Do Hilton Points Expire? Yes, but You Can Reset the Clock With These 9 Tips

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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 Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card, Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, and the Hilton Honors American Express Card, or by transferring flexible points from programs like AMEX Membership Rewards.

In most rewards programs, your miles or points will expire after a certain period of inactivity.  So 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
• 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 increased welcome bonuses, so it’s a great time to apply:

• Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card – 125,000 Hilton points after you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – 125,000 Hilton points after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• Hilton Honors American Express Card – 75,000 Hilton points after you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express – Earn 150,000 Hilton points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening

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		Up to 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your account, plus earn an extra 25,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending an additional $10,000 on qualifying purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. 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 $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply.
American Express® Business Gold Card		35,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. Terms Apply.
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express		5,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after your first purchase on the card within the first year of card membership. 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.

The information for the Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card and Amex EveryDay Credit 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.

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 2:3 ratio.  So 2,000 Virgin Atlantic or Hawaiian Airlines miles will earn you 3,000 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 on dining) on top of earning Hilton points.  And 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 $1 spent if you don’t opt in for email communications
• 5 Hilton points per $1 spent if you opt in for email and dine 10 or less times per year
• 8 Hilton points per $1 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).  But 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.

Note:   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.  But 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 Ascend Card
• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
• Hilton Honors American Express Card
• Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express

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:

• How to Earn Hilton Honors Points
• How to Use Hilton Honors Points
• How to Setup a Hilton Account

For rates and fees of the Hilton Ascend Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Business Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Amex Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, click here.