It is really no surprise that Hilton Honors is yet again selling points with a 100% bonus. This promotion comes around so frequently, that Hilton really ought to consider making it the regular price – nobody is fooled at this stage…
Nonetheless, the latest iteration of the “promotion” will run until December 7th, 2021.
What’s The Deal?
Hilton’s regular price is 1 US cent per point. (which you should NEVER consider)
With the 100% bonus, that price halves to 0.5 cents per point.
You can buy 160,000 points per year, with the bonus bringing your total to 320,000 points.
Should I Buy?
You might want to re-read my recent post explaining when to pay a cash rate and when to redeem points.
The tricky part about analyzing whether to buy Hilton points… is that it is so easy to earn them from paid hotel stays. When you combine the current double/triple point promo with the Aspire co-branded credit card, you could earn:
- 10 base points per $
- 10 promo bonus points per $
- 10 tier bonus points per $ (due to the Diamond status that comes with the card)
- 14 points per $ for paying with your Aspire credit card
- 10 bonus points per $ for paying with Aspire credit card
- For a total of 54 points per $ spent (pre-tax)
Long story short… it’s really quite difficult to find situations where you are better off buying points, instead of paying the cash rate and earning those 54 points per $ of pre-tax spend.
But, there are still options out there to save money. Whether that’s a 5,000 point per night cheap room or a 5 or 10 night stay in paradise (with the fifth night free for Honors members with elite status) depends on your travel plans…
But if You Do Buy, Don’t Forget Cashback
Regular readers will know that I regularly promote Topcashback because, among other reasons, you can earn some cashback on your points/miles purchases when they are processed by Points.com.
Not a Member of Topcashback Yet?
If you are not yet a member of Topcashback, you can earn an additional $15. Simply sign up using this referral link – http://www.topcashback.com/join-us/inside-flyer/ref/craigsowerby – and earn $10 of cashback.
It’s really quite simple to earn $10 of cashback. Buying $400 worth of Hilton points would get you there. Alternatively, the number of hotel chains available via Topcashback is impressive – Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Accor, Choice, Best Western, etc. – as well as the major Online Travel Agencies. So a single hotel stay will probably get you there…
Given 54 points per dollar spent at Hilton, I would need to spend a total of $6400 in hotel bills to get the same 360000 points. The purpose of the points game is to not spend so much money at hotels. However, if I were working and my employer is paying for my travel, then a whole different story.
Agreed – but, I think the point being made was that if you’ve got a choice between buying Hilton Points for a stay, or paying cash for the same stay, you need to take into account the number of points you would earn by paying the cash rate. It can change the math significantly when you can earn so many points.
For example, if I had a choice between buying 20,000 points for a stay for $100, or paying a $100 cash rate, I’d be much better off overall paying the cash rate because I would earn about 5,000 points (a little less because it’s on the pre tax amount).
Yes. The decision is between paying the cash rate and earning more points, and buying points to redeem on a “reward” night. https://insideflyer.com/2021/05/14/when-should-i-pay-cash-or-redeem-points-with-hilton-honors/