Update 5/2 – reposting as this sale expires on May 3rd – so if you didn’t hear about this or meant to do it and forgot, you only have a day or so
With over 4,800 Hilton hotels worldwide, you’re likely to find one that fits your needs when planning your next vacation. And your next vacation might be closer than you think, now that Hilton is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points, now through May 3rd. This is a better deal than the on offered earlier this year, which was only an 80% bonus. You can access this deal by logging into your Hilton Honors account, and then navigating to the “More Ways to Use Points” tab off to the lefthand side. Let’s examine the math and see if this makes sense.
Normally, Hilton points cost $10 to purchase 1,000 points (tax included), for a purchase price of 1 cent per point. That might seem cheap, but remember, Hilton points are only worth about half a penny each, so at the normal rate, your paying double the value. At the normal rate, it doesn’t make sense to buy Hilton points.
What about with the 100% bonus? You’ll need to purchase at least 5,000 points, so for $50, you’re getting 10,000 points. That brings the purchase price to 0.5 cents per point, which is actually pretty close to the value. This is much better than the normal rate.
You can buy a maximum of 80,000 Hilton Honors points per year, so if you were to max out this promotion, you’d be buying 160,000 points for $800.
To answer the question, “should you buy Hilton points with a 100% bonus,” my answer is yes, IF you have a redemption in mind. While I’m generally against buying points speculatively, I am DEFINITELY going to take advantage of this promotion. I have a few trips in the planning stage, so having a nice bank of Hilton Honors points will make that process a bit easier to complete.
You can get your 100% bonus on Hilton points here. If you purchase through this link, I may receive a commission. Only buy points if it makes sense for your situation
Will you buy Hilton points with an 100% bonus? If so, what are you planning to use them for?
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I think it depends on where you use your points. I was only line today looking to book Hampton Inn in Philadelphia. For 2 nights total cost was $350 and change or I could use 80,000 points and it would be free. To buy 80,000 points under that promo it would cost $400. Obviously not a good idea to use points on this case, but I am sure you would get more value at a nicer location. Thanks for the info. Keep ip the good work.
Don,
You might want to look again. Hampton Inn is the most bottom tier of Hilton Hotels. More like an upgraded Super 8 or up class Motel 6.
For $350. you should be able to do better. Double Tree, Embassy Suites would be more in line.
And if the Hampton Inn is near an airport you can be sure it is just a transit hotel without many amenities.
Hope that helps.
$350. cash should be able to do much better.
Is the bonus free bonus 5th night when you book 4 nights with points another reason someone might buy points? At Disney there are hotels for 20000 points per night so a 5 day stay would be 80000 points = $400. Am I thinking correctly?
Avoid Hilton and certainly buying points at this time. The changes to the Honors program have significantly reduced the value of the points.
There is substantially volatility at the hotel level now with rooms costing much more, in particular I almost exclusively booked five day reward stays, while the site says “fifth day free” in virtually every case the booking costs more 20-30k more points than before the change.
Does buying points consider a Hilton purchase(for HH cards)?
Generally no, it does not as usually they are processed by points.com and count as “online purchases”
Are these points considered “base points” to help qualify for Diamond Level?
They are not.
I seemed to have noticed using points to pay for hotels saves having to pay taxes on the cash price. Am I correct?
Generally yes – booking a hotel in points means that you don’t have to pay taxes on the room. Sometimes there are hotel city taxes and/or resort fees on a hotel and sometimes you have to pay those (but sometimes you don’t)