Hilton Be My Guest Certificates are sometimes issued as compensation when a guest has encountered significant problems during a stay. They are physical paper certificates that can be used to get a free night (standard room, best available rate) at any Hilton hotel of the same brand. For example, if your problematic stay was at a Hilton DoubleTree, your certificate will entitle you to a free night at any Hilton DoubleTree hotel.

I received one in early 2020 and due to the pandemic didn’t have much opportunity to use it. It was originally due to expire in March 2021, but after emailing them, Hilton agreed to extend it until the end of June. I still don’t really have any trips planned where it would come in useful, so thought I’d ask Hilton if they might consider extending it again. This was the response:

“Thank you for your response, please allow me to share with you our most up to date information regarding BMG extension.

I am pleased to advise that the Certificates have now been extended for use until December 31st 2021, we are not offering points in lieu of certificates at this time. Therefore you are now able to use your certificate for the remainder of this year, I hope this is helpful and hope you have a lovely stay when it comes.”

Bottom line

This extension is really good news for anyone with an expiring Hilton Be My Guest Certificate. Extending them all the way through to the end of the year is actually quite generous and pro-active, given that at least some travel will be possible this summer.

I do have one slight caveat though, which is that I’m not 100% certain that the agent who replied is correct. When I asked for an extension before, I had to provide the specific certificate number and other details in order for the extension to be processed. It sounds like this time the certificates are being extended through to the end of the year automatically, but I’m not sure how that would work.

Remember, these are physical certificates with an expiry date written on them (and some hotel staff will have never seen one before anyway). If you have an expiring certificate, I would strongly recommend emailing Hilton ([email protected]) yourself about the extension. That way, you will have a written record that your certificate has indeed been extended, which should hopefully make redeeming it a lot smoother!

I’ve asked Hilton for further confirmation of the Be My Guest Certificate extension policy and will update this article when they reply. 

UPDATE: I heard back form Hilton and this is what they said:

“Yes, you are correct all will happen automatically, I had all the details on your file to process this; just make sure you take the physical certificate to redeem.” 

I would therefore assume that if you have already previously requested an extension and you sent in your certificate details, it has probably been automatically extended to the end of the year. If you haven’t previously asked for an extension though, you will need to do so, in order for Hilton to have the information required to process things. Either way, personally, I would email them anyway just to make sure there was a written record of the extension to 31st December 2021.