Hilton Honors is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs, with over 9,000 participating properties across 25 brands. I appreciate that the program offers excellent opportunities to earn Hilton points, valuable cobranded credit cards and multiple pathways to secure elite status.
Although Hilton Honors isn’t my primary hotel loyalty program, I maintain Hilton elite status through a cobranded credit card and stay at Hilton properties at least quarterly to maximize my Hilton statement credit available through The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (enrollment is required; separate Hilton for Business enrollment is also required).
So, whether you stay at Hilton properties weekly or annually, here’s what you should know about the Hilton Honors program.
What is Hilton Honors?
Hilton Honors is the hotel loyalty program for Hilton hotels and resorts. It provides benefits and earnings on eligible stays at 25 Hilton brands, from full-service luxury brands like Waldorf Astoria and Conrad to select-service brands like Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton. The Hilton Honors program also offers various ways to earn and redeem Hilton points, including many options beyond hotel stays.
When you book directly with Hilton, you’ll earn points and benefits based on your membership tier. For the rest of this article, I’ll assume you book through Hilton (not an online travel agency or other method) when discussing benefits and earnings.
Related: The 22 best Hilton hotels in the world
Hilton Honors membership tiers
You’ll progress up the Hilton Honors membership tiers as you stay at Hilton properties each calendar year. Once you’ve earned a specific membership tier, you’ll enjoy its benefits for the rest of the calendar year in which you earned it, as well as the entire next calendar year. You can also snag Hilton Honors elite status through a status match or as a cardmember of select American Express cards.
Hilton Honors member
Once you join the Hilton Honors program, you’ll be a member. The primary benefits of being a Hilton Honors member are:
- Access to book the Hilton Honors discount rate
- Waived resort fees when you pay for your stay using solely points or a promotional free night reward
- The ability to choose your room from available rooms up to 24 hours before check-in
- The ability to earn points on stays
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It’s free to join the Hilton Honors program, so you might as well join now if you aren’t already a member.
Hilton Honors Silver
You’ll earn Hilton Honors Silver status after you stay four times, stay for 10 nights or spend $2,500 in a calendar year. Eligible spending includes room rates (excluding taxes) and charges billed to your room (such as spa, dining and other incidental charges) from bookings made directly with Hilton or approved channels.
The primary benefits of Hilton Silver status include:
- A 20% bonus on base points earned through stays
- Two complimentary bottles of water per stay at select hotels
- A fifth night free on standard reward stays of five consecutive nights or more (up to four free nights per stay, and only when you book solely with points)
You’ll also enjoy Hilton Silver status as a cardmember benefit of the Hilton Honors American Express Card.
Hilton Honors Gold
You’ll earn Hilton Honors Gold status after you stay 15 times, stay for 25 nights or spend $6,000 in a calendar year. The primary benefits of Hilton Gold status include:
- An 80% bonus on base points earned through stays
- A choice of a My Way on-property benefit on each stay (which may include the option to select a daily food-and-beverage credit or continental breakfast)
- Space-available room upgrades to preferred rooms (including up to executive floor room types) at select brands and properties
You’ll also get Hilton Gold status as a cardmember benefit of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, the American Express Platinum Card® and The Business Platinum Card from American Express (enrollment may be required). You can also earn Gold status through the end of the next calendar year if you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Card within a calendar year.
Related: Your complete guide to breakfast benefits at Hilton Honors hotels
Hilton Honors Diamond
You’ll earn Hilton Honors™ Diamond status after you stay 25 times, stay for 50 nights or spend $11,500 in a calendar year. The primary benefits of Hilton Diamond status include:
- A 100% bonus on base points earned through stays
- Executive lounge access when available
- Premium Wi-Fi access during stays at select brands
- Space-available room upgrades to preferred rooms (including up to junior, standard or one-bedroom suites) at select brands and properties
You can also obtain Hilton Diamond status as a cardmember benefit of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. Cardmembers of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card or The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card can also earn Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year if they spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on their card in a calendar year.
You’ll secure lifetime Hilton Diamond status once you’ve earned Hilton Diamond status for 10 years (the years don’t need to be consecutive) and either stay 1,000 nights (paid and reward nights count) or spend $200,000 across your account’s lifetime.
Hilton Honors Diamond Reserve
You’ll earn Hilton Honors Diamond Reserve status after you stay 40 times or 80 nights and spend $18,000 in a calendar year. The primary benefits of Hilton Diamond Reserve status include:
- A 120% bonus on base points earned through stays
- 4 p.m. guaranteed late checkout
- Premium club access, including access to the expanding collection of premium clubs
- A confirmable upgrade reward, which lets you confirm a premium room upgrade (up to a suite) at the time of booking for a stay of up to seven nights
Related: Elite status battle: What happened when we tested Hilton’s new Diamond Reserve versus Diamond status
Hilton status match and challenge
Hilton Honors usually offers a status match and challenge to select elite members of other hotel loyalty programs. To request a Hilton Honors status match, you must submit proof of your status in another program via an online form.
If Hilton approves your request, you’ll get Hilton Gold status for 90 days. You can keep Gold status through March 31, 2028, if you stay for six nights during your 90-day trial period. Meanwhile, if you stay 12 nights within your 90-day trial period, Hilton will upgrade you to Diamond status through March 31, 2028.
Related: Complete guide to airline status matches and challenges
Milestone bonuses and status gifts
Hilton offers its members several additional benefits based on the number of eligible nights they stay each calendar year.
Once you stay 40 eligible nights in a calendar year, you’ll get 10,000 bonus points. You’ll then earn an additional 10,000 bonus points for every additional 10 eligible nights (up to 180) in a calendar year.
Plus, you’ll earn an additional 30,000 bonus points once you stay 60 eligible nights in a calendar year. And once you stay 120 eligible nights in a calendar year, you can choose a confirmable upgrade reward or 30,000 bonus points.
If you stay 60 eligible nights in a calendar year, you can gift Hilton Gold status to another member. But if you stay 100 eligible nights in a calendar year, you can gift Hilton Diamond status to another member. However, you can only gift status to one other member per year.
How to earn Hilton points
As you interact with the Hilton Honors program, you’ll learn many ways to earn points. For a detailed discussion, I highly recommend checking out our guide on earning Hilton points, but here’s a quick overview of your options.
Hotel stays
One of the easiest ways to earn Hilton points is through hotel stays. On eligible stays, you’ll usually earn as follows on charges to your folio from up to four rooms:
- 3 points per dollar spent at LivSmart Studios properties
- 5 points per dollar spent at Home2 Suites, Homewood Suites, Spark, Tru and Apartment Collection properties
- 10 points per dollar spent at other Hilton brands
Of course, as I mentioned above, you’ll earn additional bonus points on stays if you have Hilton elite status. Plus, you may earn bonus points through current Hilton promotions.
Related: 8 best Hilton all-inclusive resorts
Hilton credit cards
Hilton Amex cards are also a great way to earn points. Here’s a look at the earning rates, welcome offers and annual fees on some of our favorite Hilton credit cards.
| Card | Welcome offer | Earning rates | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
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Earn 175,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
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Earn 130,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
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$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 (see rates and fees)
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Earn 130,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
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$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $195 (see rates and fees)
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Earn 100,000 bonus points and a $100 statement credit after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
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I have the Hilton Aspire Card and find it offers far more value than its annual fee since I maximize its benefits. Plus, earning 14 points per dollar spent on purchases at Hilton properties is unbeatable. But if you don’t maximize the annual free night reward and don’t fully use the up to $400 Hilton resort statement credit (up to $200 statement credits semiannually) each year, the Hilton Aspire may not be the right card for you.
Related: Hilton Surpass vs. Hilton Aspire: Do you want Gold or Diamond status?
Transfer rewards to Hilton
You can also earn points by transferring rewards to Hilton Honors. Specifically, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors at a 1:2 ratio, meaning 1,000 Amex points could become 2,000 Hilton points. You can also transfer Bilt Points to Hilton Honors at a 1:1 ratio.
You can usually get more value by transferring these points to other loyalty programs, so I wouldn’t transfer my Amex or Bilt points to Hilton Honors. But even if you plan to transfer Amex or Bilt points to Hilton, waiting until you’re ready to book your stay is usually a good idea.
Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points
Hilton partners
You can earn Hilton points when shopping or interacting with several partners. For example, you can earn points on eligible Alamo, Enterprise and National car rentals. You can also earn extra points at participating restaurants through the Hilton Honors Dining program. Additionally, you can opt in to earn Hilton points on Lyft rides.
Hilton Honors event planner program
Hilton Honors members can earn 2 points per dollar spent on guest rooms, meeting rooms and more (on up to $100,000 spent) through the Hilton Honors event planner program when holding a qualifying event at a participating Hilton property.
Buy Hilton points
Finally, you can buy Hilton points to boost your account balance. TPG’s May 2026 valuations peg the value of Hilton points at 0.4 cents per point, and during the best sales, you can buy Hilton points for around 0.5 cents each. So, you’ll usually only want to buy Hilton points when doing so lets you book a high-value redemption.
How to redeem Hilton points
Just as there are many ways to earn Hilton points, there are plenty of ways to redeem your points. Check out our guide on redeeming Hilton points for all the details, including some low-value redemption options that I won’t discuss here. Here’s an overview of the best ways to redeem Hilton points.
Free night awards
Hilton Honors doesn’t publish an award chart and uses dynamic award pricing. However, there seems to be an unpublished award pricing cap for each property. These unpublished caps have increased, and are likely to continue to increase, without notice. However, standard award nights currently top out at 250,000 points, even at the most luxurious properties.
If you want a good deal, consider using the Points Explorer tool to see point ranges at various properties over the next 30 days.
Likewise, you can see monthly award pricing for a specific property by selecting “Shop by price” instead of stay dates.
To get the best value when redeeming Hilton points, book an award stay for a standard room for five, 10, 15 or 20 nights. Assuming you have Hilton Silver status or higher, you’ll get every fifth night free when redeeming points for a stay of five nights or longer.
Check TPG’s current valuations and try to get at least our valuation of Hilton points on your redemption. Although you can redeem Hilton points for premium rooms, doing so will usually not provide good value.
Related: 6 ways to maximize Hilton Honors redemptions
Points & Money rewards
You might want to book a Points & Money reward if you run short on points. This booking method lets you redeem any combination of points and cash for a stay. For example, click through a few combinations for a stay that would otherwise cost 60,000 points or $236.
You’ll earn points on the money portion of Points & Money rewards stays at participating hotels.
Pool or transfer Hilton points
Hilton Honors is generous in allowing its members to pool and transfer points at no cost.
You can pool or transfer points in increments of 1,000 points up to 500,000. Each Hilton Honors member can send up to 500,000 points and receive up to 2 million points via combined pooling and transfer transactions each calendar year. However, each member can only make up to six transfers to other accounts and up to six points pooling transactions each calendar year.
Finally, new Hilton Honors members can only pool, transfer or receive points 30 or more days after enrollment if they have account activity. Otherwise, they must wait at least 90 days after enrollment before pooling, transferring or receiving points without account activity.
Hilton Honors Experiences
Redeeming points for Hilton Honors Experiences has offered me strong value in the past. As such, I periodically check to see whether any experiences are appealing in my upcoming destinations.
Be sure to check the paid rates, when available, before booking to determine whether redeeming points for the experience will provide good value.
Bottom line
The Hilton Honors program offers easy-to-earn status via its credit cards and ample opportunities to earn many points. However, getting good value when redeeming Hilton points can be difficult, and many elite benefits are subject to availability and vary significantly by property. As such, you may have some wonderful stays as a high-tier elite member, but you may also have some stays where elite status doesn’t provide many incremental perks.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Amex, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Amex Aspire, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Surpass, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Business Amex, click here.
