Hilton Honors selling points with 100% bonus

Hilton has launched its latest points purchase promotion, with a 100% bonus on offer till 13 March 2024. This reduces the cost per point to 0.5 US cents each, and the maximum purchase cap has been tripled to 240,000 points pre-bonus.

Depending on where and when you’re staying, buying points can be an opportunity to save on hotel stays when cash rates are high. Alternatively, it could be an opportunity to redeem some attractive Hilton Honors Experiences. Hilton has recently moved into the concerts space, with tickets for Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars appearing (and disappearing just as fast) on their Experiences portal at reasonable prices.

Buy Hilton Points with a 100% bonus

Buy Hilton Points with 100% bonus

From now till 15 May 2024, 11.59 a.m SGT, Hilton Honors members who buy a minimum of 5,000 points will receive a 100% bonus.

Hilton points usually cost 1 US cent apiece, so a 100% bonus means buying points at 0.5 US cents each. This is the lowest price we ever see offered.

A maximum of 240,000 points (pre-bonus) can be purchased per calendar year, and points can be pooled with up to 10 other members for the purposes of redemption. 

Hilton points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Any earning or redemption activity will reset the clock.

What can you do with Hilton points?

Hilton no longer has a published award chart, but as a rule of thumb, free nights range from 5,000 to 120,000 points (a handful of properties cost 150,000 points per night).

You can use the Hilton Points Explorer tool for an estimate of the range at which properties price. 

If you see award costs higher than this, it’s because there’s no standard rooms available. In that case, points can instead be redeemed for premium rooms, which generally represents poorer value. 

Hilton members with Silver status or higher enjoy the 5th night free on all redemptions, creating some fantastic opportunities to save on hotels during peak periods (Hilton Silver status is offered to all AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend cardholders). Don’t forget that points redemptions also include all taxes and fees, so there’s further savings to be had compared to cash rates.

While everyone dreams of luxury stays at the Conrads and Waldorf Astorias, points purchases can sometimes serve more prosaic purposes. In March 2022, I went to  watch the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California back in March 2022. As this was a spur of the moment thing, all the hotels had already been booked up, and the few remaining were charging ridiculous rates for stays.

Even a humble 3-Star Homewood Suites La Quinta was asking for US$624 per night, before taxes. But award nights were going for 50,000 points per night, and with the 5th night free, I paid an average of 40,000 points per night for a 5 night stay- at 0.5 US cents per point, that’s US$200 nett! Yes, a Homewood Suites is hardly the stuff of dreams, but I’ll take those savings. 

To illustrate some other situations where buying Hilton points might be useful, consider London. A flexible rate at the Conrad London St. James costs US$473 per night, or 80,000 points. Buying points at 0.5 US cents each yields a nett price of US$400, or a 15% saving. If you stay five nights, your per night rate will be just US$320. 

Alternatively, consider New York City, where hotel prices spike around Christmas. Even a modest Hilton Garden Inn is going for US$560! Buying 70,000 points (US$350) would be a much better option.

If you fancy something nicer, the Conrad New York Midtown is going for 95,000 points a night (US$475), versus US$671 with cash.

The general idea is to check cash rates and see whether you’d be better off buying points at 0.5 US cents each (with the 5th night free where applicable).

But of late, the best uses of Hilton points haven’t been hotels- it’s been concerts. In February, Hilton unexpectedly offered 10 pairs of tickets to the Hilton Suite at the National Stadium for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which cost 100,000 points per pair. Needless to say, this was an insane redemption, and those who had points in their account could quickly jump on it. Hilton even refunded the points afterwards, which probably shouldn’t be expected going forward, but a nice gesture nonetheless.

In March, they offered tickets to Bruno Mars’ sold-out Singapore tour from 70,000 points per pair, which again was pretty good value all things considered.

Hopefully there’ll be more such offers to come!

What card should you use to purchase Hilton points?

Hilton points purchases are processed by Points.com and will code as MCC 7399 (Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified), as opposed to hotel spend. 

You can use the following cards to maximise the miles earned.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd	Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	Up to 3.2 mpd^	Min. S$800 per c. month, no cap
SCB Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min spend S$2K per s. month
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
UOB PRVI Miles Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
UOB VI Metal Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month ^If your card was approved before 1 November 2023, earn 3.2 mpd till 31 January 2024. If your card was approved from 1 November 2023, earn 3.2 mpd for the approval month + 3 full calendar months. 2.8 mpd subsequently. Read more here.

I personally don’t recommend the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as MCC 7399 is a problematic MCC for DBS, and many people have reported issues with getting the bonus points properly credited.

Conclusion

Buy Hilton Points with 100% bonus

Hilton is selling points once again with a 100% bonus, which could be a useful way of saving on hotels, especially around peak periods. Also, the purchase cap this time round has been raised to 240,000 points (pre-bonus), so you could buy up to 480,000 points in total.

Make it a point to check for award space before buying points, and never buy them speculatively. Hilton runs these sales very often, so you don’t need to worry about missing out.