Hilton upgrades its loyalty program
In an important piece of news for the hotel industry, Hilton Worldwide has taken a major step in the hotel loyalty game by announcing massive changes.
These include a partnership with Amazon, allowing Hilton Honours members to use their points to purchase whatever they want on the e-commerce site.
Hilton is the first hotel to partner with Amazon’s Shop With Points.
The nub of it for the more than 60 million members globally is that Hilton has introduced the ability for them to combine points and money when they’re booking a room at a Hilton property.
It’s an important development given that 55 percent of Hilton bookings come from Hilton Honours members,
The Hilton Honours website even provides members with a slider tool to help them decide what combination of points and money they’d like to use.
It’s all part of the Points & Money feature which will be available in late February,
There will be no blackout dates.
Joining it is completely free and there is a variety of ways that people can earn points.
For example, Hilton Honours members will now be able to pool points with up to 10 members of their family or group of friends.
That will allow groups to travel together on one another’s points. It will also allow travellers with fewer points to use their points for a free stay more quickly.
Then there is something for Hilton’s most loyal customers, the Diamond members, the ones who have either booked 30 stays, stayed 60 nights, or who have earned 120,000 Base Points in one year
To keep that elite status, they have to maintain that same level of travel.
To make things more flexible for them, Hilton is offering them to pause that Diamond benefit to accommodate life events like a new job, family changes or other circumstances.
by Leon Gettler, February 2nd 2017
