Hilton is currently offering a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points.
Visit the Purchase Points section of the Hilton website, (you’ll to need to log in or create a free account here). To access the 100% bonus you’ll need to buy 5,000 points or more. If you maxed out this deal, you could buy 80,000 Hilton Honors points, costing $800 and you’d receive 80,000 bonus points.
The 80,000 points cap is the maximum you can buy per account, per year.
However, Hilton allows free points sharing between members. Your partner/family member/colleague could purchase another 80,000 points (with 80,000 bonus points) and simply transfer them across to you. That would give you 320,000 points for a total outlay of $1600 (about £1,220 at today’s exchange rates).
Those 320,000 Hilton Honors points are enough for four nights at the likes of the Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri or the Conrad Hong Kong. It gets better though. Hilton offers a fifth-night free benefit on reward stays for elite members. Throw in the fifth night free and you’re getting a five-night stay for £1,200 or £240 a night.
When should you buy points (instead of paying cash)?
In an ideal world, you would redeem points that you’ve earned outright for example by staying at Hilton properties, transferring some American Express Membership Rewards points or even converting Virgin Atlantic miles. However, if you find yourself short of points for a redemption, it can make sense to buy points instead of paying the cash rate.
Obviously, the best time to do this is when there is some sort of bonus on – like this 100% offer from Hilton – allowing you to get more (points) for your money.
Here are various examples of when you should/shouldn’t think about buying points:
Example 1 – Conrad Hong Kong
I searched for a random 3-night stay in November 2019. The cheapest cash rate via the Hilton website on those nights works out at about £436 per night (including service charge). Alternatively, you can redeem 80,000 points per night. Those points would cost ∼£305 to buy in this sale, saving you £131 per night.
Verdict – Buy points
Example 2 – Hilton Syon Park
Here’s a two-night weekend stay in August 2019. The cheapest cash rate via the Hilton website on those nights is £165 per night. Alternatively, a free night award would cost 60,000 points per night. Those points would cost ∼£228 to buy in this sale, meaning you’d be much better off paying the cash rate on this one.
Verdict – Cash rate preferable
Example 3 – Waldorf Astoria Maldives
I’ve borrowed this final example from my article describing how to get a 75% discount at the brand-new Waldorf Astoria Maldives. A number of readers have since been in touch to say that they’ve used this trick when booking this hotel – highlighting the great value that buying points can provide.
The base level room at this hotel is a 234sqm beach villa and the prices reflect that. A random three-night stay in March 2020 would cost approximately £1,250 per night (including taxes + service charges). Alternatively, a free night redemption costs 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night or 360,000 Hilton Honors points for a three-night stay. You can buy 320,000 of those by using the method described above. The remaining 40,000 points should be easy enough – you can convert 20,000 Amex Membership Rewards points or even 26,000 Virgin Atlantic miles.
Using this method means you’d effectively be paying ‘just’ £406* per night.
That’s still a lot of money and some people would never dream of paying that for a hotel room. But considering you get a 200sqm beach villa in the Maldives, at a property where cash rates are often £2,000+ per night, £400 a night is a very good deal.
Verdict – Buy points
*This doesn’t factor in the cost of the remaining 40,000 Hilton points.
Verdict
A 100% bonus is as good as it gets when it comes to buying Hilton points. As you can see from my examples, if used well, you can easily save £100’s by choosing to buy points. If you’d written off using points for a planned trip because you weren’t sure about accumulating enough Hilton points in time, this offer is well worth a look.
Offer ends 28th May 2019
The ‘Buy points’ page on the Hilton website is here
Would you buy Hilton points with a 100% bonus?
Header image: Waldorf Astoria Bangkok © 2019 Hilton