[Edit: Heads up, Hilton has quietly raised the prices on several of its cheapest hotels without any prior notice. The DoubleTree JB has been affected, as have other erstwhile 10,000 points per night hotels. Read more here and here]
Hilton is holding a week-long sale on points that allows you to pick them up at 0.5 US cents each, the lowest public sale price we see. From now till September 21, 11:59am Singapore time (or whenever packages sell out), Hilton is selling 3,500 packages of 40,000 points each.
Hilton normally caps the total points you can buy in a year to 80,000 (before bonus), but for this promotion they’re lifting the cap and allowing members to purchase up to 2x 40,000 points packages beyond the cap.
Buy Hilton points at a 100% bonus here
As you can see in the screenshot below, you only have two options to choose from: 80,000 points at US$400, or 160,000 points at US$800.
Possible redemption ideas
I mentioned during the hotel hacks workshop that there can be some significant savings obtained by buying points for stays instead of paying the revenue rates.
I gave a specific example of the Conrad Maldives, where the cheapest non-refundable rate can be about US$1,200 after tax, whereas if you redeemed points and got the fifth night free, you’d be paying the equivalent of US$380 a night (without fifth night free you’re paying US$475, which is still a heck of a deal). Remember that points reservations are cancellable, so if you’re comparing this to a non-refundable rate you’ve got an even better proposition on your hands .
Here are some other snapshots of how much selected properties would cost if you bought points versus paid revenue rates.
This isn’t meant to be a recommendation of what you should redeem for, but rather an idea of how at the budget and mid-range level it may be better to pay revenue rates especially if you can buy during a sale. However, at luxury properties you could be looking at some great value by buying Hilton points.
Budget
- Hilton Garden Inn Singapore Serangoon (20,000 points; US$100 per night)
- DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru (10,000 points; US$50 per night)
- DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur (10,000 points; US$50 per night)
Mid-range
- Conrad Bali (40,000 points; US$200 per night)
- Conrad Bangkok (40,000 points; US$200 per night)
- Conrad Macao (40,000 points; US$200 per night)
Luxury
- Conrad Koh Samui (95,000 points; US$475 per night)
- Conrad Tokyo (95,000 points; US$475 per night)
- Conrad Maldives Rangali Island (95,000 points; US$475 per night)
In order to get the fifth night free benefit, you need to have at least Hilton Silver status. Fortunately, that can be easily obtained by anyone who has the AMEX Krisflyer Ascend card, and if you’re planning to go down the route of buying points for a stay at a top tier Hilton property you should really ensure you get this status before making your booking.
What card should I use?
Points purchases are processed by points.com and billed in USD, so here’s what I’d recommend.
- BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard: 5 mpd, uncapped
- UOB Visa Signature: 4 mpd, minimum $1,000, maximum $2,000 per statement period
- DBS Woman’s World Mastercard: 4 mpd, capped at $2,000 per month. You may need to manually appeal to get the bonus 2.8 mpd credited
- Citibank Rewards: 4 mpd, capped at $12,000 per year
- SCB Visa Infinite: 3 mpd, min $2K spend per statement period
Purchases made through any of the links in this article support The Milelion through an affiliate commission.
would love to book conrad bali but stupid thailand citi prestige can’t do 4th night free with hotel benefit.
I thought you can?
Just book 5 days anyway and you will get one night free. They will refund you the total amount you paid / 5
Just checked the Hilton page and the Conrad Tokyo is coming up at around ~200,000 points per night! Is there a recent change of their points redemption or do you think it’s a system glitch?
It means there is no standard rooms available for the night you are looking at.
Hi, usually how many points for standard room?
My BoC Elite card hasn’t arrived yet.
will points redemption count towards the hilton gold fast track program that is currently running now
Yes
Is there an expiry on the Hilton points?
1year if there’s no activity on your account
Have anyone tried buying points and not get the receipt immediately? I am now unable to buy more points and credit card has been charged but no email regarding the transaction. Have reached out to Hhonors chat but they are not helpful at all and basically asking me to buy points again.
more likely your cc has a hold amount, but the transaction did not go through if you didn’t get a receipt. that’s happened to me before- the hold will be released in about 24-48 hours.
i’d try using another card and see what happens
I bought the points when the news broke on another site (before Milelion published it) and used their affiliate link, but more than 24 hours later, I got an email from points.com saying the purchase was unsuccessful. No reason was given, nor could I think of what went wrong.
So I repeated my exact steps, but this time using Milelion’s link. I’m not sure if it’ll make a difference but I hope it does. Aaron, any idea what might have happened?
Interesting, the hilton website does not allow me to buy more points at the moment. I will just wait 24 more hours then. thanks for your help!
Hi Aaron
I don’t get buying points.
Example Conrad HK is 80,000 points or 2900 HKD which is USD370. If I buy the points above that is USD400.
There is no reason to buy points ? I am sure I make a mistake somewhere ?
Sometimes it will make sense and sometimes it will not. Look at maldives/bora bora/ Koh samui and it should be more worth it
Ok got it. Not as simple as abc. Ha. Thanks pal.
If got status, can get one night free with 5 nights booked.
Also, award stay no tax.
Hi Aaron
Should it be 2.8mpd instead for DBS Woman World instead since the base point is 3x for overseas transaction?
Yes you’re correct. Fixed
Do note that there was a (de)revaluation late last week, and doubletree JB standard rooms appear at 20k for me now.
Not really in good faith for Hilton to launch a points sale while doing a revaluation which not everyone might be informed about.
yes, i’ve just seen that. it’s really not cool on their part, i’m assuming the US bloggers will be reaching out for some comment on this…
It looks like DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru no longer costs 10k points but 20k points instead…
DoubleTree by Hilton Melaka also become 20k ><