Ultimate guide to the Hilton Honors loyalty program
Editor's Note
- Hilton Honors is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs in the world, with more than 9,000 properties.
- While not the most valuable hotel points, Hilton points are easy to earn and redeem, with frequent promotions, bonuses and redemption options beyond stays.
- Hilton Diamond status can be yours with the right credit card.
Hilton Honors is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs, with over 9,000 participating properties across 27 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 the up to $50 per quarter 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 27 Hilton brands, from full-service luxury brands like Waldorf Astoria and Conrad to select-service brands like Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton. Hilton also launched its Select by Hilton collection earlier this year, adding Yotel as the collection's first brand.
The Hilton Honors program offers various ways to earn and redeem Hilton points, too, including many options beyond hotel stays. One of these options is Hilton Honors Adventures, which lets you earn and redeem points for adventure-driven travel experiences. Initial partners for Hilton Honors Adventures are AutoCamp and Explora Journeys.
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 and for 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.
Comparison of Hilton Honors membership tiers
| Membership tier | Qualification requirements per calendar year | Key benefits | Which credit cards give automatic access to this membership tier? |
|---|---|---|---|
Member | None | Discounted rates, waived resort fees on award stays and Wi-Fi access | None |
Silver | Stay four times, stay for 10 nights or spend $2,500 | A 20% bonus on base points earned through stays and the fifth-night-free benefit on standard reward stays | |
Gold | Stay 15 times, stay for 25 nights or spend $6,000 | An 80% bonus on base points earned through stays, a choice of a My Way on-property benefit on each stay and space-available room upgrades | |
Diamond | Stay 25 times, stay for 50 nights or spend $11,500 | A 100% bonus on base points earned through stays, executive lounge access and premium Wi-Fi access | |
Diamond Reserve | Stay 40 times or 80 nights and spend $18,000 | A 120% bonus on base points earned through stays, 4 p.m. guaranteed late checkout, premium club access and one confirmable upgrade reward | None |
Check out the following sections to learn more about each of these Hilton Honors membership tiers and other benefits you can enjoy on Hilton Honors stays.
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
- Free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel
- The ability to earn points on stays
- Late checkout, upon request and subject to availability
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 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)
- Access to a spa discount of 15% on a single treatment when staying at Hilton all-inclusive properties with a spa
You'll also enjoy Hilton Silver status as a cardmember benefit of the Hilton Honors American Express Card. Unfortunately, Hilton Honors eliminated rollover nights beginning in 2026, although qualifying nights rolled over from 2025 can still count toward 2026 status.
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: Which Hilton hotels offer free breakfast? A guide to brand and elite benefits
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 and 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 also gift Hilton Gold status to another member. And 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.
Benefits for Hilton members at Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties
You can book select Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties through Hilton Honors. Hilton Honors members get the following benefits when staying at participating SLH hotels:
- Ability to earn Hilton points on stays (you can also redeem Hilton points for SLH stays)
- Free Wi-Fi
- Complimentary late checkout (subject to availability)
Plus, Hilton Honors Gold members and above also enjoy:
- Space-available room upgrades
- Continental breakfast for you and up to one additional guest
Related: The coolest SLH hotels you can book with Hilton Honors points
Benefits for Hilton members on Explora Journeys
You'll earn eligible nights, stays and spend toward Hilton Honors status on Explora Journeys. You'll also enjoy some extra perks based on your Hilton Honors tier as follows:
- Member: 5% savings on all Journeys, a welcome gift and 5% savings on Journeys merchandise
- Silver: Member benefits, plus a signature loyalty delight and dedicated customer support
- Gold: Silver benefits, plus access to a cocktail event with ship leadership and a surprise gift or ritual
- Diamond: Gold benefits, plus complimentary laundry service (one bag per Journey) and experience credits for destination experiences and ocean wellness
- Diamond Reserve: Diamond benefits, plus complimentary laundry service (one bag per day), a behind-the-scenes bridge tour (upon availability) and a private transfer to the port
How to earn Hilton points
As you interact with the Hilton Honors program, you'll find many ways to earn points. For a detailed discussion, I highly recommend checking out our guide on earning Hilton points, but here's an 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, plus 3,000 bonus points per 10 nights completed within the same stay, at LivSmart Studios properties
- 5 points per dollar spent at Home2 Suites outside China, Homewood Suites, Spark, Tru, Yotel and Apartment Collection properties
- 10 points per dollar spent at Home2 Suites in China and 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Earn 200,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
| $550 (see rates and fees) | |
Earn 130,000 bonus points and a free night reward after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
| $150 (see rates and fees) | |
Earn 150,000 bonus points and a free night reward after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
| $195 (see rates and fees) | |
Earn 70,000 bonus points and a free night reward after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. |
| No annual fee (see rates and fees) |
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 biannually) 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, it's usually a good idea to wait until you're ready to book your stay.
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 and opt in to earn Hilton points on Lyft rides. Plus, you can earn Hilton points with Hilton's Vacation Ownership brand and on Explora Journeys.
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 September 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 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, but here's an overview of the best and worst ways to redeem Hilton points.
Free night awards
Hilton Honors doesn't publish an award chart and instead uses dynamic award pricing. However, there appears to be an unpublished cap on award pricing for each property, and standard award nights currently top out at 250,000 points at the most luxurious properties.
Related: How rare are standard reward nights at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives? What the data shows
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 view 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 stays 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, here's one option for a stay that would otherwise cost 87,000 points or $367.13.
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.
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 whether any experiences at my upcoming destinations are appealing.
Be sure to check the paid rates, when available, before booking to determine whether redeeming points for the experience will provide good value.
Related: How Hilton Honors points unlocked a premium NCAA basketball experience in Chicago
Hilton Honors redemptions to avoid
There are a few specific types of Hilton Honors redemptions that you'll want to avoid, as they offer extremely low value for your points. As you read through this section, keep in mind that TPG's September 2026 valuations pegged the value of Hilton points at 0.4 cents each.
- Amazon Shop with Points: You can redeem 700 Hilton Honors points for a dollar of value at Amazon checkout, meaning you'll only get 0.14 cents per point.
- Lyft credits: You can redeem 4,500 Hilton Honors points for a $10 Lyft credit, meaning you'd only get 0.22 cents per point.
- Car rentals: A sample two-day Alamo car rental I priced out would cost $257.55 or 96,159 Hilton Honors points, meaning you'd only get 0.27 cents per point.
- Transferring to airline miles: The transfer ratios usually make this a poor option unless you have no other use for Hilton points.
I'd also add most premium-room reward nights to this list, as they usually offer a much lower cents-per-point redemption rate than standard-room rewards.
Is Hilton Honors worth it?
Hilton Honors is a popular program for a reason. Its main positives include the following:
- Easy-to-earn status via credit cards
- High earning rates on both card spending and hotel stays
- A wide range of brands, including luxury, budget and extended stay
- Large global footprint
However, I personally find it difficult to get outsize value from Hilton Honors points. Hence, it isn't one of my primary hotel loyalty programs. Its negatives include:
- Getting good value when redeeming Hilton points can be difficult.
- Many elite benefits, even at higher tiers, are subject to availability and vary significantly by property.
- Premium room reward pricing doesn't scale well, making it a poor redemption option in most cases.
Despite these drawbacks, Hilton Honors can still be a very rewarding program, particularly if you can get elite status through a credit card and regularly stay at Hilton properties. Even if you don't stay with Hilton frequently, it's worth enrolling before your next stay to earn points and enjoy member benefits.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Hilton Honors is Hilton's free hotel loyalty program. Once you join the program, you'll earn points on eligible stays at more than 9,000 properties worldwide that participate in Hilton Honors. Plus, you'll be able to redeem Hilton points for free nights and experiences. The program also offers elite status tiers that provide perks like bonus points and room upgrades.
The fastest ways to earn Hilton Honors points are through hotel stays, Hilton cobranded credit cards and limited-time bonus point promotions. However, perhaps the quickest way to earn Hilton points is to simply purchase them.
Hilton Honors elite status can provide meaningful value, especially for frequent travelers. Benefits may include bonus points on stays, complimentary breakfast or food-and-beverage credits at select brands, room upgrades and executive lounge access. However, benefits can vary widely by property, so the value of elite status depends heavily on how often and where you stay.
You can earn Hilton Honors elite status by staying a required number of nights, completing a specific number of stays or meeting annual spending thresholds with Hilton. Hilton also offers shortcuts to elite status through select cobranded credit cards and status match opportunities for elite members of other hotel loyalty programs.
Hilton Honors points are usually only worth buying during a promotion and when you have a specific redemption in mind. Since Hilton uses dynamic award pricing, buying points can occasionally help you book an expensive hotel stay for less than the cash rate.
Yes. Hilton Honors points expire after 24 months of account inactivity. You must complete at least one stay at a Hilton property, earn points with a Hilton credit card, earn or redeem points with a Hilton partner, buy or donate points, or register for a Hilton promotion within 24 months to keep your Hilton Honors account active.
Hilton Honors members with Silver status or higher receive every fifth night free on standard room reward stays booked entirely with points. The benefit applies automatically to eligible stays of five nights or longer, and you can get up to four free nights per reservation.