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INSIDER SECRET: You don’t need to stay in a Hilton hotel to stop your points from expiring — there are plenty of other options to keep your points alive.
Hilton Honors points are incredibly useful for free stays at over 5,000 hotels around the world. Even better, they’re easy to earn from cards like the like the Hilton Honors American Express Card and Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, which both have limited-time increased offers until August 28, 2019, or by transferring flexible points from programs like American Express Membership Rewards.
In most rewards programs, your miles or points will expire after a certain period of inactivity. You wouldn’t want to lose your hard-earned Hilton points before you can use them.
Do Hilton points expire? They sure do! Hilton points expire after 12 months of account inactivity.
There are plenty of ways to keep your Hilton points from expiring, even if you don’t stay at Hilton hotels.

Here are all the ways to keep your Hilton points from expiring.
Do Hilton Points Expire? Yes – Here’s How to Keep It From Happening
You’ll need eligible activity in your account at least once in a 12-consecutive-month period to keep your Hilton points from expiring.
If your points have already expired, you still may have recourse. Hilton allows folks to reinstate their points if it’s been less than 18 months since they expired. It comes at a price, though — you’ll pay 0.25 cents per point.
Fortunately, it’s easy to to keep your points from expiring without having to resort to great lengths! Here’s what to do.
1. Stay at a Hilton Hotel
Staying at a Hilton hotel will keep your Hilton points from expiring. You can use your points for an award stay, or book a paid stay to earn more Hilton points.
Unlike other hotels, booking a future award stay at Hilton with points will not reset the expiration of your points unless you actually complete your stay before the expiration date.
You can earn or redeem points at these Hilton hotel brands:
- Conrad
- Canopy
- Curio
- DoubleTree
- Embassy Suites
- Hampton Inn
- Hilton
- Hilton Garden Inn
- Hilton Grand Vacations
- Home2 Suites
- Homewood Suites
- LXR
- Tapestry Collection
- Tru
- Waldorf Astoria
Keep in mind, you must book a paid stay directly through Hilton (not a third-party site like Orbitz or Expedia) to earn points for the stay and reset the expiration clock.
2. Use a Hilton Credit Card
If you have one of the Amex Hilton credit cards (and use it at least once every 12 months), you’ll never have to worry about your Hilton points expiring. Currently, all of these cards have big welcome bonuses, so it’s a great time to apply:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card – 90,000 Hilton points after spending $2,000 in the first three months of account opening (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $4,000 in the first four months of account opening (formerly the Hilton Ascend card) (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $5,000 in the first four months of account opening (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express — 150,000 Hilton points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
The information for the Hilton Honors Business card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Keep in mind, you can only earn the welcome bonus on each specific Amex card once, per person, per lifetime. So if you’ve had the Hilton Honors American Express Card in the past, for example, you’re not eligible for the bonus on that card again (but you can still earn the bonus on any of the other cards).
3. Transfer Points to Hilton
Folks who have a card that earns Amex Membership Rewards points can transfer their points to Hilton at a 1:2 ratio. The minimum transfer amount is 1,000 Amex Membership Rewards points, which equals 2,000 Hilton points.
You can earn Amex Membership Rewards points with these cards:
Card | Welcome bonus & minimum spending requirements |
---|---|
The Business Platinum® Card from American Express | Earn up to 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points: 50,000 points after you spend $10,000 and an extra 25,000 points after you spend an additional $10,000 all on qualifying purchases made on the card within the first 3 months of account opening. Terms Apply. |
American Express®️ Green Card | Receive up to $100 in statement credits toward any eligible purchase from Away made within the first three months of Card Membership. Offer ends January 15, 2020. Plus, earn 30,000 Amex Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in your first three months of account opening. Terms apply. |
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express | No welcome bonus |
The Platinum Card® from American Express | 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply. |
American Express® Gold Card | 35,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Terms Apply. |
American Express® Business Gold Card | Earn 35,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply. |
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express | 15,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply. |
Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express | 15,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply. |
Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express | 10,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply. |
If you want to keep points from expiring and have Amex Membership Rewards points to spare, just transferring the 1,000-point minimum to 2,000 Hilton points is a great way to go.
You can also move points to Hilton from Hawaiian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. These points transfer to Hilton at a 1:1.5 ratio with a minimum transfer of 10,000 Virgin Atlantic or Hawaiian Airlines miles (which would earn you 15,000 Hilton points).
4. Earn Points With Hilton Honors Dining
When you register a credit card (it doesn’t have to be a Hilton card) on the Hilton Honors Dining site and use that card to pay for a meal at a participating restaurant, you’ll earn Hilton points.
You’ll still earn rewards from your card (for example, if you use the Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x points per dollar on dining) on top of earning Hilton points. It’s easy to search for nearby restaurants by city and state or zip code.

You’ll earn more points if you use the program frequently (and opt in for email communications). Here’s what you can earn:
- 2 Hilton points per dollar spent if you don’t opt in for email communications
- 5 Hilton points per dollar spent if you opt in for email and dine 10 or less times per year
- 8 Hilton points per dollar spent if you opt in for email and dine 11+ times per year
5. Shop With Hilton Points at Amazon
Spending points on Amazon purchases is one of the worst ways you can use Hilton points, because the value you’ll get is so poor (just 0.2 cents per point). However, if you need a quick way to keep your Hilton points from expiring, this method works well. Most of us make Amazon purchases fairly regularly anyway.
The Hilton terms and conditions don’t explicitly say redeeming points at Amazon will count, but reports online and a conversation with Hilton Honors customer service confirm this is the case.

You can redeem points in 500 Hilton point (worth $1 Amazon credit) increments with the minimum being just 500 Hilton points.
Once you link your Hilton and Amazon accounts, you’ll have the option to pay with Hilton points at checkout. Just use 500 Hilton points towards your purchase and you’ll reset your points expiration (be careful not to use Hilton points for the whole purchase).
6. Take Surveys With eRewards
Folks with spare time can take market research surveys through eRewards to earn Hilton points. For every survey you complete, you’ll earn eRewards currency you can cash in for rewards, including Hilton points.

You’ll need to redeem a minimum of $25 eRewards credit, which earns you 1,000 Hilton points. If you already have credits (because taking surveys is time consuming), this is a good way to earn Hilton points and reset your expiration date.
7. Rent a Car
Renting a car through the Hilton portal can be a good way to earn some extra Hilton points if you are already planning a car rental.

You can earn up to 5,000 Hilton points per qualifying car rental with Alamo, National and Enterprise.
8. Donate Hilton Points to Charity
Here’s a way to keep your Hilton points alive and do good at the same time. Donating Hilton points to charity through Hilton’s partnership with PointWorthy will also reset the expiration clock.

The minimum donation amount is 4,000 Hilton points, and there are hundreds of charities to choose from, including large organizations like the American Red Cross, local churches, social service groups and memorial funds.
9. Purchase Hilton Points
As a last resort, you can purchase Hilton points directly to generate activity in your account and keep your Hilton points from expiring. A minimum purchase of $10 will get you 1,000 Hilton points.

Occasionally, Hilton runs buy points promotions that offer a bonus when you purchase points. Even with a bonus, it rarely makes sense to buy Hilton points unless you need a few extra to top-off your account for an award (or keep your points from expiring). There is a maximum of 80,000 Hilton points you can purchase per year.
Again, pooling points with friends and family doesn’t count as activity and will not reset the expiration on your account.
Bottom Line
Hilton points expire after 12 months of inactivity in your account. You can stop this from happening – there are many ways to keep your Hilton points from expiring.
The easiest way to keep your points active is by using one of the Amex Hilton cards at least once every 12 months:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card – 90,000 Hilton points after spending $2,000 in the first three months of account opening (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $4,000 in the first four months of account opening (formerly the Hilton Ascend card) (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $5,000 in the first four months of account opening (limited time through August 28, 2019)
- Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express — 150,000 Hilton points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
And you’ve got other options to reset your Hilton points expiration date:
- Stay at a Hilton hotel (using points or a paid stay)
- Transfer points from AMEX Membership Rewards to Hilton at a 1:2 ratio, or from Virgin Atlantic or Hawaiian Airlines at a 2:3 ratio
- Register a credit card with Hilton Honors dining and eat at a participating restaurant to earn Hilton points
- Shop with Hilton points at Amazon
- Take surveys with eRewards and cash out your rewards for Hilton points
- Rent a car through the Hilton portal to earn Hilton points
- Donate Hilton points to charity
Want to know more about Hilton points? Check out these posts:
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transferring 1,000 pts for free from spouse’s account updated both accounts 14 months, confirmed new exp dates with phone call afterwards
Easy peasy! Thanks for confirming.
I haven’t done ANY of the nine things listed above and my points haven’t expired in over four years. What could be the reason for this?
My last stay was in May of last year and my points haven’t expired yet. Should I expect them to expire on the last day of the month, May 31st? I’m booking a stay for mid-June but am worried that’s not going to cut it.
Do transferring points from another family member’s HH account into my account also extend the expiration date?
Hi Cheryl,
I did a quick search online and I found a lot of people in online forums that say this will not work.
sign up and do surveys
Agreed! It’s a pretty easy way to keep your points from expiring 🙂