When should I buy Hilton points is a common question I see. It usually comes up when Hilton offers 80% or 100% bonuses on Hilton points and people are tempted to not miss out on a “deal.” For the most part you don’t need to feel pressure to jump on these deals but this article will walk you through when you might want to buy Hilton Honors points.

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

Where can I buy Hilton points?

You can buy Hilton points from the official Hilton website or via written request, phone or e-mail to Hilton Reservations and Customer Care.

For online purchases, you’ll need to log-in and then you’ll see a drop down window for selecting the amount of points to purchase. If there is a special promotion going on, you should see that bonus rate in the drop down menu.

How many Hilton points can I buy?

According to the official Hilton Honors terms and conditions, Hilton allows you to purchase up to 80,000 points per calendar year and the points must be purchased in 1,000 point increments.

These 80,000 points do not include the additional bonus points you’re given with promotional offers. So if there’s a 100% bonus for buying 80,000 points, you can receive a total of 160,000 Hilton points from your purchase.

Also, Hilton might raise this 80,000 point cap, such as when they offer Daily Getaway packages that don’t count against that limit.

Keep in mind that you can pool your points with others so you can get around this limitation very easily by having others purchase points and just pool them with you.

When you purchase points, they should instantly show up in your Hilton account.

It’s also worth noting that new members have restrictions on purchasing points.

New members may purchase points 30 days after enrollment if the account reflects activity including a stay or earning Hilton Honors Points through a Hilton Hilton Honors Marketing Partner. After 90 days of enrollment, a new Member can purchase points regardless of their account activity.

Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!

How much do Hilton points cost?

The cost of Hilton points will vary based on whether or not there’s an ongoing promotion.

Typically, you can purchase Hilton points at a standard rate of 1 cent per point but with promotional offers these rates vary from about .5 to .6 cent per point. 

Keep in mind the value of Hilton points is usually around .5 cent per point.

When should I buy Hilton points?

Like most situations, you generally don’t want to purchase points unless you need to top-off your points for a specific redemption or there is a fantastic promotion going on. And even when there’s a promotion going on, you still want to have redemption plans.

Hilton point promotions

Hilton constantly runs promotions on purchased points throughout the year. So unless you have to receive your points ASAP, you should consider holding off until there is a promotion.

I regularly see Hilton promotions for 80% or 100% bonuses throughout the year so you should try to time your purchases with those promos if possible. With a 100% bonus, you’ll likely be purchasing points for about .5 cents per point which isn’t bad in many cases.

Know how much Hilton points are worth

You need to have a good sense of how much you value Hilton Honors points so that you can make an informed decision when it comes time to decide if you want to purchase.

Many people value Hilton Honors points at around .4 cents per point. But if you use your Hilton points for more upscale properties like the Conrad, Waldorf, Curio, etc., you’ll find that the average value is closer to .5 or .6 cents per point.

I personally don’t like to purchase points unless I’m paying for about the same or better value that I’m using points for and have a plan to use them. For example, if I purchase Hilton points for .5 cents per point and then plan to use those points at a property where I’m getting .6 or .7 cents per point in value then I’m generally a happy camper.

Topping off balances

When you need to top off your Hilton points balance it could make a lot of sense to purchase points even when the purchase rate is not ideal. For example, if you only needed 10,000 points to complete a booking for a 5 night stay and you’re paying 1 cent per point for those 10,000 points, that purchase rate is bad but it’s like paying $100 to cover your award stay and get the 5th night free so it would often be worth it in that case.

The cents per point value on the purchase is not always the deciding factor when purchasing points. Sometimes it comes down to the practical need for those points.

Of course, the alternative to purchasing points is also transferring points to Hilton. Amex recently improved the transfer ratio for Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors to 2:1. This is still not a great transfer ratio in most cases and I’d only recommend when getting decent value from topping off an account.

How long does it take to transfer points to Hilton?

The transfer time to Hilton should be instant from American Express Membership Rewards.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Buying points for redemptions

If you’re thinking about staying at a top Hilton property, it can sometimes make sense to purchase points to cover 100% of that stay due to the fact that you’ll be receiving outsized value from your points.

For example, take a look at the below cost to stay at the Hilton Conrad for one night during peak season. It’s $3,283 per night for a water villa but that can be booked with 95,000 Hilton Honors points.

Let’s say you wanted to cover a 5 night stay at the Conrad Maldives. You would need 380,000 points which could be purchased with three people pooling accounts. If you could purchase those for .5 cents per point, you’d be paying $1,900 for a 5 night stay that would normally cost over $16,000. 

So in some instances, it actually could make sense to purchase all of the points needed for a hotel stay when the hotel cash price is high and there’s a good promo on purchased points.

Final word

You generally don’t want buy Hilton points unless you have a specific redemption in mind that you need to top off points for or there is a promo going on for purchased points that allows you to maximize value on those purchased points. These promos come around all the time so if you can be patient and wait for the right time to jump on one of these deals.

Hilton Honors Dining program is a great way to earn extra Hilton Honors points and get closer to staying in Hilton hotels for free.

But how much can you earn from this rewards program and how does it work?

I’ll highlight everything you need to know about the Hilton Dining program including how to maximize your points and find the restaurants best suited for your tastes. 

What is the Hilton Honors Dining program?

The Hilton Honors Dining is a special program that allows you to earn extra Hilton Honors points when you dine at various restaurants. It is part of the Rewards Network Dining Program that many other loyalty programs participate in.

Tip: Use a credit card like the Hilton Surpass to bolster your Hilton points and earn 6X on dining! Plus you get elite status!

How many Hilton points can you earn?

The amount of Hilton points that you will earn will depend on your membership level within the dining program. Note that these membership levels are different from the elite levels in the Hilton Honors program.

• Members earn 2 Honors Bonus Points per $1 spent if you elect to not receive email communications from Hilton Honors Dining.
• Online Members earn 5 Honors Bonus Points per $1 spent if you elect to receive email communications from Hilton Honors Dining.
• Elite Members earn 8 Honors Bonus Points per $1 spent if you elect to receive email communications from Hilton Honors Dining AND have already completed 11 qualified transactions in the calendar year.

So in order for you to start earning eight points per dollar spent, you will have to complete 11 qualify to transactions in a calendar year.

Is the Hilton Dining program worth it?

Hilton Honors points are worth around .5 cents per point so 5X bonus points is like earning an additional 2.5% back on your dining which is in addition to the points earned by credit cards.

Compare that to the AAdvantage dining portal:

• Members earn 1 AAdvantage mile per $2 spent if you elect to not receive email communications
• Online Members earn 3 AAdvantage miles per $1 spent if you elect to receive email communications
• VIP Members earn 5 AAdvantage miles per $1 spent if you elect to receive email communications AND have 12 or more qualified dining transactions in a calendar year.

If you value American miles at 1.4 cents per mile then you’d be earning 4.2% back (at the 3X level) compared to the 2.5% back you’d earn with Hilton Dining.

This is a major consideration to think about since the Hilton Dining program is not offering you the most lucrative deal for cash back value. 

Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!

How do you sign-up for the Hilton Honors Dining program?

• You can sign up here

Make sure to  use the same name, email address, and Honors number
on file with Hilton Honors.

Be sure to check the box for receiving occasional emails if you want to maximize your points.

You must remain opted in to receive emails from Hilton Honors Dining, with a valid, deliverable email address, to remain eligible to earn any of the bonuses offered under the program.

Members who do not remain opted in to receive email only earn two Honors Bonus Points per two dollars spent dining.

Honestly this is an annoying requirement for this rewards program but if you really want to maximize your earnings with the Hilton Dining program then you might as well opt-in to emails.

You’ll then be asked in input more personal information, including your Hilton Honors number.

After that you’ll need to link your credit to your account.

How to use the Hilton Honors Dining program

How to search for restaurants

Search for dining spots by city or ZIP code with the Quick Search field, located on every page of Honorsdining.com. You can also use the Advanced Search to search by neighborhood or nearby address

Search results for Los Angeles

Here’s what came up when I searched for Los Angeles.

Filters

There are a lot of filters that you can use to help you find the restaurants that are just right for you.

Establishment

• Bar/Club/Lounge
• Fast Food/Quick Serve
• Restaurant and Bar
• Casual
• Restaurant
• Upscale

Neighborhoods

• Beverly Center/Mid Wilshire
• Greater Riverside Area
• San Fernando Valley East of 405
• South Bay/East County
• Beverly Hills/West Los Angeles
• South Bay/Long Beach/Central LA
• And many more….

Cuisine

• American (New)
• Dessert/Bakery
• Jamaican
• Scandinavian
• American (Traditional)
• Diner
• Japanese
• And many more….

Features

• Bistro
• Beer and Wine
• LGBT
• Piano Bar
• Sports
• And many more….

Open for

• Breakfast
• Catering
• Late-Night Dining
• Party Packages
• Brunch
• Dinner
• Lunch

Price

• Under $10
• Under $20
• Under $30
• Over $30

Proximity

You can search up to 30 miles within your location.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Viewing your results

List view

The results will be listed in order of what closest to your destination. You’ll be able to see the name of the restaurant along with its neighborhood, Member rating, average entree price, and all of the days of the week that you’ll be eligible for rewards.

You have the option to hide locations not offering rewards if you’d like to remove them from your results.

By clicking on the restaurant you’ll be taken a page where you can get a helpful overview of the restaurant. You can check out its member rating, menu, features, and directions.

Map view

The map view is great and allows you to see exactly where the restaurants are located.

New locations

You can see which restaurants are newly enrolled into the program.

What you might like

They will provide you with options that you might like based on your preferences.

Bonuses

You’ll often be eligible for bonuses as a new member, such as:

• 1,000 Bonus Points for your first $25 spent dining.

To locate a bonus, simply click on the bonus tab at the top of the portal.

Hilton Dining FAQ

Final word

The Hilton Honors Dining program is a great way to earn extra Hilton points but make sure that you opt-in to the emails to earn the most Hilton points.

One of the recent changes to the Hilton Honors program introduced last year was the opportunity to pay with Points & Money. This opened up some opportunities to make award redemptions when you didn’t have the full required amount of points for your booking. It’s a great feature that’s very convenient (although the value you receive from Points & Money can vary).

My experience

I recently took advantage of the Points & Money perk when I booked a four night stay at the Hilton Auckland. The stay required a total of 240,000 Hilton Honors points (60,000 per night) and rooms were gong for about $635 NZD or $450 USD for redemptions at .75 cents per point which is great for Hilton.

But at the time of booking I was around 20,000 Hilton points short. I forgot the math I did at the time but I recall Points & Money not offering a huge value proposition. But I didn’t care too much about the cents per point value calculations because I knew that I’d be earning enough points to rebook the room 100% with points soon enough and take advantage of that .75 cents per point.

I had inquired with a Hilton rep if later on I’d be able to essentially rebook the same hotel room but cover the cost entirely with points once I got enough points and she confirmed this would be possible. 

But then a problem arose.

The problem

I called in to change the booking so that I didn’t have to pay any portion of the stay with cash. I was told that this would not be possible because there were no more rooms available that were identical to the one I booked. I thought this was odd because I was already booked in the same award room that they were now saying was unavailable to me.

But I understood there was probably just a technical limitation. Surely, they’d be able to just cancel my booking and hold the award rooms open as they rebooked me instantly. But no. They couldn’t guaranty that I’d be able to get my room back if I canceled it and rebooked it, even if I did so instantly.

So I decided to call the Hilton Honors Diamond Desk when they opened today, thinking that they might be able to do something. I explained the situation to a rep and she told me that there’s nothing they can do. She seemed to agree that the policy wasn’t ideal but stressed that there was nothing that could be done to resolve what seemed like an IT issue.

The solution

Luckily, an award room did open up overnight so they were able to process the reservation change without issues and now I have a stay booked completely with points.

Although my issue was resolved, I still think that there’s a problem here.

For one, a rep told me that I would be able to rebook my hotel stay without any problems once I had the points sitting in my account. There was nothing stated to me about availability affecting the ability to initiate this and had that risk been communicated to me, I would have gone about booking this hotel differently.

Secondly, I think it’s pretty odd that you can’t modify the way you pay for an award booking due to availability when you already have that award room secured and booked for yourself. I understand there could be some reasoning for this policy that involves the complex relationship between hotel award logistics and IT systems that I’m not aware of or smart enough to figure out, but I still think this is a less than ideal way of handling Points & Money bookings and that a simple IT fix could and should resolve this issue.   

If award rooms booked with Points & Money supposedly end up staying award rooms after cancellation (i.e, they remain bookable with 100% points) then why wouldn’t you, the original and current award guest, be able to alter the ratio of points and cash you used to book them in the first place so that you ultimately are using 100% points?