Hilton Gold status and 4 nights at a Hilton hotel – for 20,000 points
We recently highlighted the excellent value of stays at Hilton Category 1 hotels, for just 5,000 HHonors points a night. In addition to this, we have long promoted a great value Hilton HHonors Gold fast track challenge.
The even better news is that you can combine these two options, to get Hilton HHonors Gold status and 4 nights at a Hilton-brand hotel – for just 20,000 Hilton points!
Given my ballpark valuation of Hilton HHonors points at 0.3 Euro Cents each (€0.003), that means 4 nights in a Hilton-brand hotel, plus Gold status, will cost you the approximate equivalent of €60. That is fantastic value.
So how do you do it?
1) Sign up for a HHonors Gold fast track challenge
Step one is to sign up to this Hilton Gold fast-track challenge or this Hilton Gold fast-track challenge. You will then need to stay at four Hilton Group hotels in the next 90 days.
2) Make 4 stays at a Category 1 hotel, costing 5,000 points a time
As noted above, we recently wrote about the Category 1 hotels that cost 5,000 Hilton HHonors points a night. Make 4 stays at any one of these properties, and you will get your Gold status. If you’re struggling with the Category 1 properties, these 132 hotels are only 10,000 Hilton HHonors points a night.
A key point here is that Hilton reward nights do count towards qualification for Elite (Silver/Gold/Platinum) status, so these four reward stays will earn you the Gold status, per the fast-track challenge (if you doubt this, Hilton’s terms and conditions expressly state: For purposes of counting stays and nights for Elite tier qualification… Reward Stays will count towards the number of overall stays and nights.)
What is crucial is that you distinguish between four “stays” (which gets you the Gold) and four nights (which doesn’t, necessarily). A “stay” is simply the number of consecutive nights you spend in the property on a particular visit: it could be 1, it could be 100. So, to make a single night a “stay”, you need to then not stay the following night. A single night can be a stay, but consecutive nights only ever amount to one stay. As such, break up your nights and each one will count as a “stay”.
So there you have it: Hilton Gold and 4 nights at a Hilton hotel for 20,000 Hilton HHonors points. And, of course, we love Hilton Gold status.
Don’t forget that we have a complete list of Hilton Promo Codes on our dedicated page, here.
that’s great 🙂
Does Hilton allow transferring points between family members?
You can transfer to anyone, but it costs $25 per 10,000 points. There is no free way of doing it to family members.
However, there is a form of workaround, which I have recently used when booking a reward night for my wife, using my points. You can use your Hilton points to book a room for anyone else.
To do this, you can either:
1) Call Hilton HHonors and have the Reward night put in someone else’s name (per their terms and conditions, “The Reward may be issued to the HHonors member, or to any other person, as directed by the Member. Once issued, the Reward is not transferable and may be used only by the individual named on the Reward“.)
2) Book the reward night online, but then add the name of the person who you actually want to be staying using the “Additional Guest Names” option. This will associate one additional guest name per room to allow them to check-in separate from your arrival. You then of course do not actually need to arrive…
Is there a work around for the following? The wife has status which will expire soon and some points. The husband does not. Is it beneficial to use the wife’s points somehow to book those rooms to establish status for the husband thus extending Hilton benefits for the family? Or can the wife extend her own status in this way?
This is a tricky one because it’s not covered, as far as I can see, by the terms and conditions.
The way I believe it would pan out is as follows:
If Person A books a reward night for Person B, it will not count towards either of their statuses. That is because Person A is not staying, and it is not Person B’s earned reward night.
However if Person A books the reward night and adds Person B as a second guest (who can effect check in), the stay should count towards Person A’s status, even if they do not actually show up. The issue may be if they do not check in independently, but I’d be surprised.
That’s just my take. I can’t verify with Hilton at the moment as I’m stuck in deepest Poland. I will check it out for you and clarify on my return!