After reading this, you will know how to use Hilton Honors Points and save money. After saving thousands of dollars over the years, we are experts on this loyalty program. We love staying in Hilton hotels for free. So find out how you too can get free hotel stays!
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Table of contents
- What Are Hilton Honors Points?
- What The Heck is Travel Hacking?
- Using Points
- How Much Money Can You Save?
- Rome: The Eternal City $2,000
- The Hague to See the Goldfinch Painting $600
- Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam: Golden Age Luxury $2,200
- New York, New York (FKA New Amsterdam) $900
- Sea Lions in San Franciso $1,000
- Conrad Signapore with The Best Breakfast Ever $1,600
- Grand Wailea Whale Watching from our Lanai $4,000
- Quebec Hilton with Snow Geese $600
- Conclusion: Using Hilton Honors Points Is Worth It
What Are Hilton Honors Points?
Hilton Honors points are a loyalty program by Hilton. When both of us worked for IBM, we earned them by staying at Hilton Hotels for business travel. Nowadays,we mostly earn them by travel hacking using credit cards.
Using these points, you can book any hotel in the Hilton portfolio. We rarely pay for hotels, almost always use Hilton Honors points and get to stay for free. We have used them a lot in our travels all over the world, from Amsterdam to Singapore, from Rome to Hawaii. Hilton hotels are almost everywhere and who doesn’t love a free hotel stay!?
What The Heck is Travel Hacking?
If you don’t have a job where your company pays for your hotel, you have to get more creative. Enter travel hacking! The most popular travel hacks are applying for credit card with a sign up bonus and get a lot of points that way. Caveat: you need to have good credit and you need to have the means and the organizational skills to pay off your balance each month, because paying high interest on a balance is NOT worth it.
In our case we mostly use an American Express Aspire card, awarding us many Hilton Honors points and free hotel stays.
American Express Hilton Honors Cards
If you want to get a good headstart on your points, consider applying for a branded American Express card.
Currently there are three options on the market.
First the basic one: Hilton Honors American Express card. No annual fee but it will get you automatic Silver status which entitles you to 5th night free if you book with points. Using that benefit we just spent a few weeks in Europe, taking the train to different cities and exploring for five nights.
Secondly: the Hilton Honors Surpass card. Though you pay a $150 annual fee, this gets compensated by $200 statement credit for Hilton spending. And you get Gold status which comes with free breakfast and complimentary room upgrades if available. This is a referral offer with a Free Night Award.
Last one: the Hilton Honors Aspire card. Even more expensive per year ( $550), it comes with Diamond status and a yearly Free Night Award. Between airline credit and other credits you could justify the high fee, but it seems too hefty of a fee for occasional travel.
Using Points
When you are ready to use your points, go to the Hilton website, sign in to your account. Start a search for a hotel and choose ‘Using Points’. You will get a list of possible hotels with the number of points needed. The redemption will be priced from a low of 10,000 points per night to a high of 110,000 for Waldorf Astoria hotels. The average seems to be between 30,000 to 60,000 a night if you are not in a majorly touristy area.
Stay 5 Nights, Get One Free
Even better deals can be found if you choose “flexible dates” so you can plan your travel in the cheapest season. And try to use Hilton’s “pay 4 nights, get the 5th night free” when you book with points to increase your savings.
Side note: Do not overspend on your credit cards, but if you did anyway, consider using the free tools at Empower.to get back on track in your fnancial life.
How Much Money Can You Save?
Every time we use points I do a quick check on the hotel web site to see how much our room would have cost us. It always delights us when we see our room for an inane amount of money and know we got it for free!
Since Karen grew up in the Netherlands, we have spent quite some time in Europe. Here are some of our favorite European Hiltons:
Rome: The Eternal City $2,000
Another ancestry collection is Italy, from where Tom’s great grandparents immigrated. We love exploring Italy and imagine how life must have been there for his family.
Aleph Rome Hotels, Curio Collection. A very well situated hotel close to the Piazza Barberini. Ideally situated to explore Rome. During this hotel stay, we saved $2,000.
A few years ago when we visited Italy, we ended up with a looooong delay. Thanks to European laws, that delay earned us $ 1,600 in airline credit so we were quite happy after all.
The Hague to See the Goldfinch Painting $600
Hilton The Hague, in an old post office building, very centrally located. Within an easy walking distance of the Mauritshuis where we saw the Goldfinch and the Girl with the Pearl Ear Ring. For this stay, we saved $600.
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam: Golden Age Luxury $2,200
Imagine the Netherlands centuries ago, when Amsterdam was one of the most important cities in the world. We traded in everything, owned New Amsterdam, and rich people wanted to live right at the canals.
The Waldorf Astoria acquired six of these canal houses and turned them into an amazing hotel. We stayed there when we were researching the painter Vincent van Gogh and easily saved at least $2,200.
New York, New York (FKA New Amsterdam) $900
When we took our four teenage girls to see a show on Broadway we stayed in one of the Manhattan Hiltons and saved $900 for a fun filled weekend. Fun Tip for New York: Use the FREE ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.
Sea Lions in San Franciso $1,000
Hilton at the Financial District in San Francisco. When we got stuck there for four night thanks to a snow storm back home. Enjoying an wesome view: we could see Alcatraz from our room. That time, we saved $1,000.
Conrad Signapore with The Best Breakfast Ever $1,600
Conrad Singapore, where I had miso soup for breakfast every morning! During our Singapore stay, we saved $1,600.
Grand Wailea Whale Watching from our Lanai $4,000
- Grand Wailea on Maui, Hawaii, where we could see whales from our balcony! And we went snorkeling nearby and could hear the whales sing. So amazing! Because this is a very expensive hotel, and we got upgraded, we saved $4,000.
If you like whale watching, find out about another great place to go for a whale watch.
Quebec Hilton with Snow Geese $600
Quebec Hilton, where we based ourselves to see snow geese and to go on a whale watch! We saved $600.
Conclusion: Using Hilton Honors Points Is Worth It
As you can see, the list is endless, and we love exploring the world with our Hilton Honors points! Come and join us! Sign up NOW!
What has been your favorite hotel stay to date? Have you ever traveled for free? Share in the comments.
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