Hilton’s new promotion for winter 2018 is called “Points Unlimited” and will offer registered Hilton Honors members an extra 2,000 bonus points on every stay. In addition, you can get another 10,000 bonus points every five stays with no cap. That means you could potentially earn 4,000 bonus points per stay combining both halves of the promotion.
I value Hilton Honors points at about 0.5 to 0.6 cents each, meaning this promotion returns about $20-24 in value on every stay. There is no restriction on what counts as a “stay”, so even one-night stays should be eligible. (However, I expect if you book consecutive one-night stays at the same hotel they will still count as just one stay.) In addition, nearly all Hilton hotels are participating. The one exclusion is any Hampton by Hilton hotel in mainland China. The promotion runs from January 1 through April 30, 2018, and you can already visit the registration page to sign up.
By giving bonuses for each stay, and by incentivizing multiples of five stays with an extra bonus, I think Hilton is really trying to motivate customers to pick Hilton more often vs. other brands. You might also think of Hilton for your next vacation and choose to pay cash instead of booking an award. Here are some examples of the points you can earn, as provided by Hilton PR:
- 1 stay = 2,000 Bonus Points
- 2 stays = 4,000 Bonus Points
- 5 stays = 20,000 Bonus Points
- 6 stays = 22,000 Bonus Points
- 10 stays = 40,000 Bonus Points
This is certainly more interesting than the promotion that Hilton ran for most of 2017, which was to simply provide double base points. That was generous in its simplicity but I’m not sure it really drove much business at the margin. It simply mean that Hilton issued about twice as many miles — though perhaps it was more like a third given how many other bonuses are normally included as part of Hilton Honors.
In any case, my wife is usually limited to Hilton hotels when she travels to small towns for work, so I’ll definitely be enrolling her today Don’t forget you can also look forward to the newest Hilton credit card coming out in January, which will include automatic Hilton Honors Diamond status!
Terms & Conditions
Offer valid January 1, 2018, through April 30, 2018 (“Promotion Period”) at any hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio excluding Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China. Hilton Honors members must first register at HiltonHonors.com/PointsUnlimited prior to completing a stay within the Promotion Period. Registered Hilton Honors members will only receive Bonus Points for nights completed during the Promotion Period, regardless of a check-in date before the Promotion Period begins or a check-out date after the Promotion Period ends. Registered Hilton Honors members will earn 2,000 Bonus Points per stay during the Promotion Period. Registered members will also receive an additional 10,000 Bonus Points for every 5 stays completed during the Promotion Period. There is no limit to the total amount of Bonus Points that may be earned during the Promotion Period with this offer. However, there are restrictions on the amount of Base Points that can be earned on a single stay at certain brands. See Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions for more details. Bonus Points earned on Base Points do not count toward tier qualification. Please allow six to eight weeks from completion of your stay for points to appear in your Hilton Honors account.
