The Hilton Honors program features a broad range of properties and easy-to-earn points, making it a favorite for many travelers. With the recent addition of nearly 400 Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties, the hotel chain has become arguably the most valuable hotel loyalty program of them all.
But it’s not all sunshine and roses: Late last week, Hilton quietly raised its award rates at some of its top properties. In a move first noted on FlyerTalk, many Waldorf Astoria and Conrad hotels will now cost as much as 20,000 points more per night. Ouch!
Like many other hotel programs, Hilton uses a dynamic pricing model … with a twist. While the points rate is typically tied to the cash price, they also have “standard awards” at a set rate for every property. This means award rates can be all over the map at many Hilton properties – sometimes as high as 1 million points a night – but there’s still a lowest-and-best base rate when redeeming Hilton Honors points. That’s what recently got more pricey.
What’s more, it appears Hilton is rolling out some sort of peak and off-peak pricing with standard award nights pricing out between 5,000 and 20,000 points different depending on the night. A few years back, we saw Hyatt introduce a similar pricing model, so seeing Hilton charge more for high-demand nights doesn’t come be as a total shock.
The good news here is that standard award rates are still capped at 150,000 points per night and the free night certificates you can earn with cards like the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and *Hilton Surpass* are still redeemable at these properties without any issue despite the price increase. Plus, these changes have only affected a select number of the chain’s top-tier, most expensive properties (so far) where booking with points was a bargain … and mostly remains a good deal.
Still, it is a disappointing development and follows the recent price hike of several SLH properties just last month. Let’s just hope it doesn’t spread further in the new year.
So just how bad are these devaluations? Let’s take a look.
Last week, when we sent out a hotel alert for the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal to our Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers, a standard award night was priced at 120,000 points.
But now, you’ll see a standard night going for 140,000 points – a 20,000-point hike in just a matter of days.
Another example is the Conrad Tokyo, where just a few days ago you could book a standard room for 95,000 points per night.
Now, the property goes for 100,000 points per night. A minor, but still noteworthy, 5,000-point increase.
Similarly, when we stayed at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui earlier this year, the base rate was 120,000 points per night.
Now, a standard night will cost you an additional 10,000 points per night.
A few other examples include:
- Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas was originally 85,000 points per night. Now, it ranges between 85,000 to 95,000 points nightly
- Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort in Hawaii originally priced out at 110,000 points per night. Now, it ranges between 110,000 to 12o,000 points nightly
- Hotel del Coronado, Curio Collection went up from 95,000 points to 110,000 points per night
- Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino jumped from 80,000 points per night to 100,000 points per night
- Crockfords Las Vegas, LXR Hotels & Resorts, jumped from a range of 74,000 to 100,000 points a night up to 90,000 to 110,000 points a night
This is by no means a comprehensive list – from what we’ve seen, this devaluation is slowly rolling out. Fortunately, the vast majority of Hilton’s properties remain untouched … for now.
Bottom Line
In recent days, several top Hilton properties went up in price by as much as 20,000 points per night. In addition to this unannounced price hike, it appears Hilton is introducing a new “tiered” pricing model by charging slightly more for high-demand nights.
So far these increased prices are limited to only a handful of the chain’s top properties. It remains to be seen if (and when) it will spread further.
