Hilton Honors often runs interesting promotions for its members to earn more points and qualifying nights.
Starting on January 1, 2023, you can earn double points on all stays until April 30, 2023 with the “Double Up and Explore” promotion. You’ll also earn an extra 1,000 Hilton Honors points each time you stay with a different brand within Hilton’s portfolio.
For the remainder of 2022, you can continue to take advantage of two promotions: “Double Your Stay” and “Double Night Credit”.
With the “Double Your Stay” promotion, you can earn double points for all stays up to December 31, 2022, as well as an additional 2,000 bonus points if your check-out date is from Monday to Friday.
With the “Double Night Credit” promotion, you’ll earn double qualifying nights on stays up to December 31, 2022. This makes qualifying or requalifying for elite status with Hilton well within the reach of frequent travellers.
You have until December 31, 2022 to take advantage of the former two offers, and you can plan out your stays over the winter and spring with the upcoming promotion. Let’s take a look at what’s at stake.
Starting January 1, 2023: “Double Up and Explore”
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To kick off 2023, you can take advantage of Hilton’s “Double Up and Explore” promotion, which offers two ways to pad your Hilton Honors account balance:
- Earn double points for all stays completed between January 1, 2023 and April 30, 2023
- Earn 1,000 bonus points each time you stay at a different brand under the Hilton umbrella
You’ll need to register for the promotion first, and there’s no limit as to how many points you can earn from your stays.
Award nights count for the extra 1,000 points for staying at different brands, and you’ll also earn double points on any incidental spending from award nights.
The “Double Up & Explore” promotion isn’t necessarily the most exciting offer Hilton Honors has come up with in recent times, but it’s also refreshing to see a hotel having promotions that run seamlessly throughout the year.
Compared to sporadic offers or targeted promos with Marriott Bonvoy, or the relatively consistent quarterly offers from World of Hyatt, Hilton deserves kudos for having blanket offers for all Hilton Honors members throughout the year.
Hilton Honors has many ways to increase the points you’ll earn on bookings and purchases at their properties. The double points only applies to base points; unfortunately it won’t further multiply any bonus points.
With this promotion, if you book at a Hilton property, for every US dollar you spend, you’ll earn:
- 10 base points as a Hilton Honors member
- 10 bonus points with the “Double Up & Explore” promotion
- Bonus points for having Hilton Honors elite status:
- 2 points with Silver status, which you get with the Hilton Honors Card
- 8 points with Gold status, which you get with the Hilton Honors Surpass Card
- 10 points with Diamond status, which you get with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card
- Points earned for using your Hilton Honors credit card at an eligible co-branded property:
- 7 points for using the Hilton Honors Card
- 12 points for using the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or the Hilton Honors Business Card
- 14 points for using the Hilton Honors Aspire Card
That works out to up to 44 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent at Hilton properties, plus an additional 1,000 bonus points each time you stay at a different brand. At our current valuation of 0.5 (USD) cents per point, you could also view this as a 22% discount on the price of your stay.
Of course, not everyone has the Aspire Card – even with annual credits, it’s a steep annual fee to swallow when you consider other premium cards on the market.
Alternatively, if you have the Canadian-issued American Express Platinum Card and a lower-tier Amex US Hilton credit card, you’ll earn:
- 10 base points as a Hilton Honors member
- 10 bonus points with the “Double Up & Explore” promotion
- 8 bonus points for having Hilton Honors Gold status (which you get as an Amex Platinum cardholder)
- 12 points for using your Hilton Honors Surpass or Business Card at a co-branded property
For a total of 40 Hilton Honors points per dollar spent, that’s equivalent to a 20% discount on your stays, and it’s almost the same rate as you’d get with the Aspire Card.
Because the bonus points are based on the amount you spend, you won’t find any arbitrage opportunities – the more you spend, the more you’ll earn.
The upcoming promotion will also benefit people who make single-night or shorter stays, since there’s no minimum stay requirement. To maximize the promotion, make sure to stay at as many different brands as possible during the promotional period.
With returns of up to 22% via this promotion, I’d say this is a decent opportunity to make a cash booking for an upcoming trip during less busy periods where prices may be less than during the summer. Save the points you’ll earn for a future award redemption or for when the active promotions aren’t as favourable.
Saving your points would certainly be a better choice if you’re working towards an aspirational Hilton redemption with a high points cost, especially since Hilton Honors points aren’t as easy to come by as other hotel rewards from a Canadian perspective.
Ending December 31, 2022: “Double Your Stay”
The “Double Your Stay” promotion has a simple structure, which will help bolster your Hilton Honors account balance:
- Earn double points for all stays completed within the promotional period
- Earn an extra 2,000 points for stays completed between Monday and Friday
As always, you’ll need to register for the promotion first. After that, you’re eligible to earn an unlimited number of bonus points for stays between September 6, 2022 and December 31, 2022.
If you booked a stay for the promotional period prior to registering for the offer, you’ll still be eligible for double points, and bonus points if you check out during the week. There’s also no minimum length of stay required for this promotion.
Award stays are also eligible. You’ll earn double the points on any incidental spending, as well as 2,000 bonus points if your stay concludes between Monday and Friday.
Ending December 31, 2022: “Double Night Credit”
As part of the “Double Night Credit” Fall 2022 promotion, you’ll earn double elite qualifying nights per night on all stays between October 11 and December 31, 2022.
Luckily, stays paid with both points and cash count, and there’s no upper limit to how many bonus elite night qualifying nights you can earn.
Furthermore, these bonus elite nights also qualify for Hilton’s normal elite rollover nights feature. So, any bonus points earned in excess of the minimum required for your earned status tier will be rolled over to next year, giving you a head start on next year’s elite status qualification.
Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay, so make sure to go ahead and register for the promotion now.
The terms and conditions state that that registered Hilton Honors members will earn double night credits for all nights completed within the promotional period, regardless of check-in and check-out date. For example, should a member check-in on December 28 and check-out on January 2, they will earn 10 elite night credits total (eight that qualify for the promotion, and two that don’t).
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You should be able to combine the “Double Your Stay” promotion with the “Double Night Credit” promotion for all stays between now and the end of the year, meaning that each stay will earn you both double points and double elite nights.
Easy Hilton Gold & Diamond Status Opportunities
Earning double elite nights with Hilton is great, but only if you were actively pursuing Hilton elite status via organic stays. And on that note, it would be prudent to examine the other easy ways to earn Hilton Gold and Diamond status without any stays at all.
The American Express Platinum Card, as well as the US-issued Hilton Honors Surpass Card, give you instant Gold status. Gold status is quite valuable with Hilton, as members receive free breakfast at most Hilton properties, as well as a complimentary space-available upgrade to Executive room types.
Meanwhile, the US-issued Hilton Honors Aspire Card will earn you instant top-tier Diamond status. Diamond members receive access to executive lounges (where available), and improved upgrades to the One-Bedroom Suite room types.
Hilton Honors Diamond status happens to be the only top-tier elite status among major hotel chains that can be earned simply by holding a certain credit card.
And the Hilton Honors Aspire Card has quite a strong value proposition overall, offering a $250 resort credit to offset the $450 annual fee and a weekend Free Night Reward. Having Hilton Honors Diamond status just by holding the card is icing on the cake.
Conclusion
Hilton Honors’s upcoming Winter 2023 promotion is open for registration, and you’ll earn double points on all stays between January 1, 2023 and April 30, 2023.
Until the end of 2022, you can also benefit from two ongoing promotions: “Double Your Stay” and “Double Night Credit”.
With the “Double Your Stay” promotion, you’ll earn double points on stays of any length, as well as 2,000 bonus points for stays that conclude from Monday to Friday.
With the “Double Night Credit” promotion, any additional elite nights earned beyond the minimum required for your earned status level will be rolled over to get a head start on 2023 elite status.
There’s no downside to registering for these promotions, and be sure to consider Hilton properties if you have some hotel stays coming up over the winter season.
