are massively high compared to other hotel-branded credit cards.

Plus, there are many other ways to stay at Hilton hotels for free besides spending points, such as using a free night certificate, which can be relatively easy to come by through many Hilton-branded credit cards.

Use this calculator to better understand the value of your Hilton points:

To determine the value of reward points, we compared cash prices and reward redemptions for hotel stays across several destinations and dates. We divided the cost in cash by the cost in points to determine a “cent per point” value for each hotel night, then averaged this value across several searches. Read more about how we arrived at these figures.

Hilton points value over time

Hilton points have hovered around 0.5 cent in value since 2019.

Before you can start earning points with Hilton, you’ll need to sign up for a Hilton Honors account. It’s free to join, and you can register here.

To log in to your Hilton account, visit Hilton.com and select “sign in” from the menu at the top.

» Learn more: How to become a Hilton Honors member

Hilton Hotels is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, with over a million hotel rooms worldwide across 18 brands. Some of the most-common hotel brands in the Hilton portfolio include:

• Doubletree by Hilton: Focused on upscale business and leisure travelers, Doubletree greets guests with a warm chocolate chip cookie at check-in. Rooms include luxury linens and high-end amenities.

• Embassy Suites by Hilton: Many business travelers choose Embassy Suites for its two-room accommodations with separate living areas and bedrooms. Guests get a cooked-to-order breakfast daily and drinks in the evening at a two-hour reception.

• Hampton by Hilton: Catering to travelers of all styles, Hampton by Hilton offers free breakfast to all guests, free Wi-Fi and a customer satisfaction guarantee. Hampton is the largest brand inside Hilton, accounting for nearly half of all the chain's properties.

• Hilton Garden Inn: The Hilton Garden Inn, geared to business travelers, offers a fitness center, cooked-to-order breakfast and business centers with free printing.

• Hilton Hotels and Resorts: The flagship brand, Hilton Hotels and Resorts can be found in 89 countries and territories. With a focus on the upper-upscale niche (better than upscale, but not quite luxury), guests can expect a full-service experience.

• Homewood Suites by Hilton: Homewood Suites is the extended-stay brand, with full kitchens and refrigerators in every room. Guests can take advantage of a complimentary cooked breakfast every morning, with drinks and bites Monday through Thursday.

• Waldorf Astoria: A brand rich with history, Waldorf Astoria is one of two luxury brands in the Hilton portfolio. Guests at any of the 30 hotels in 25 destinations can expect deluxe accommodations and personalized service.

Other brands in the Hilton portfolio include Conrad, Canopy, Curio Collection, Graduate, Hilton Grand Vacations, Home2 Suites, LXR, Motto, Signia, Tapestry Collection, Tempo and Tru.

There are also some neat one-off properties in the Hilton portfolio. Near Walt Disney World in Florida, sits Evermore Orlando Resort, a vacation rental resort that operates more like a hotel. Though it's not owned by Hilton, you can earn and redeem points for stays.

As a Hilton Honors member, all of your stays at participating Hilton hotels will count toward earning elite membership status, giving you access to more perks. Plus, you can qualify for ongoing elite status by signing up for a co-branded credit card.

There are many ways to earn Hilton Honors points — and you don't necessarily even have to stay at Hilton hotels to earn them.

Hotel stays

You can earn two types of points through Hilton Honors: base points and bonus points. You'll earn 10 base points per $1 spent at most Hilton portfolio hotels, regardless of your Honors status.

At Home2 Suites by Hilton and Tru by Hilton hotels, you'll earn 5 base points per $1. And you won't earn any base points at Hampton by Hilton hotels in China because those hotels are excluded from the Hilton Honors loyalty program.

The only difference between base points and bonus points is in qualifying for elite status and lifetime status: You can qualify for Hilton Honors™ Gold Status and Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status with base points, but not with bonus points. All points can be redeemed for free stays. The number of bonus points you earn is determined by your elite status, any bonus promotions you used when you booked and whether you used a Hilton credit card.

Transfer points to Hilton

Another way to pick up Hilton points is to transfer them from another program. If you have a credit card that earns American Express Membership Rewards or Diners Club International Club Rewards, you can turn those points into Hilton Honors points. Before transferring, you must link your accounts.

• American Express Membership Rewards: If you live in the U.S., you can transfer Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors at a ratio of 1:2. You must transfer a minimum of 1,000 Membership Rewards points to earn 2,000 Hilton Honors points and transfer in increments of 1,000 Membership Rewards points. If you live outside the U.S., your transfer ratio may vary. Refer to this chart to see how your transfers may work.

• Diners Club International Club Rewards: Points earned from Diners Club credit cards may also be transferred to Hilton Honors. Cardholders in the U.S. can exchange 1,250 Club Rewards points for 2,000 Hilton Honors points. Transfers may be made through the Club Rewards website, or by calling Club Rewards.

As a general rule, there are better transfer options for both of these programs. For example, AmEx points are worth 1.2 cents, which is more than three times the valuation of Hilton points. Even with a 2:1 ratio, transferring AmEx points to Hilton isn't a good value. However, in limited circumstances, such as if you just need a few points to top up to a high-value award redemption, it may make sense.

Other ways to earn Hilton Honors points

Aside from getting a co-branded card and staying at Hilton portfolio hotels, you can also get more bonus points through promotional offers, partner offers and through Hilton Honors dining. If you are just short of a reward night, you can also purchase Hilton Honors points.

• Promotional offers: Hilton Honors regularly offers promotions encouraging travelers to stay at their hotels. Promotions can include things like double and triple bonus points, on-property credits, and free breakfast at certain hotels.

• Car rentals: Hilton Honors members who book rental cars with Alamo, Enterprise or National can earn up to 5,000 bonus points per rental, depending in part on how long you have the vehicle.

• Cruises for Hilton Honors: Members who book through Cruises for Hilton Honors, powered by CruisesOnly, can earn bonus points based on the length of their cruise. Bonuses range from 6,000 Honors bonus points for up to a five-night cruise, to 50,000 Honors bonus points for cruises of 13 nights or more.

• OneSimCard: Frequent international travelers can pick up more Hilton Honors points by buying a OneSimCard. Members earn 100 bonus points for signing up and 1 bonus point per minute on outgoing and incoming calls on your phone when using OneSimCard outside the U.S.

• Hilton Honors Dining: Bonus points may be earned with every restaurant meal. Through Hilton Honors Dining, members can earn up to eight Hilton Honors bonus points per $1 spent at one of over 10,000 restaurants in the program. To start earning, sign up on the Hilton Honors Dining website.

• Booking meetings and events: Meeting organizers can earn one bonus point per $1 spent on guest rooms and meeting rooms during qualifying events at participating Hilton portfolio properties. Planners can earn up to 100,000 Hilton Honors points per event.

• Buy points: If you need a few extra bonus points for a free night, you can purchase points directly from Hilton at the price of 1 cent each with a minimum purchase of 1,000 points. Because we value points at 0.6 cent each, we don’t recommend purchasing points unless you can save more money by getting a small number of points.

• AutoCamp. A newer partnership for Hilton, Honors members can earn on stays at AutoCamp properties.

• Credit cards, which we’ll get into in the next section.

To learn all about the different ways to earn Hilton points, check out our guide: The complete guide to earning Hilton Honors points.

Do Hilton points expire?

Honors points expire after 24 months of account inactivity. To keep your account active, you must earn or redeem points at some point in that period. That said, you don’t necessarily need to stay at a Hilton hotel in order to have account activity.

Here are some ways to earn Hilton points, as well as easy ways to redeem Hilton points — both count as valid activity to keep your account in good standing and prevent your Hilton points from expiring.

The easiest way to earn more Hilton bonus points is by getting a co-branded card. American Express offers four Hilton Honors credit cards: three consumer cards and one business card, each with various benefits and bonus earnings. Here are the credit cards to earn Hilton points.

» Learn more: Hilton credit cards — which one should you get?

Although Hilton Honors is a hotel loyalty program, Hilton points can be redeemed in many different ways beyond just hotels.

From free hotel nights to shopping at Amazon, Hilton Honors makes it easy to use your points — but they don’t always provide the same value. Unsurprisingly, redeeming Hilton points at hotels is the best way to use them.

Free hotel nights

The best way to redeem Hilton Honors points is for free hotel stays. Hilton no longer categorizes its hotels on a fixed scale and instead uses a dynamic award calendar. This means that the number of points you'll need for a free room night is based on the hotel, the room you want, when you book and the dates of your stay.

Family-friendly properties like Hampton by Hilton and Embassy Suites may cost less, while luxury properties like Waldorf Astoria and Conrad often cost more.

To search for an award night, visit Hilton.com and sign in with your member number and password. From there, you can search for all available rooms at a destination and see the cost in points.

Since Hilton points are worth 0.6 cent each, its best to aim for redemptions above that valuation.

Points & Money awards

Another way for guests to use their Hilton Honors points is through the brand’s Points & Money awards. Members can choose how many points to use per night at hotels with no blackout dates, starting at 5,000 points and increasing in 1,000-point increments.

Because Hilton Honors no longer has award categories for its hotels, prices may change over time. This means prices for Points & Money awards can increase or decrease before booking. If you find a lower price before your trip, you can always cancel and rebook your trip to get the better price as long as your reservation is refundable.

Hilton Honors Experiences

Hilton Honors Experiences is an auction site that offers regular guests opportunities to get VIP tickets to in-demand shows, concerts and sporting events. Some of the options include cocktails at Ithaa — an underwater restaurant at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, fine sushi with curated sake at the KawaUme restaurant at the Hilton Osaka and a signature oil massage at the Conrad Bangkok.

Depending on the experience, your value per point will vary.

Amazon purchases

You can shop with Hilton Honors points on Amazon. Instead of providing members with a merchandise mall, Hilton partnered with Amazon to allow members to use points at one of the world’s biggest retailers. To use Hilton Honors points on Amazon, members must first link their accounts on Amazon.com. The conversion rate is 500 Hilton points = $1 on Amazon, which amounts to a paltry 0.2 cent per point.

As Hilton points are worth 0.6 cent, so using your points for Amazon purchases won't yield the highest value. However, if you don’t have any other uses of Hilton points and have a lot of Amazon purchases coming up, then it can be a decent way to use points instead of paying cash.

The benefit is available to Hilton Honors members around the world, but it comes with some limitations. Members can’t use their points to purchase some digital goods, Kindle downloads, Subscribe and Save items or AmazonFresh items. Other items may not be available with points and are subject to change. Any returned items purchased with Hilton Honors points will be credited in points and can take up to 72 hours to appear in your Honors account.

Like other hotel programs, Hilton Honors points can be transferred to airline partners. Members can transfer their points to over 40 frequent flyer program partners, including:

Transfer rates vary from airline to airline. While 10,000 Hilton Honors points can be transferred to 1,000 Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus miles, the same 10,000 Honors points are exchangeable for 1,500 American AAdvantage miles.

Hilton points will typically be more valuable when redeemed for Hilton hotels than when transferred to its airline partners.

Not all Hilton redemptions are made equal.

Good Hilton points redemption options

• Hotel room nights: The best way to use Hilton Honors points is toward reward nights at its properties around the world. Because award prices are based on several factors including booking dates and season, it may require some searching to find the right price for your stay.

• Points & Money nights: If you don’t have enough points for a free night, Hilton also offers Points & Money rates. But instead of a fixed number of points and hotel price, travelers can decide how many points to use toward a free night, starting at 5,000 points and increasing in 1,000-point increments. Depending on where you plan on staying, using a Points & Money award may be cheaper than buying points toward an award night.

» Learn more: Hilton Honors points — sweet spots for redemptions

Bad Hilton points redemption options

• Shopping on Amazon: Generally speaking, using points for shopping is a bad redemption option regardless of the type of points or miles you have. Shopping on Amazon with Hilton Honors points is no exception. When you use your points toward items on Amazon, your points are worth 0.2 cent each — less than half of the value when used for hotels. Unless you have an abundance of points you can’t use, shopping with Honors points isn't a great choice.

• Transfer to airline partners: While hotel points present an easy way to top up frequent flyer accounts for free flights, this also generally offers a poor value. At a transfer rate of 10 Hilton Honors points for one frequent flyer mile in most programs, you trade a decent amount of value here. Unless you have no other way to earn frequent flyer miles, or it is a very large valued award redemption, transferring to airline partners may not be a good use of points.

Hilton Honors offers four elite status levels, ranging from member (which you automatically get just for signing up) to Diamond, which is the highest Hilton elite status tier. There's technically a fifth tier, too: Lifetime Diamond Elite Status.

The higher your status, naturally the more benefits you'll get when staying at Hilton properties. Silver members get measly perks like free water bottles. Diamond members get the silver platter (or at least, all-you-can eat food at the executive lounges, and daily food and beverage credits).

You don't even need to stay at Hilton hotels to earn the highest level of elite status. That's because you can earn status by holding certain Hilton Honors American Express cards (though there's typically an annual fee involved). Terms apply. And if you have elite status in another travel loyalty program, you may be able to apply for a Hilton elite status match.

Unless you have a credit card that grants you elite status, you have to requalify each calendar year by staying at Hilton portfolio hotels.

Note that if you’ve stayed at a Hilton hotel in the past six months but didn't get status credit, you can request it by reporting it as a “missing stay” on your Hilton profile. Complete the information about your check-in and check-out dates, along with the name and location of the hotel.

Here’s how elite bonus points work: If you paid $200 for a one-night stay at a participating Hilton Hotel and didn’t book your stay using a Hilton Honors credit card, you could earn:

• Member: 2,000 base Hilton Honors points.

• Silver: 2,400 Hilton Honors points (2,000 base points and 400 bonus points).

• Gold: 3,600 Hilton Honors points (2,000 base points and 1,600 bonus points).

• Diamond: 4,000 Hilton Honors points (2,000 base points and 2,000 bonus points).

Here's a breakdown of the four (or five, if we're counting Lifetime) Hilton status levels:

Hilton member status

Hilton Member status is base level of the program, which everyone gets when signing up. Many of the perks are kind of meh, like free Wi-Fi and discounted rates.

But there's one perk that's actually worth potentially many hundreds of dollars: members get no resort fees on award stays.

Members earn 10 base points for every eligible $1 spent on the room, including room charges. Hilton Honors members can also pool their points with up to 11 other members, making it easier for friends and families to get free nights.

Hilton Silver elite status

Hilton Honors members who stay four times, ten nights or earn 25,000 base points or hold the Hilton Honors American Express Card earn Hilton Silver status.

In addition to all of the member-level perks, you’ll also get a 20% bonus on all points you earn, elite rollover nights and two complimentary bottles of water per stay. Perhaps the most standout Silver perk is that you get every fifth night free when redeeming points. For points bookings, that's effectively five nights for the price of four.

Hilton Gold elite status

After 20 stays, 40 nights, earning 75,000 Honors base points, or holding the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card or The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, members earn Hilton Gold status.

In addition to the aforementioned member and Silver rewards, Hilton Gold members get an 80% bonus on all points earned, complimentary continental breakfast or a daily food and beverage credit at applicable Hilton hotels, milestone bonuses and space-available upgrades to preferred rooms.

Hilton Diamond elite status

The highest elite tier in Hilton Honors is Diamond status, which is earned after 30 stays, 60 nights, earning 120,000 Honors base points or holding the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (see rates and fees). Sure, that card has an annual fee of $550, but considering NerdWallet values Hilton Diamond status at north of $4,000 (assuming you stayed the usual 60 nights a year needed to earn it), that annual fee can be well worth the payoff.

Terms apply.

On top of the previous tier perks, Diamond elite members get a 100% point bonus and a 48-hour room guarantee for last-minute bookings, and they can extend their status for an additional year if they aren’t able to requalify. Diamond members get perks like access to premium Wi-Fi, elite status gifting and 24-hour access to member services.

They can also visit Hilton Executive Lounges at properties that have them. Most Hilton hotels don't have lounges so your mileage may vary with this benefit. But if your hotel has a lounge, expect complimentary breakfast in the morning, drinks and snacks throughout the day, cocktail hours in the evening, free in-lounge internet access and a business center.

Hilton Lifetime Diamond status

To qualify for Lifetime Diamond status, Hilton Honors members must have Diamond status for at least 10 years. The 10 years of Diamond status do not have to be consecutive. In addition, members must meet one of two milestone requirements:

• Stay at least a combined total of 1,000 paid and reward nights.

• Earn a total of 2 million base points.

If you had a previous membership and it was canceled due to inactivity, those nights may not apply toward lifetime status.

What is the Hilton Honors phone number?

Hilton offers a variety of different contact methods, which can vary depending on what country you're in. To call Hilton, dial 800-446-6677 if you’re in the U.S. and Canada. If you’re outside of those places, you’d be better off contacting the Hilton customer service number within your country of residence. You can find Hilton's global support phone numbers by country here.

» Learn more: How to use the Hilton Points Explorer Tool