File this one under “pleasant surprises”. Hilton just sent out a new email detailing the [mostly positive] upcoming changes to their Hilton Honors loyalty program. What’s more, these changes come just in time for the roll-out of their new American Express Cards.
Hilton Makes Positive Changes to the Hilton Honors Loyalty Program
Breakfast at Waldorf Astoria:
Gold and Diamond members will now get free breakfast at Waldorf Astoria properties. This is great considering Gold and Diamond members already receive this at most Hilton and Doubletree properties.
Next up, Hilton is simplifying the ways you can earn points for stays. Rewards points earnings will tier progressively based on status, making the program more predicable and rewarding for elites (starting with members with at least Gold status).
Milestone Bonuses:
Hilton is also introducing “Milestone Bonuses”, where you can now receive bonuses at various thresholds based on a the number of nights stayed. The good news is that these Milestone Bonuses are in addition to any other promotional bonus earnings and any regular earning per stay you would normally receive.
Again, those with the highest status will benefit most, but this is an incentive that makes sense from Hilton’s perspective as this is an additional reward for its most loyal customers.
Rollover Nights:
The ability to earn “Rollover Nights” towards status is another incremental but nice change to the loyalty program. No longer will those who have earned status have their “excess” nights go to waste — these can now be rolled-over toward earning status in the following year.
Gifting Elite Status:
Lastly, Hilton Honors will allow those staying 60+ nights in a calendar year to gift Gold status to a travel partner. The details of this are still forthcoming, but this is a new feature that wasn’t available in this program before.
The Bottom Line:Â Hilton Makes Positive Changes to the Hilton Honors Loyalty Program
Overall, none of these changes are absolute “game changers”. However, overall, these changes go a long way to make the Hilton Honors program much more competitive to other programs like SPG and even Marriott.
Maybe Hyatt will get the hint? One can only hope. [Update: Hyatt is making positive changes too!]
Until then, it’s exciting to see all the new things coming soon to Hilton Honors, not the least of which being the new American Express credit card portfolio which I’m most excited about.
Cheers!
