The Complete Guide to Using Hilton Honors Points

With many ways to spend Hilton points, some are better than others (and hotel stays are usually the only good redemption).
Elina Geller
Sam Kemmis
By Sam Kemmis and  Elina Geller 
Updated
Edited by Mary M. Flory

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When it comes to using Hilton Honors points, there's bad news and there's good news.

For the bad news: Hilton Honors points aren’t the most valuable in the travel rewards world. In fact, NerdWallet currently values them at just 0.5 cent each.

But now for the good news: Hilton doles them out like candy, leaving frequent guests and credit card holders with plenty of points to use.

If you've got a pile of points but those points aren't particularly valuable on their own, you'll want to spend them wisely. You can redeem Hilton points for hotel rooms, which is generally your best bet. You can also use Hilton points in other ways, such as transferring to airline partners, booking unique “experiences,” paying for Amazon purchases and even renting cars. Just know that those other Hilton Honors points redemptions are generally not worth the time (and points).

Here's NerdWallet's guide to using Hilton Honors points, and how to get the maximum value from them.

How to book hotel stays using Hilton Honors points

Hilton Honors points can be redeemed at any of Hilton’s 7,200+ hotels and resorts. This is the most common — and usually most valuable — way to use the points.

To search for award availability, select the “Use Points” box on the Hilton search tool (you must be logged in):

Confusingly, these prices often switch to dollar amounts when clicking through to the room selection screen, though the point amounts are also displayed (much smaller) above the cash rate, as show in the screenshot below:

Hilton allows award bookings for a variety room types, including suites. That's relatively unusual for a hotel rewards program — albeit delightfully so — as it provides far greater flexibility for special getaways or larger groups. Of course, more expensive rooms cost more points.

How to maximize Hilton Honors redemptions at hotels

Hilton does not use an award chart for its properties, meaning the number of points needed to book a given room dynamically changes based on supply and demand. That makes it difficult to pin down “Hilton sweet spots” as is possible in other hotel loyalty programs — but it doesn't mean you can't find a stellar redemption. The challenge, though, is that finding them generally requires you manually search for them.

To ease this burden (somewhat), Hilton has a dedicated Points Explorer tool that lets you filter results by the number of points you actually have.

Once you’ve found a booking and want to know if it’s a good use of points, use NerdWallet's Hilton points calculator below to compare if you're getting a better deal when paying with cash versus points:

How does NerdWallet calculate whether it's better to book with cash versus Hilton Honors points? Since we've determined the baseline Hilton point value is 0.5 cent, simply divide the total cash price (including extra fees like resort fees). If the value is higher than our baseline, it's a maximized redemption. If it's lower, you might save your points for a better redemption in the future and pay with cash.

🤓Nerdy Tip

Hilton Honors elite members get a fifth consecutive night free on all standard room award bookings. In other words, if you are a Hilton Silver member or higher and book five consecutive nights with points, you’ll only pay for four nights. This can make the difference between an average redemption and a great one.

Elite status holders should book five nights to improve their odds of getting a high Hilton Honors points value.

Consider using Hilton’s Points + Money option if you don't have enough points

If you don’t have enough Hilton points in your account to complete a booking, you can use the “Points + Money” feature to, well, pay with a combination of cash and points.

Many hotel rewards programs offer something similar, but what makes Hilton’s feature unique is the “slider” that lets you select any 1,000-point increment to offset the cash price of the room.

To determine whether using more points is “worth it,” pay attention to the amount of cash offset by each 1,000-point increment. If it’s more than 0.5 cents per point, then using points is a good value.

🤓Nerdy Tip

You have to have at least 5,000 points in your Hilton account to use this option, so it won’t work for clearing the few remaining points rattling around in your account.

Redeem Hilton points for Amazon purchases (maybe)

If you’re truly not going to use your Hilton points for hotel stays, using them for Amazon purchases offers an okay alternative. The redemption value is pretty paltry, but at least the redemption process itself is easy.

With Amazon’s Shop with Points feature, customers can use rewards points from many different programs (including Hilton Honors) to pay for purchases. To get started, log into your Amazon account through Amazon's website, and then link your Hilton Honors account to your Amazon account.

Amazon's redemption rate is just 500 Hilton points per $1, which means a value of just 0.2 cent for each Hilton point. Since NerdWallet values Hilton points at 0.5 cent each, your points lose over half their value — but that's not the worst thing in the world. Sure, you’ll get more bang for your buck when booking hotel stays using Hilton points. But if you don’t have any travel plans involving Hilton (and those points would otherwise collect virtual dust), then redeeming then for something on Amazon is better than redeeming them for nothing.

If you have spare points, no Hilton hotel redemption in mind and you don't want to bother with their low Amazon value, consider donating your Hilton points.

Hilton partners with PointWorthy to manage these transactions. Much like Amazon, the value of these transfers often isn’t the highest compared with other redemption options, but they at least put your points to work — and you'll likely feel good doing it.

Hilton point redemptions to skip

Those aren't the only ways to redeem Hilton points. Hilton Honors delightfully offers many more ways to redeem points. The problem? Most of the other options offer either a terrible redemption value, are a logistical hassle to actually execute the transaction, or both.

NerdWallet generally does not recommend the following redemptions (though they are an option):

Host events and meetings

Hilton lets you convert points into “event vouchers,” which can be used for planning meetings and events like weddings or conferences. However, points transfer at a measly 25,000-points-to-$50 ratio, or 0.2 cent per point, well below our valuation.

Most people would be better off using their points to book their honeymoon, not their wedding venue.

Book a rental car with Hilton points

You can use Hilton points to book cars from Alamo, Enterprise and National using a search function on the Hilton Honors site.

Hilton does not publish a set value for using points this way (that we could find), though NerdWallet's researched found a 0.21 cent per point value. Again, this is poor value for Hilton points. Plus, booking a car on the clunky tool is kind of a pain compared with using a normal car rental search engine. We’d recommend steering clear.

Use Hilton points to pay for Lyft

Hilton partners with Lyft to both earn and redeem Hilton points when pairing your accounts. To use your Hilton points for ride sharing, you can redeem your points for Lyft credits at a rate of 0.22 cent per Hilton point, which is not a great value.

That said, we don't hate the partnership completely as taking Lyft rides can make for an excellent way to earn Hilton points. You earn 3 Hilton points per $1 spent on Lyft rides (economy, luxury and extra seats). To take advantage, you’ll first need to link your accounts by logging into both Lyft and Hilton.

Redeem Hilton points for flights

Hilton points transfer to the frequent flyer programs of numerous airlines upon which they convert to miles. However, the process is a little cumbersome. First, you’ll need to log into your account, then navigate over to “Preferences.” In the “preferred travel partners” section, you will need to select an airline from the list and add your member number.

Airlines available for exchanging your Hilton points include: Aeromexico, Aeroplan, AirAsia BIG, ANA All Nippon, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Delta Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), Hainan Airlines, JAL Japan Airlines, Jet Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, Qatar Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Skywards (Emirates), Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.

Once you’ve added your airline head over to the “Exchange your Points” page, select your travel partner and from the drop down, choose the quantity of points you’re looking to exchange.

Once again, though this tends to be a pretty bad redemption. Take the United Airlines example above, which shows how you can exchange a minimum of 10,000 Hilton points and you’ll get 1,000 United miles. Since Hilton points are worth 0.5 cent each, 10,000 Hilton points is equivalent to about $50. Meanwhile, United miles are worth 1.2 cents each, meaning that 1,000 United miles are worth $12.

Similarly, 10,000 Hilton points convert to 1,500 AAdvantage miles, which is one of the better exchange ratios — that that's still not even close to worth it. American miles are worth about 1.7 cents each, while Hilton’s are worth 0.5 cent each, so the ratio would have to be more like 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 to make this a decent option.

From a purely mathematical standpoint, these make for a bad use of your Hilton points. However, if you really don’t have any other use for them (and you desperately need a few more airline miles), then this option may be worth considering.

Use Hilton points for Ticketmaster purchases

You can also redeem your Hilton points to purchase tickets to concerts, sports games and other events on Ticketmaster and LiveNation. To do so, log into your Ticketmaster account and attach your Hilton account to your profile.

Your 500 Hilton points are worth $1 on Ticketmaster, yielding a terrible value of 0.2 cent per point.

Final thoughts on redeeming Hilton points

Hilton offers members many ways to redeem points, but only a few offer reasonable value. When in doubt, use your points to book hotel rooms. Use the calculator above or run the numbers yourself to find that higher-than-average value redemption.

Frequently asked questions

You can redeem Hilton Honors points for hotel stays, experiences, vacation packages, airline miles, car rentals, online shopping rewards and more. Redeem Hilton points on their website by selecting “Use Points and Money” when checking out to book your reward with points.

NerdWallet values Hilton points at 0.5 cent per point, making 50,000 points worth about $250.

Hilton Honors Points expire after 24 consecutive months of inactivity. To keep your account active, you can either spend or earn points. That's where a paltry redemption, like let's say the Amazon shopping option, might actually be worth while as you could buy something small on Amazon with a few points just to avoid losing all your points entirely.

Yes, you can use your Hilton Honors points on Amazon. Simply log in to your Amazon account, link your Hilton Honors account and get shopping. Points applied to your order will be deducted from your order total and displayed as Rewards Points in your Order Summary.


How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024, including those best for:

Cards for Hilton from our Partners
Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

on Chase's website

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
5.0
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1x-5x

5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

Points

Intro offer

60,000

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Points
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

on Capital One's website

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
4.7
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

2x-5x

Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

Miles

Intro offer

75,000

Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

Miles
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

on Capital One's website

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
4.9
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

2x-10x

Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel, Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases.

Miles

Intro offer

75,000

Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

Miles
See more cards for hilton
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