Hilton Increasing Award Prices at Small Luxury Hotels Properties

Updated: November 27, 2024, 4:13pm CST

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Hilton Raising the Cost of Award Rooms at SLH Properties
Is It Still Worth It?
Final Thoughts

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Well, that didn’t last long. When Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) moved from Hyatt over to Hilton, we feared the worst. After all, the cost of award rooms at Hilton properties is massively higher than that of Hyatt. And while we were pleasantly surprised at how generous Hilton had been with pricing, it looks like that’s quietly changing.

As first noted by Thrifty Traveler, Hilton has started increasing the award price of its SLH properties. Let’s check out the damage.

Hilton Raising the Cost of Award Rooms at SLH Properties

We’re used to seeing sky-high nightly rates for award rooms with Hilton. Although the chain long ago stated that it had dumped its award chart, it still maintains an unofficial version, ranging from 5,000 to 150,000 Hilton Honors points per night.

The addition of SLH hotels to Hilton’s program didn’t change that. In fact, with properties pricing at 100,000 points per night for rooms that cost thousands of dollars, they were an incredible deal.

Hilton has apparently caught on to this, and as they’re wont to do, they’re increasing the prices without telling anyone.

For example, Bluefields Bay Villas has jumped in price from 130,000 points per night to 150,000 points per night.

Bluefields Bay SLH award rate — Image Credit: Hilton

And The View Lugano has increased from 110,000 points per night to 130,000 points per night.

Lugano SLH Hilton award rate — Image Credit: Hilton

Hilton points are incredibly easy to earn, so a 20,000-point difference per night isn’t a huge deal. But it’s still sneaky of Hilton to increase the prices of their award rooms without mentioning it to anyone.

Is It Still Worth It?

The value of an award room is always what you make of it. After all, getting to take a vacation you wouldn’t have otherwise is amazing, no matter how many points you need to redeem.

That being said, increasing the nightly rate drops the value you’re getting from your points — and can end up making these properties unaffordable in the long run.

For example, our screenshot above shows a stay at The View Lugano, which now costs $686 or 130,000 points per night. That gives you a value of 0.53 cents per point, which is still above our valuation of Hilton points at 0.5 cents each.

But compare this to the Conrad Bora Bora, which costs $1,436 or 120,000 points per night.

Conrad Bora Bora award rate — Image Credit: Hilton

Not only will it cost you 10,000 fewer points per night than The View Lugano, you’re getting a redemption value of 1.2 cents each.

Hot Tip:

The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card makes it easy to build up your balance of Hilton points and provides a Free Night Reward you can use at nearly any Hilton property or SLH location worldwide, barring a small list of exceptions.

Final Thoughts

All good things must come to an end, and it looks like the generous pricing at Hilton’s SLH hotels is one of them. A new, no-notice devaluation has led to increases of thousands of points per night at many SLH properties, which means you’ll be getting less value out of your Hilton points than before.

The information regarding the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.