Consolidate Hilton Points to a Single Account

February 12, 2013 - Howie

This’ll be the final post in the series on combing hotel points between accounts. Unlike airline miles, consolidating hotel points can be relatively easy. Some restrictions but for most cases you can do it for free and quickly.

So far I’ve covered:

Combining SPG points between accounts (Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien, St Regis, W, etc)
Combining Marriott Rewards Points (Marriott, Ritz Carlton, etc)
Combining Club Carlson Points (Radisson, County Inn & Suites, etc)
Combining Hyatt Gold Passport points (Hyatt, Andaz, Park Hyatt, etc)

In looking at the major hotel programs in the US that I’m personally interested in, the two that charge you are Priority Club and Hilton. Priority Club / ICH I’m not going to go into detail with because even though I am a Platinum / Ambassador via Credit Card and Purchased, they charge you $5 per 1000 points transferred. Want to stay at a top Intercontinental you’re looking at $250 in transfer fees; no thanks.

Hilton charges $25 per 10,000 points transferred up to the first 200,000 points per calendar year and free after that. … or $.0025 per point transferred for a total max of $500 in fees annually. Ok, not the best, but better than PC.

That said, if you ignore the actual points in a Hilton account and just want to accummulate a mass of them you can focus on Hawaiian Airlines and transfer / consolidate within the airline … and then move to Hilton. Here we go:

Get the Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines Card
Get the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Card
Have Spouse / friend / etc get the same 2 cards
Contact Hawaiian airlines at 877-HA-MILES and have them transfer Hawaiian miles to your account. Hawaiian Airlines Visa Signature cardholders can do this. The person receiving the miles must have the credit card
Transfer X Hawaiian Airlines miles to Hilton Points in 5000 point increments (call that same 877 number)
Get an American Express Hilton Credit Card (AXON award access)
Get a Citi Hilton Reserve Credit Card (2 free weekend nights and free gold status … free breakfast and Internet)

I only add #6 because with the Amex Hilton you’ll get a bump in Hilton points AND you’ll have access to AXON award inventory. I add #7 as you’ll get instant Hilton Gold status (Free breakfast & Internet) AND 2 weekend award nights AND access to GLON award inventory. AXON and GLON are reduced point awards through Hilton.

Me personally, I’m not a big Hilton guy … but come on, 4 cards and you’ve got a massive amount of points, a solid middle tier status, and if you’re a couple you’ve got 10+ days at a top Hilton family property anywhere in the world!

Oh, and if you want you can also get a Fast Track to Gold Status with Hilton for easily under $400 and no credit inquiry. (a room can be had for under $100/night)

Also, get double points through March 31st on any of those stays too with Hilton’s Q1 2013 double points promotion

Deal of the Day

For today’s Deal of the Day TopCashback is donating $50 cash (to be deposited to your TopCashback.com account) for the best overall travel deal submitted. A great mileage run, mistake fare, partner promo, new card sign-up offer, or the special twist you figured out on a deal today. Add it to the comments section of this post (along with your First Name, Last Initial, and Airport Code) or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post by TODAY at 11:59pm ET to be eligible to win. That gives you two days to win!

Lively

Question. I just booked 2 nights in Tokyo with my Hilton points. I do not have Gold status. My husband has Gold status, no Hilton points. Is there a way to get free breakfast even though the reservation is in my name?

http://twitter.com/PatMikeL PatMike

Yes. Call them and move the reservation to his name. I often use my points, which Hilton uses to issue a certificate, and the reservation is always put in my husband’s name (a diamond)

Marc W, JFK

American Express will be having 5 amazing twitter deals tomorrow (Wednesday), including a Sony Xbox, an Amazon Kindle, a Sony Action Cam, and Urban Zen bracelets from Donna Karan.
Brian

Credit Karma is now offering a new BETA feature allowing you to link your credit card accounts for free (10,000 signups max). Connect your accounts to: Track bills and spending habits, Compare credit report data with your real-time bank account data, Receive email alerts on all of your accounts to stay on top of your finances. Features: Safe & Secure, Bank-level encryption, Secure connection, No credentials stored in database.
Link:
https://beta.creditkarma.com/invite/insight/limited

Brian K.
IAD
Marc W, JFK

Amazing Mileage Run opportunity: PHX-DTW-AUS-DTW-PHX $144ai (5630mi ~2.6cpm) on Delta. Book fast as it is sure to go quickly!
http://twitter.com/brettalb Brett Albertson

Starwood allowed my wife and I to combine points quickly and easily with just one phone call.
http://twitter.com/elnorman Elizabeth Norman

Has Hilton always charged a fee? I transfered points last year but I don’t think I paid. Was it hidden within points?
http://www.facebook.com/imjimmykim Jimmy Kim

Though I’m not a fan of hilton, this is an amazing deal! Hard to pass up free rooms- Great tip Rick!
Sylvia M

I consolidated Hilton Honors points last summer for a free weekend in downtown DC, right near the National Mall. It was my first experience. The fee did surprise me, but I still didn’t have to pay what I would’ve through regular booking. In the Spring of 2011, I went to Vegas for the first time. I was able to transfer my scorecard rewards and I ended up flying and booking two hotel stays and I was only out of pocket $49. I’m still learning the whole scheme of using and transferring points. I will make my first trip out of the country this year and I’m hoping to really become a pro at building and utilizing points for international travel.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/ Frugal Travel Guy

Sylvia, congratulations! You won the 2 United club passes. When you get a chance, can you please send an email to rick@frugaltravelguy.com so that we can coordinate getting them sent to you? Thanks and congratulations again!

http://www.facebook.com/CammeJ Jen Morrison

Thanks for all the tips! Just getting into this and looking forward to trying this stuff out
Francisco Romero

Thanks for the tips and the great website. Here’s my tip. You can now book Air Tran destinations via SW and use the companion pass. I’m not sure if its for every location. But, I just booked tickets using miles and the companion pass to San Juan, PR (formerly an Air Tran destination, but not a SW destination.
Matt T.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQ58062.htm
It looks like United and Allstate are partnering up, where if you get an Allstate quote you can score some miles.
Matt T, CMH
Ben Looney

SW is offering $69 fares from Tampa or Orlando to San Juan, PR for travel between April 14 and May 23. It also only costs ~3700 SW Rapid Rewards points for these flights. These are even available for Friday-Sunday & Saturday-Monday itineraries. Great for a cheap weekend in the Caribbean!
Hao Tran

I combined Hilton points with the same BofA formula described above. Nice summary!
jd33gator

Great reminder to combine my wife’s account with mine!
Jeff The Wanderer

I haven’t needed to combine hotel points yet. My wife and I earn at a pretty equal pace and when we need to book awards, we just pick from one of the accounts. Right now, we have a ton of Hilton points from recent drugstore spend and we are both Gold for the next couple of years. Not sure if we will have to combine at any point, but we will definitely have a lot of free hotel nights.
xlax

I missed the Starwood post, but went back and read it today. Can you explain why your Platinum SPG status means that it’s beneficial to use your account (other than getting credit toward elite status)? Thanks.