How to redeem points with the Hilton Honors program
Redeeming Hilton Honors points can provide great value on your next hotel stay. The chain has over 9,000 properties across six continents, and all of them — even the most luxurious Conrad and Waldorf Astoria properties — can be booked with points.
And you’re not just restricted to hotel stays when you redeem your Hilton Honors points. Keep reading to find out seven ways you can redeem points with the Hilton Honors program.
Redeem Hilton points for hotel stays
Hilton Honors is a hotel loyalty program, so naturally, you can redeem your points for hotel stays in the Hilton portfolio. Unfortunately, the program doesn’t publish an award chart, so your only way to know the award price for a particular hotel is to search for your dates.
A good starting point, though, is the program’s Points Explorer tool. This tool highlights the maximum award rate of a property, as well as the lowest price recently booked by other members. These “discounted” prices tend to come up when cash rates are lower.
To book an award room, start at hilton.com and sign in to your loyalty account. (You don’t have to be logged in to search for award availability, but it makes it easier.) After entering your destination and dates, select “Special Rates” in the search box, tick the “Use Points” option and click “Done.”
If your dates are flexible, check “Shop by price” in the date box to see a calendar. This makes it easy to spot the cheapest dates.
Hilton Honors points are worth 0.4 cents apiece, according to TPG’s May 2026 valuations. However, given the lack of standardized award chart pricing, the value you get will vary from hotel to hotel.
Some hotels offer more than 0.4 cents per point in redemption value. This usually happens during peak times, when cash prices skyrocket, but award prices are capped at a property’s maximum standard rate. For example, in mid-December, when crowds flock to the Big Apple for holiday festivities, the Waldorf Astoria in New York is priced from $1,875 per night. Alternatively, you can book the same room for 150,000 points per night, giving you a value of 1.24 cents per point.
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When redeeming Hilton points for hotel stays, pay close attention to the individual hotel’s cancellation policy. Most award stays can be canceled free of charge until a couple of days before arrival, but some properties have stricter policies.
There are a few other ways to redeem Hilton Honors points for a stay. As you go through the booking process, keep an eye out for the following booking options.
Customize your award with the Points & Money slider
In addition to booking stays completely with points, the Hilton Honors program allows you to use a combination of points and money.
Unlike many other programs that use fixed amounts of points and cash for this award option, Hilton lets you customize the amounts using a slider on the final page before confirming your reservation. You’ll still select the full award price from the search results, but then you can drag the slider to whatever points-and-money combination you want.
Note that there is a 5,000-point minimum for Points & Money redemptions. The combination of points and money you select is final once you book. However, you will earn Hilton Honors points on the cash portion of these stays. If you’re short on points or don’t want to use all your points on one stay, this can be a nice option.
Related: How to earn and redeem Hilton Honors points at SLH properties
Redeem points for premium room awards
One of the best things about Hilton Honors redemptions is that you’re not restricted to one room type. You can redeem points for premium rooms, including suites or rooms with better views or club lounge access.
The booking process is the same. Once you’ve selected your desired hotel, you can choose between a standard room reward and a premium room reward. Premium rooms will cost more points than standard rooms (often significantly more).
If you’re looking for extra space for your family, it’s great to have the option to redeem additional points for a larger room or suite instead of hoping your Hilton elite status will score you an upgrade at check-in.
Take advantage of the fifth-night-free perk for Hilton Honors elite members
Hilton Honors members with Silver status or higher get every fifth night free when booking a standard room reward stay. This perk extends to stays of up to 20 nights — during which you’d enjoy four free nights. If you don’t have Hilton Honors status, consider applying for one of Hilton’s American Express cards for automatic status.
The following cards provide complimentary Hilton status:
Related: Best Hilton credit cards
Redeem Hilton points for event credits
You can also redeem Hilton Honors points for a discount when you plan a wedding, conference or other Hilton event — but please don’t. You can choose a voucher for various denominations for a set number of points. Here’s how much they cost:
- 25,000 points: $50
- 50,000 points: $100
- 75,000 points: $150
- 125,000 points: $250
- 250,000 points: $500
These vouchers are worth just 0.2 cents per Hilton point, well below TPG’s valuation, so we don’t recommend this redemption.
Related: Hilton Honors Dining program: Earn easy points at your favorite restaurants
Redeem Hilton points for experiences
Another option is to redeem Hilton points for travel experiences through Hilton Honors Experiences.
Available experiences often include sporting events, dinners at top restaurants and concerts. Some of these can be purchased immediately with points, while others require bidding against other Hilton Honors members.
While you’re generally best off redeeming Hilton points for hotel stays, snagging a unique experience can make for a fantastic redemption. This is how TPG’s Katie Genter enjoyed a 60-minute couples massage and a four-course dinner for two with just 20,000 Hilton Honors points.
Look through the Hilton Honors Experiences page to see if anything interests you.
Related: 8 of the most exclusive travel experiences you can book with points and miles
Transfer Hilton points to airlines
Hilton Honors has more than two dozen airline partners you can transfer your Hilton points to, but the transfer ratios are less than ideal. For example, you can exchange 10,000 Hilton Honors points for a mere 1,000 United MileagePlus miles or Delta SkyMiles.
As a result, we think you’re better off booking hotel stays with your points — but transferring points to an airline could make sense if you’re short a few miles for your next award flight.
Transfer ratios vary from one airline to the next, so check Hilton’s transfer site for your airline of choice. You’ll have to enter your airline loyalty number to see the points-to-miles exchange rate.
Redeem Hilton points on Lyft rides
Hilton has a partnership with Lyft, which is a fantastic way to earn some extra Honors points on your Lyft rides. However, on the redemption side, it’s not so pretty.
You can convert your Hilton points into Lyft credits (similar to gift cards) of varying amounts. But regardless of how many points you redeem this way, you’ll get a poor value of 0.22 cents each.
Redeem Hilton points for car rentals
Hilton partners with National, Alamo and Enterprise, so you can redeem your points for your next rental on Hilton’s car rental page.
However, this option doesn’t provide a good return on your hard-earned points. In our tests, using Hilton points for a rental car consistently provided a value of around 0.2 cents per point.
Related: Save money on your next trip: Use these tips to never pay full price for a rental car
Redeem Hilton points for Amazon purchases
Finally, you can redeem Hilton Honors points to cover Amazon purchases. Just link your Hilton Honors account to your Amazon account and select Hilton Honors points as your payment method at checkout. Amazon will tell you how many points it takes to cover your order, and you can use your points to cover the entire purchase or just part of it.
Should you use Hilton Honors points for Amazon purchases? Our research found that Hilton points are worth 0.2 cents each when redeemed toward Amazon purchases, so this redemption isn’t ideal.
We’re all for having additional options for using your points and miles, but in general, you wouldn’t be maximizing your Hilton points (or any other currency) at Amazon.
How to earn Hilton points
Of course, all the above redemptions require you to have Hilton points in your account. One of the quickest ways to boost your balance is by adding a new Hilton Honors card to your wallet. Here are the available cards and their welcome offers:
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card: Earn 130,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Additionally, enjoy a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 (see rates and fees).
- Hilton Honors American Express Card: Earn 100,000 bonus points and a $100 statement credit after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. This card has no annual fee (see rates and fees).
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Earn 130,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Additionally, enjoy a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $195 (see rates and fees).
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Earn 175,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. This card has a $550 annual fee (see rates and fees).
Bottom line
As you can see, there are many interesting ways to redeem Hilton Honors points. However, we recommend sticking with hotel stays — this option generally provides the most value, getting you closer to (or even higher than) TPG’s valuation of Hilton points.
The other option we’d recommend is Hilton Honors Experiences, especially if you find a unique event that may not be available to you otherwise.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Surpass Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Amex Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Amex Business Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Aspire Card, click here.
