Hilton Honors Raises Maximum Award Redemption Costs

Hilton Honors has quietly increased the maximum points required for standard room awards at some of its top properties. Previously, the program capped standard room redemptions at 150,000 points per night. Now, that ceiling has been raised to 200,000 points per night, a 33% increase. This change affects luxury properties like the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, now at 200,000 points per night, and the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, now at 190,000 points per night. Remember that Hilton elite members still get a fifth night free on award stays, which can bring the average cost down to 160,000 points per night at these high-end properties.

It’s important to understand what these numbers mean. When you see rooms costing over a million points per night, those are premium room redemptions, not standard rooms. The new 200,000 point maximum only applies to standard rooms when they’re available. This is the second cap increase in recent years, as Hilton raised the maximum from 120,000 to 150,000 points just back in 2021. Hilton doesn’t publish award charts, so these changes can happen with little notice.

Our Take

This is clearly not good news for points hobbyists. When programs raise redemption costs, our points become less valuable. However, the impact seems limited for now, as only a small number of top-tier properties appear to be affected by this new higher cap. But we’ve learned from experience that once a few hotels start charging more, others often follow.

Hilton points are typically valued at about 0.5 cents each, which means a 200,000-point night equals roughly $1,000 in value. With the fifth night free benefit, that’s about $800 per night on longer stays, putting the value of Hilton points more in line with competitors like Marriott and Hyatt when that is a factor. The bigger concern remains Hilton’s limited standard room availability at many luxury properties, making it hard to use points even when you have them. This availability issue continues to be more frustrating than the point increases themselves.