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What are Hilton points worth, anyway? Here’s your answer

  • Meghan Hunter

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    The fact that Hilton uses dynamic pricing makes it more difficult to put an exact value on Hilton Honors points because the price for an award night can vary, depending on the hotel and dates of travel. But Hilton does have a maximum price on the cost of an award night at each hotel and you can use the Hilton Points Explorer to determine the least and most you’ll pay at a particular property. This allows you to get an idea of the average value you might expect from your Hilton points.

    What’s especially great is that Hilton points are easy to earn thanks to big welcome offers from hotel credit cards like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card or the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express. And even better, now is a fantastic time to apply for a Hilton card given the limited-time benefits Amex is offering due to the coronavirus pandemic. The information for the Hilton Aspire card and the Hilton Surpass has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    Keep in mind, all of the Hilton cards are personal Amex cards or business Amex cards, and that means you’ll only be able earn a welcome once per lifetime per card.

    Let’s take a look at some examples to see what Hilton points are worth and how to calculate their value for your situation.

    The value you’ll get for your Hilton points can vary, but you can expect them to be worth at least 0.5 cents a piece. (Photo courtesy of Hilton)

    Hilton points value

    The consensus among most miles-and-points analysts is that you can reliably get a value of at least 0.5 cents per Hilton point. The exact value you’ll get depends on which hotel you’re staying with and your travel dates.

    To figure out the value of Hilton points for a particular stay, use this formula:

    Cash price of a room / Number of points required for an award night = Hilton points value

    Here are a few examples.

    What are Hilton points worth for domestic award nights?

    I did a quick search for a Hilton hotel in Denver (one of my favorite spots to visit) and stumbled upon the Hampton Inn & Suites Denver-Downtown. Points rates in August range from 37,000-50,000 Hilton points per night. In the same way that the points rates fluctuate, so do the cash prices.

    When the points price of a room is just 37,000 points, the cheapest cash price is $167 with taxes. That means you’d get a value of over 0.45 cents per point.

    And when the nightly rate goes up to 50,000 points, the highest cash price of a room increases is $268 per night with taxes. At those rates, you’d get a value of 0.54 cents per point.

    So as you can see, the average value of points hovers at just over 0.5 cents each. However, you can bump up the value of your points if you have any level of Hilton status (free with any Hilton rewards credit card) because you’ll get access to Hilton’s 5th night free perk. With it, you’ll get one free night for every five you book with points. The free night is calculated based on the average cost per night of your stay.

    How much are Hilton points worth at high-end resorts

    Let’s take a look at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. This is most definitely a bucket-list destination for many – I know I want to go someday. And when you use Hilton points at a location like this, you can increase the value you get per point.

    Using your Hilton points for an otherwise expensive stay at spots like the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island can get you a lot of value from your hard-earned rewards. (Photo courtesy of Hilton)

    A night here can run to more than $900 and an award night costs 95,000 points, so you’re going to be “spending” a lot, regardless of whether you’re using points or cash. But at that rate, your Hilton points would be worth ~0.9 cents each. That’s an excellent value – almost double the average value of 0.5 cents a piece.

    What’s the value of Hilton points for award stays in Europe?

    Last, here’s an example using the London Hilton on Park Lane – a highly rated hotel in a prime location. Rooms at this particular hotel can cost $315-$600 in July (depending on the exchange rate) a night.

    The points price for the same room type is 80,000 Hilton points regardless of the date.

    So, depending on your travel dates, you could get a value of 0.75 cents per point – a solid deal. Or the value could drop to .39 cents per point and it might make more sense to pay cash on those nights.

    Points vs. Cash Calculator

    Deciding when to use rewards versus when to use cash isn’t always a straightforward task. So we created a points vs. cash calculator to make things a lot easier for you. 

    Using the calculator is simple. All you have to do is:

    Should I pay with points or cash?

    Points valuations are based on MMS calculation and not provided by the loyalty programs

    Input the cash price of the ticket, including any taxes/fees

    $

    Miles required to purchase

    Most award tickets will have cash cost, such as taxes and fuel

    (Optional)

    $

    Input the cash price of the stay, including any taxes/fees

    $

    Points required to purchase

    Most award nights will have resort fees for the stay

    (Optional)

    $

    Fill out the inputs to get a payment recommendation

    We recommend paying with

    Total savings

    Value of cash :

    Value of + fee:

    Bottom line

    Your Hilton Honors points value varies, depending on your itinerary, because of factors like the hotel you choose and the dates you’re traveling. At a minimum, you should be able to get an average value of 0.5 cents per point. But in some instances (like when using your Hilton points at the best hotels) you might get a value of nearly one cent per point. And thanks to the generous bonuses on the Hilton credit cards it’s easy to earn Hilton points.

    To figure out the Hilton points value for a particular stay, use this formula:

    Cash price of a room / Number of points required for an award night = Hilton points value

    The trick to getting the highest Hilton points value is to use your Hilton points at high-end resorts or at expensive destinations like Europe.

    What are Hilton points worth to you?

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)