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tl;dr – Hilton is back with another points sale, offering a 100% bonus on purchases of 5,000 or more points. This sale is a solid opportunity to save money on future pricey cash rate reservations, or top off your points balance to make an immediate reservation.
Most leading hotel chains offer regular opportunities to purchase discounted points, usually a few times a year. Well, through March 15 2025, you can scoop up Hilton points with a 100% bonus. I cover buying points in greater detail in this intro to points and miles primer, but I’m a big fan of purchasing points as there are always immediate opportunities to save money on hotel stays you know you’re planning to do.
Key Terms to Know
- To get the 100% bonus, you must purchase at least 5,000 points.
- You can purchase 240,000 Hilton points per year BEFORE factoring any bonuses.
- Hilton processes bonus point purchases with a third-party vendor – Points.com
- You can acquire as many as 480,000 points (this includes the maximum 240,000 annual purchase limit and the 100% bonus) at a cost of $2400.
- Here’s a look at the pricing chart:
Pricing for purchasing Hilton points – Source: Hilton.com
Other Things to Know
- Hilton regularly sells points at 100% bonus, running sales about six-seven times annually, with most promotional periods lasting for roughly a month and a half.
How to Purchase Points?
Purchasing points is easy:
- Start by visiting Hilton’s buy, gift, pool, transfer on Hilon.com.
- Click on “Buy Points,” which will take you to Points.com. Log in with your Hilton credentials.
- Use the dropdown menu to select how many points you want to purchase and checkout. (Note: Points.com purchases don’t typically code as travel, so to maximize your credit card points earnings, you should use a card earning 2X points (or more) on everyday purchases.)
Why Might You Do This?
Because purchasing points can net you great savings, particularly for luxury hotel stays. Let’s stay you’ve always wanted to go to French Polynesia and recently learned you have some surprise PTO in early March where you can pull off a five-night getaway. It’s time for a bucket-list adventure. You have your heart set on Bora Bora but a cursory search reveals that hotels are wildly expensive. Maybe there’s value to be had by using points?…you think to yourself.
Well, let’s check out how much it would cost to book this room with points vs cash. In the image below, I’m using MaxMyPoint to show the availability of points bookable nights, as well as the cash rates at the Conrad Bora Bora, a Hilton luxury property.
The blue labels denote nights where there’s availability for redemptions and the cost in points (“120K”) to redeem as well as the remaining room inventory (i.e. “(2)”). Green labels indicate the cash rate.
It looks like there’s great availability the first and second full weeks of March to make something happen – let’s target the week starting on 3/10. If you were to book with cash, you’d pay roughly $1000 per night, bringing your total for base level room to ~$5000. Those same five nights with points? You might be quick to say 650,000 Hilton Honors points, but it’d only cost you 520,000 points. That’s because Hilton (similar to Marriott) gives you the fifth night free, when you book a standard award stay for four or more consecutive nights. That sounds promising. Now let’s revisit that points sale.
Remember, if you maxed out the points sales and purchased all the points you could, you’d net 480,000 points, at a cost of $2,400. (Note that if you’re flexible on dates, these 480K points would be enough to book as is!). So you’re almost all the way to the 520,000 points you’d need for the five nights. Perhaps topping up your points balance from one of Hilton’s transfer partners (Amex, Bilt) or even indirectly (Citi and Chase via Virgin Atlantic) might do the trick. You could even have a spouse, loved one, or friend purchase the additional 40K points (they’d be buying at a 100% bonus 😏!) and transfer them to you. The point is these are real, immediate savings that unlock your ability to book this trip. You’ll pay half the price on a heavily in demand, upscale hotel, in one of the most bucket-listy destinations simply by buying the needed rewards points. Not bad, for a few minutes of clicking around.
For what it’s worth I shopped this fare via Google Flights and round trip economy (leaving out of LAX) for these dates will run you $709. Meaning if you’re traveling with two people, you can probably get this trip done for less than $4200 for just the flights and hotel (you’d need to purchase round trip tickets on Air Tahiti to get you to the island of Bora Bora from Papeete).
Congratulations, beautiful sunsets, black sand beaches, pearl farms, and stunning lagoon views and water await you.
Source: You Are Travel
BTW, take your friend out to dinner once you’re back from paradise.
IMO, point purchases are especially useful for folks who only take a few trips yearly, and when they do, focus more on finding a nice, comfortable place to stay at a great price. Purchasing points can be a low-friction method to save money on your desired hotel.
Opportunity Cost?
As is the case with most point redemptions, you typically will not earn points on the room portion of this stay since you are not paying a cash rate. Incidental charges you incur at the hotel, however, are fair game for earning points, though you’ll want to confirm the terms and conditions of the loyalty program and the specific property. For anyone chasing loyalty, you will still earn elite night credits for your stay, just as you would if you paid the cash rate.
This deal is live through March 15, 2025, but don’t worry if you miss it. As most of the major chains do, Hilton will be back with another sale soon, potentially with a greater bonus or deeper discount.
