Two New Hilton Honors Promotions That Probably Aren't Worth It

While the Hilton Honors program does have some valuable perks, especially for elites, that you could take advantage of, its Honors points aren't the most useful or most rewarding. There are currently two promotions on offer from Hilton, but they're not all that great, unfortunately.

The first promotion is offering is up to an 80% bonus when you purchase points through December 29, 2017. Here's how the bonus breaks down based on how much you spend:

• If you purchase 10,000-19,000 points, you'll get a 60% bonus
• If you purchase 20,000-80,000 points, you'll get an 80% bonus

You must purchase points in increments of 1,000. In addition, you won't get a bonus until you've purchased at least 10,000 points. With the 80% bonus, you're purchasing points at a price of about 0.56 cents apiece, so you'd be paying slightly less than TPG's most recent valuation of 0.6 cents apiece. So, you're getting a total of 0.04 cents per point in savings by maxing out this promotion. Of course, if you have a specific redemption in mind, a minuscule bonus is better than no bonus at all.

You can purchase up to 80,000 with Hilton per calendar year. In addition, if you're looking to take advantage of the bonus, you must purchase points by December 29 at 11:59pm ET.

In addition to the above promo, American Express is targeting members to get a 33% bonus when you transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors. If you're targeted for the offer, you'll get 2,100 Hilton points for every 1,000 Amex points transferred through December 15, 2017.

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Like the first promotion, this isn't particularly exciting — especially if you don't have a specific redemption in mind. Based on TPG's most recent valuations, Hilton points are worth 0.6 cents apiece whereas Amex Membership Rewards points are worth more than double that at 1.9 cents apiece. Even with the 33% transfer bonus, you're still losing out on some value here. Say, for example, you transfer 10,000 Amex points (worth $190), you would get 20,100 Hilton points, which are worth $121.

Of course, both of these promotions aren't bad under every circumstance. If you have a specific redemption in mind, either (or both) of these promotions could be worth it for you. It's never recommended to transfer points or buy points without a specific redemption in mind, as there's no way to reverse the transfer or sell points back after they're bought.