Booking hotels can be an overwhelming experience in itself. But then throw rewards programs like Hilton Honors into the mix and a whole new host of questions come up. Should I pick the lowest price or stay loyal to a chain? Which program should I choose? Are the benefits worth it?
Here’s the deal. You’ll find fans and loyalists of every program, whether it’s Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, Wyndham Rewards or another. They’ll argue why their program of choice is the best and why the others are terrible options. And you’re left wondering, “Who’s right? Which one is the best?” Our answer is, “They all are.”
Wait, what? That’s not a very helpful answer! But just hang on. We’ll argue that whatever loyalty program you choose is the best because it’s the best option for you. We all have different traveling styles, budgets and things we value. In fact, when we first started traveling, we couldn’t care less about rewards programs. We just wanted the hotel with the cheapest rate! But our traveling style shifted over time and we started valuing other aspects of hotels besides price. In turn, we began to appreciate the benefits of belonging to a rewards program. And so below, we’ll share why we chose to be loyal to the Hilton brand through their Hilton Honors program and why it’s the right fit for us. Maybe if your travel style are similar to ours, it could be the best reward program for you too!
- The Hilton portfolio has over 5,500 locations worldwide. Having a large number of properties spread around the globe is important to us. Most places we travel to have had several Hilton brand hotel options. This allows us to earn nights wherever we go and work towards the next tier of awards. The Hilton family also has a wide variety of brands, from luxury and upscale to budget and no-frills. This makes it easy to find a hotel that best fits our needs!
- We are frequent guests of Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites. One of the first reasons it was easy for us to commit to Hilton Honors was that it included Hampton Inn as part of its portfolio. We love staying in them because they’re typically very affordable and offer a decent free breakfast. And with over 2,000 locations, they’re literally everywhere, making them an essential part of our road trips. When we’re looking for a something a little more upscale, we love staying at an Embassy Suites. They have free cocktail hours (which helps us save money on drinks!) and an excellent free breakfast way beyond your typical free hotel breakfast (made-to-order omelettes.. mmm!) Most of them only offer 2-room suites, which provide a very spacious and comfortable stay. It’s also good for families who want to stay in the same room but want some privacy or separation. These two brands made it very easy for us to stick with Hilton Honors.
- Rebook semi-flex rates to save money. Hilton hotels offer various rates when booking a room, and we almost always choose the Honors Semi-Flex option. This rate is typically only a little more than the cheapest rate available. Unfortunately, the cheapest rates are usually non-refundable. The Semi-Flex option however lets you cancel up to a few days before your check-in date. This means if you see a cheaper rate after you booked but before the cancellation period is over, you can cancel your original rate and book at the lower rate. This gives us peace of mind when we book a room, knowing that we can possibly get a lower price. In fact, by re-booking a semi-flex rate several times, we saved over $200 from our original booking price when we stayed at an Embassy Suites in Austin, TX!
- Stays vs. Nights. Some other rewards programs only count nights towards the next level of awards. But we love that Hilton Honors also counts stays in addition to nights, which has helped us get to higher levels quicker. For example, to reach Gold status, you need either 20 stays or 40 nights in a calendar year. We tend to do a lot of road trips where most of the time, we don’t stay in the same hotel for more than a night or two. So for example, if we were on a trip where we moved on to the next hotel each day for 5 nights, this would also count as 5 stays. This makes it much easier for us to hit 20 stays than 40 nights.
- Gold Benefits. We mentioned Gold status in the previous paragraph and how it can be relatively easy to obtain. In fact, the easiest way is to get a Hilton credit card that offers you immediate Gold (or even Diamond) status! But if you don’t want another credit card or pay an annual fee, it is still a realistic goal, especially for road trippers. We believe that the Gold benefits are much better than those offered by similar tiers in other loyalty programs. With Hilton Honors Gold status, here are some of our favorite benefits:
- Free breakfast at select brands that don’t normally offer free breakfast. If you haven’t realized already, we like staying at hotels with free breakfast. It’s one less thing to worry about and can be cost-efficient. This usually limits the selection of hotels, but with Gold, this opens up more brands such as DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton and others. This then gives us more flexibility and options to pick a hotel that’s cheaper or in a more convenient location.
- Free available room upgrades. While this benefit is not always available, it means you could book the cheapest room option, but get a bigger or better room upon check-in. This can be a great mood-booster after a long or exhausting day of travel!
- 80% bonus on points. An 80% bonus on all base points earned per stay can really add up, helping us rack up more points to get closer to our dream redemption!
Hilton Honors also lets you get a 5th night free on award stays, starting at Silver status (which is only 4 stays or 10 nights in a calendar year). Getting 5 nights for the price of 4 can be an excellent deal, especially on redemptions at top luxury hotels at your bucket list destination!
So that’s why we chose Hilton Honors as our rewards program and stay within their portfolio if possible when traveling. And yes, you can choose to travel hack and maximize points with multiple credit cards across different hotel families if you’d like. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But for those who prefer not to, we hope this post has helped you think through why you may want to join Hilton Honors if you haven’t already. Are you part of a hotel loyalty program? What led you to your decision and have you been happy with your choice? Let us know in the comments below!
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