It's far from perfect, but the Hilton Honors hotel rewards program is a go-to for many globe-trotting travelers. With a wide range of properties, easy-to-earn points, and solid elite recognition, there's a lot to love about Hilton.
But one of our favorite features often flies under the radar: You can easily pool your Hilton points with up to 10 other Hilton Honors members.
This means that even if award rates seem high, you might be able to team up with a friend or family member to get the points you need to pull off a big vacation. Add in the occasional big welcome bonus offer on co-branded Hilton credit cards it's actually quite easy to rack up Hilton points in a hurry. Plus, the recent addition of nearly 400 Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties has made Hilton points and the Hilton Honors program more valuable than ever.
Read on for full details about how you can combine Hilton points with a friend – and why you should.
What is Hilton's Points Pooling Feature?
With Hilton's points pooling feature, Hilton Honors members have the ability to combine the points in their Hilton Honors loyalty account with up to 10 other Hilton Honors program members. On top of that, Hilton Honors allows you to transfer points to friends and family with no fees or strings attached.
Hilton makes sharing points easier than any other hotel program, and it is a great way to stockpile points to use for a stay that you otherwise wouldn't have enough points for on your own. If you and a spouse both have a balance of Hilton Honors points, you can transfer them into one account to make managing them easier. Aside from a few restrictions, it's really that simple.
Here are the rules:
- You must have a minimum of 1,000 points in your account to make a points transfer
- You can transfer a maximum of 500,000 points per calendar year
- You can receive a maximum of 2,000,000 points per calendar year
What is our favorite part of Hilton's points pooling feature? Sharing points is easy. You can create your points pool or transfer points between accounts instantly by logging in to your Hilton Honors account and visiting this link.
Use Hilton's Points Pooling Towards a Fifth Night Free Redemption
Using Hilton's points pooling feature makes the points you earn on the Hilton portfolio of co-branded cards significantly more valuable. It allows you to combine welcome offer bonuses earned from friends, family, spouses, or significant others into one Hilton Honors account and have enough points for a big redemption.
Plus, if you've got any level of Hilton elite status you can take advantage of the Hilton's fifth-night free benefit. Just for holding the *Hilton Surpass* or the card_name you receive Hilton Honors Gold status, which allows you to take advantage of fifth-night free redemptions.
Hilton's Points Pooling Benefit in Action
Let's look at an example of how this could work.
If you and a significant other both open the *Hilton Surpass*, you would each have north of 165,000 Hilton Honors points after receiving the welcome bonus offer and meeting the minimum spending requirement of $3,000 in the first six months.
You will also earn 12x Hilton Honors Points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels, 6x Hilton Honors Points per dollar spent at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations, 4x points on online retail orders, and 3x points on all other purchases, so odds are, you'll have way more than 165,000 points when all is said and done.
Using Hilton's points pooling feature, you can combine these points into one account and would instantly have roughly 330,000 Hilton Honors points. With about 320,000 Hilton Honors points, you can book a four-night stay at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles – Trianon Palace.
It's quite easy to find nights for 80,000 points and under. This is just one of many examples, but with Hilton's fifth night free on award bookings benefit, you have just unlocked a free five-night stay with the welcome bonuses from two credit cards with 10,000 points or more to spare. It's hard to argue with that kind of value.
Bottom Line
Hilton's points pooling feature unlocks a lot of possibilities when it comes to seeing more of the world for less. Just for holding the Hilton Honors Surpass or the Hilton Honors Business credit card, you can take advantage of the fifth-night free benefit on award bookings.
Combine this benefit with Hilton's points pooling and transfer functionality and it instantly makes that big pool of points 20% more valuable.