Many of us aren’t traveling at all due to COVID-19. And even after we’re able to start traveling again, many of us won’t immediately travel as much as we used to. Which is why you might be wondering: When will my Hilton Honors points expire?
Your Hilton Honors points will expire with 15 months of no activity – and all expirations have paused through December 31, 2020. In pre-coronavirus days, your points would expire with 12 months of no activity. Now, if your Hilton Honors points were set to expire sometime within the year of 2020, you’ve got at least until December 31, 2020.
I assume this means if you have points set to expire beginning January 1, 2021, they will expire as planned. This means you should make sure to keep your Hilton points active — see below for ideas how — if you haven’t had any Hilton activity since early to mid 2019!
(If you’re wondering about other hotel programs, I’ve got you covered! Check out:
- When do my Hyatt points expire? Free night certificates?
- How can I keep my IHG points active?
- When do my Marriott points expire? What about elite status?
- When do Radisson Rewards points expire? )
How can I keep my Hilton Honors points active?
You can do a number of things to keep your Hilton points active, and not all of them require you to travel OR even to spend any money! Note, none of these things have changed due to the coronavirus outbreak, other than the extension of your Hilton points expiration date. I’ve separated these activities into those that require you to travel and/or spend money, and those that don’t!
| What to do to keep your Hilton points active after December 31, 2020 | Travel required? (Y/N) | Cash spend required? (Y/N) |
| 1. Book a paid stay at any Hilton property. Simple enough. | Y | Y |
| 2. Spend any amount of money on any Hilton credit card. (My favorite is the Hilton Amex Aspire card, but there are two fee-free versions too!) | N | Y |
| 3. Book an award stay at a Hilton property. Also pretty simple! | Y | N |
| 4. Transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards to your Hilton account. Note, I don’t normally recommend doing this because Amex points are worth about 2 cents apiece and Hilton points are worth about .6 cents apiece. Even though you can transfer them at a 1:2 ratio, that math doesn’t work in your favor. However, just transferring the minimum 1,000 Amex points (into 2,000 Hilton points) is a cash-free way to keep all of your Hilton points active. | N | N |
| 5. Dine with the Hilton Honors program. Sign up for the program (it’s free) and register as many of your credit cards as you want. Then go to a local restaurant and use one of the credit cards you just registered to pay for your meal. You’ll earn 5-8 Hilton points per dollar spent (if you sign up for the emails), and this is an easy way to keep your Hilton points active too. | N | Y |
| 6. Rent a car through the Hilton portal. You can earn up to 5,000 bonus points if you go through Hilton’s travel portal when you rent a car. | Y | Y |
| 8. Donate Hilton points. If you donate a minimum of 10,000 Hilton points to one of the many charitable foundations listed here, this is a cash-free way to keep your Hilton points active. | N | N |
| 9. Purchase Hilton points. You can buy in minimum increments of 1,000 points, which usually costs around $10, although sometimes Hilton runs bonuses. Note, I don’t normally recommend this option because you have SO many other ways to keep your Hilton points active, and spending $.01 per Hilton point isn’t a great value. However, this is a “quick fix” to keep your Hilton points active for only $10. | N | Y |
When will my Hilton Weekend Night Rewards expire? (UPDATED October 14, 2020!)
All Hilton Weekend Night Rewards set to expire in 2020, will be extended until August 31, 2021. And all Weekend Night Awards issued between May 1 and December 31, 2020 will be good for 24 months instead of 12 months. Hilton Weekend Night Rewards are earned through some of the Amex Hilton credit cards, including my favorite the Hilton Amex Aspire – read about why I think it’s worth way more than the $450 annual fee.
Along with Hilton’s decision to delay Hilton Honors points expiration, they’re also giving us more time to use our Weekend Night Certificates. Mine was scheduled to expire around year-end 2020, but now I have until August 31, 2021 to use it. I can also use it for any day of the week!
Lastly, all Weekend Night Rewards can be used ANY DAY OF THE WEEK in the 2020 calendar year. Beginning in 2021, at least as of now, you must use Weekend Night Rewards on, well, weekends like you did before.
Hilton emailed us again on May 1, 2020 to make the above update even sweeter:
When will my Hilton Honors elite status expire?
Your current Hilton elite status is automatically good through March 31, 2022. Yes, 2022. And if you should’ve gotten downgraded on March 31, 2020 – you’ll get a status extension through March 31, 2021.
Note, those of us who have the Hilton Amex Aspire get free Diamond status as long as we have the card; and the other Hilton credit cards provide Silver or Gold status automatically too.
How many points does a Hilton free night cost?
Standard Hilton free nights cost anywhere from 10,000 – 120,000 points per night. That’s a huge range, because Hilton offers variable pricing, meaning the same room at the same hotel can change in price from day to day and season to season.
Hilton provides free Weekend Night Rewards, as discussed above, to cardholders. These awards are good at any Hilton property on a weekend night, as long as a “standard room” is available.
To learn how to maximize the value of your Hilton points, check out 6 Steps to Book Hilton Hotels for Free.
Bottom line
Hilton has made many positive changes to its Honors program in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Your Hilton Honors points won’t expire until at least December 31, 2020. Your elite status and Weekend Night Reward credits have also been extended.
You can learn more about Hyatt program changes here. Also, I’ve covered what’s happening with your IHG points and elite status too, and I’ll be covering this same topic for the other major hotel elite programs shortly, so stay tuned!
