A few years ago, Hilton fully fully got rid of their awards chart. There is no category 1, 2, 3, etc. tied to an individual property as you see with Marriott and Hyatt. Instead, they have a range for each hotel and you’ll spend more during certain times of the year and less during others. If you want to go to Ft. Lauderdale over Christmas assume you’ll be spending more than if you are looking to go mid-week in October. And the range can be huge—we are talking about sometimes a 40,000 point difference. And unless you check the number of points required for every single day of the year, you really have no idea the range.
Fortunately, Hilton just introduced what they are calling their Points Explorer tool. With this tool you can search the exact range of every hotel in a certain location. For example, when I enter Ft. Lauderdale into the search tool, it shows me all of the Hilton properties in the area and the range of the points required. You can then continue on and check the availability at a particular property with using your points.
I like that there is now a little more transparency for using your points at Hilton, although I do miss their formal award chart. You’ll also notice these terms at the bottom of the page staying: “Lowest Points per night that our members have booked at this hotel as of 01-12-2019. Current Points per night may vary. Maximum Points per night for a Standard Room as of 01-12-2019. Subject to change.” This ultimately means what you see now during your search might not be the same the next time when you go to book your stay.
Of course, I do like that you get your 5th night free and when you use your points all resort fees are waived. This is definitely a leg up over some of the other programs. Marriott offers 5th night free when using points, but doesn’t waive resort fees. Hyatt does not offer 5th night free when using points, but does waive resort fees when using points (and if you are a Globalist on paid stays as well). Hilton is the only one that does both which is great.
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