Buy Hilton Honors Points With a Mystery Bonus [0.5 Cents Each]

Ready to book your next Hilton award stay? Members can now purchase Hilton Honors points for as little as 0.5 cents apiece.

This is a targeted offer, so yours may be even better … or none at all.

Let’s examine all the details of this promotion and when it makes sense to purchase Hilton points.

Offer Details

Hilton Honors is out with a new offer that allows members to buy points with a mystery bonus, dropping the per-point cost to just 0.5 cents. You may be targeted with a lower offer or no offer at all, but the minimum you’ll need to buy for the 100% bonus (if you have it) will start at 5,000 points.

For reference, we value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each. Hilton Honors members can generally purchase up to 80,000 points per year, though the maximum for this promotion has been raised to 240,000 points — well above the typical amount and even higher than what we’ve seen when the limit was raised to 160,000 points during some previous sales.

Here’s some more information you should know about this latest promo:

• Valid through December 31, 2024
• Bonus kicks in when purchasing 5,000 or more points
• Purchases are nonrefundable
• Points do not count toward elite status

Is It Worth It?

There are certainly times when purchasing points makes sense, especially in situations where cash prices are high. Although Hilton Honors has devalued its best properties (look at you, Conrad Maldives and Conrad Bora Bora), there are still instances when a promotion like this can be valuable.

Hilton Honors doesn’t publish an award chart, but it does feature standard award levels and premium room award levels. For the most part, standard room rewards cap out at 120,000 points. Premium room rewards, meanwhile, have no limit and can frequently cost around 1 million points per night. Those are never worth it.

However, when you can find standard award availability, there’s still great value to be had. Here’s a look at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, where rates for standard award rooms can be found for 95,000 to 120,000 points per night:

Hilton Honors gives you the fifth night free on award stays, which means a 5-night stay here will run you 480,000 points. With the current sale, you could buy up to 480,000 points, covering the entire stay.

As you can see in the screenshot below, paid rates at this property easily exceed $1,100 per night. Here’s the total cost of a sample stay in cash:

If you were to use Hilton Honors points for this stay, you’d be redeeming them for a value of 1.2 cents per point — over double the value at which you’d purchase those points.

Other Ways To Earn Hilton Honors Points

The above example is great, but as we mentioned, Hilton Honors puts a cap on the number of points you can purchase each year. Luckily, if you’re dreaming of a luxurious vacation, there are other ways to earn plenty of Hilton Honors points:

• Cobranded Credit Cards: Hilton Honors has a handful of cobranded credit cards offering lucrative welcome bonus offers.
• Points Pooling: Hilton Honors allows you to pool your points with up to 10 people for free. This means you, your mom, your sister, and a few friends can all max out this bonus and pool your points together for a fabulous vacation.
• Transfer Points: You can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards at a 1:2 ratio, meaning 1 Amex point becomes 2 Hilton Honors points. With a transfer bonus, you may find even greater value.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t usually make sense to purchase points without a specific redemption in mind. However, if you can find a good use for these points — and it makes sense to purchase them when you compare that to the cash price of the stay — this promotion is as good as it gets.

Otherwise, you’ll want to rely on cobranded credit cards, transferring points, or your friends and family to build your balance of Hilton Honors points.