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Hilton Honors doesn't have the most lucrative travel rewards, with an average redemption value of 0.5 cents per point in Personal Finance Insider's most recent valuations. Nonetheless, the program offers good (and sometimes great) value when redeeming for hotel rooms and access to special events. Amex is an Insider partner.

Read on to learn which redemption options you should target and avoid in order to maximize your return.

We're focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won't be worth it if you're paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it's important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

High-value ways to use Hilton points

Hilton ditched its award charts long ago in favor of dynamic award pricing, which tethers the cost of booking a room with points to the going cash rate. That change made exceptional deals harder to find, but there are still ample opportunities to beat our average redemption value when you use points to stay at Hilton properties.

Standard room awards

The definition of a "standard room" may differ from one property to another, but regardless of the room type, booking these awards is the most consistent and attainable way to get value from the Honors program.

For example, consider a Friday night stay in March 2023 at the Grand Naniloa Hotel in Hilo, Hawaii. You can book a 1 King Bed Ocean View room for 50,000 points per night.

Hilton Honors

In contrast, a paid stay in that same room has a base rate of $287, but totals $384.55 after taxes and fees. That yields a redemption value of just under 0.77 cents per point, which is about 10% more than our high valuation of 0.7 cents apiece for Hilton Honors points.

Hilton Honors

Get a 5th award night free

Hilton Honors members with silver elite status or higher can book a complimentary fifth night on standard award stays. While this fifth-night-free benefit doesn't apply to premium rooms, it presents easy opportunities to boost redemption value on longer stays.

For example, a stay in March 2023 in a 1 King Bed room at the Hilton Garden Inn New Orleans French Quarter costs 50,000 points per night, so the total is 200,000 points regardless of whether you book four or five nights.

Hilton Honors

The cash price for four nights is $1,255 after taxes and fees, which yields an above-average redemption value of just under 0.63 cents per point. However, adding the fifth night raises the cash price to $1,580 while the award price remains the same, boosting the redemption value to an excellent 0.79 cents per point.

Hilton Honors

Book with a mix of cash and points

One more option for booking with Hilton is Points & Money awards, which let you reduce the cash cost of your stay by using points to cover a portion of the bill. You can redeem a minimum of 5,000 points in increments of 1,000, and the redemption value of Points & Money awards is typically just below the value of booking entirely with points.

For example, consider a stay at the Cliffrose Springdale outside Zion National Park on a Friday night in September 2023. You can book a Pool View 1 King Bed room for $653 after taxes and fees.

Hilton Honors

A standard award costs 90,000 points, which yields a redemption value of just under 0.73 cents per point. Alternately, you could book a Points & Money award for 10,000 points and $581. Those 10,000 points effectively save you about $72, which yields a redemption value of 0.72 cents per point.

Hilton Honors

The option to redeem fewer points at nearly equal redemption value is handy when you don't have enough to book an award outright.

Average-value redemption options

The redemption options discussed above are your best bets for maximizing Hilton Honors points, but none of them are universally high-value, and they will commonly provide a lower return in normal circumstances. When booking award stays, you can expect to get closer to our average valuation of 0.5 cents per point, especially when you're not getting a fifth night free. 

This Friday to Sunday stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown in June 2023 is a good example: two nights in a 1 King Bed with a Sofabed room costs 100,000 points.

Hilton Honors

In comparison, the cash price for an equivalent booking at the time of writing is $551. That yields a redemption value of just over 0.55 cents per point, which is above our average valuation but well below the high valuation discussed in the previous section.

Hilton Honors

Similarly, Points & Money awards may offer an average (or below average) return, so compare with the cash price and calculate the redemption value to determine whether using points is your best option.

Redeem for special events and experiences

Hilton Honors Experiences offers a variety of alternative redemption options, like VIP access to concerts and sporting events, culinary and spa experiences, and more. Some awards can be bid on in a points auction, while others can be purchased outright.

Many of these experiences are ones that money can't buy, so the redemption value is hard to pin down. For the rest, the redemption value is generally average or better. For example, you can purchase a buffet dining experience for two at the Hilton Singapore Orchard for 25,000 points (bottom left in the image below). This buffet normally costs $82 per person, which yields a redemption value of just under 0.66 cents per point.

Hilton Honors

Low-value ways to redeem Hilton points

All of the options mentioned above can provide poor value in select circumstances, but the redemption options described in this section do so routinely.

Premium room awards

Hilton lets you book with points directly into premium rooms, but the award cost versus a standard room tends to increase much more sharply than the cash cost, yielding a generally low redemption value. 

For example, here are a variety of standard award options for a Friday night at the Hilton Tokyo in June 2023. Three different standard rooms are available for 70,000 points, while an equivalent cash rate (with a similar cancellation policy) is $385 after taxes and fees in each case. That yields an above-average redemption value of 0.55 cents per point.

Hilton Honors

You can also book into three different premium rooms, but at a much lower return. The Twin Executive and King Executive rooms cost 133,000 per night, while an equivalent cash rate is $465. The Twin Tower Executive Suite costs 192,000 points per night, while an equivalent cash rate is $670. For all three of the premium options, the redemption value is roughly 0.35 cents per point, which is less than our low redemption value of 0.4 cents for Hilton Honors points.

Hilton Honors

Some premium rooms offer disguised value, like a suite with a sofa bed that allows a group to book one room instead of two. But in general, your points will go further when booking standard awards.

Transfer points to airlines

You can convert Hilton Honors points to miles in over two dozen frequent flyer programs, but the exchange rate in most cases is an abysmal 10:1. Transferring at that rate is highly unlikely to yield a worthy redemption value. Add in that transfers can take up to 30 days, and this option is one to avoid unless you're desperate to keep your miles from expiring.

Miscellaneous redemption options

Hilton offers a variety of redemption options with travel and other partners, such as rental cars, Lyft credits, online shopping, charitable donations and more. You can expect to get less than 0.25 cents per point when redeeming this way, so all these options should be ignored.

Other valuation factors

Redemption rates aren't the only variable we use to assess the value of points and miles. Here's how Hilton Honors performs across other facets of the program we take into consideration:

• Expiration policy (+) — Hilton Honors points expire if your account is inactive for 24 consecutive months. The clock resets with any qualifying activity, which includes earning or redeeming points, as well as transferring points in or out of the program. Keeping points active under these terms is fairly easy.
• Award Availability (Neutral) — Hilton has a "no blackout dates" policy that lets you use points to book available standard and premium rooms. That sounds good, but in practice, some properties arbitrarily limit the number of "standard" rooms. Furthermore, dynamic award pricing means there's no telling with certainty how many points you'll need until you're ready to book. That makes planning award stays more challenging.
• Airline transfers (Neutral) — Most hotel programs allow members to transfer points to airline partners, but only a few offer transfer ratios that are good enough to be useful. Unfortunately, Hilton isn't one of them, as transferring 10,000 Hilton points gets you only 1,000 or 1,500 airline miles in most cases. Still, it's better to have the option than not, so this isn't a negative.
• Sharing/pooling (++) — Hilton Honors members can pool points freely with up to 10 other members. Each person in the pool can transfer up to 500,000 points and receive up to two million points annually, with a minimum transfer of 1,000 points. This is arguably the best points-sharing policy available among major hotel programs.
• Ease of accumulation (+) — Hilton has excellent earning rates on paid stays, with bonuses as high as 100% for elite members and frequent promotional offers. You can also earn points with an assortment of Hilton Honors credit cards, and you can transfer points in from Amex Membership Rewards at 1:2 (or occasionally better when a transfer bonus is in play).
• Resort fees on award stays (+) — Hilton waives resort fees on award stays, which helps keep costs down when booking with points. Unfortunately, this policy does not apply to Points & Money stays.

Hilton has a standout policy for sharing and pooling points, and there are no clear negatives among the other miscellaneous factors. However, Hilton Honors members would benefit greatly from more predictable award pricing and better transfer ratios to airline partners.

Bottom line

Hilton Honors isn't the most valuable hotel loyalty program, but Hilton's large global footprint combined with the relative ease of earning points makes it a beneficial one for frequent travelers. The ability to get a fifth night free and waived resort fees on awards adds value to the program, and the friendly points-sharing policy makes it an excellent option for those who travel in a group.