Hilton Hotel Category Changes: What It Means for You

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Via One Mile at a Time, Hilton is making changes to its award chart, and 54 hotels will change award category as of October 12, 2016.

Depending on your travel plans, this could be good or bad news.  Because 33 locations will cost fewer points per night after the updates take effect, and 21 hotels will cost more Hilton points.

Hilton periodically switches hotels between categories, based on economic factors, room rates, amenities, and the hotel’s popularity.  So if you have Hilton award stays coming up, check out the list to see if your hotel is affected.

I’ll explain what’s changing!

Hilton Category Changes

Link:   Hilton Category Changes

Link:   Hilton Award Chart

Link:   All the Ways to Earn Hilton Points

Considering Hilton has ~4,600 locations around the world, the 54 changing category only account for ~1% of their hotels.  So this won’t be a big deal for most folks.

Hilton hotels include Conrad, Canopy, Curio, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Home2Suites, Homewood Suites, Tru, and Waldorf Astoria brand hotels.

Hotels Moving to a Higher Category

There are 21 Hilton hotels moving up a category, and all but 6 are in the US.  So you’ll pay more points per night at hotels like:

• DoubleTree by Hilton Beijing (moving from category 2 to category 3)
• Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh (moving from category 8 to category 9)
• Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem (moving from category 9 to category 10)
• Hampton Inn & Suites Raleigh Downtown (moving from category 4 to category 5)

So if your hotel is increasing in price, book your award stays before October 12, 2016, to lock-in the lower rate.

Hotels Moving to a Lower Category

If you’re planning a trip to Turkey, you’ll do well with the Hilton changes.  That’s because there are 33 hotels decreasing in category, and 26 of them are in Turkey!

And some locations are dropping by 4 categories, like the Hilton Garden Inn Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Hilton Garden Inn Erzincan. 

Other notable reductions include:

• Hilton Cabana Miami Beach (moving from category 9 to category 8)
• Hilton Garden Inn Dubai Mall of the Emirates (moving from category 6 to category 4)
• Vintro Hotel South Beach Curio Collection (moving from category 9 to category 8)

If you have plans to stay at any of these hotels, book after October 12, 2016.  And if you’ve already booked award nights, you can almost always cancel and re-book at the lower rate.  Just be sure there are still award nights available when you cancel!

Want More Hilton Points?

Folks love Hilton points because they’re very easy to earn.  And if you got in on Hilton’s Diamond status match deal earlier this year, there’s even more reason to consider staying at Hilton hotels!

There are 4 credit cards which earn Hilton points directly:

• Hilton Honors™ Card from American Express
• Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card from American Express

Don’t forget, you can also transfer flexible points to Hilton from:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Citi ThankYou 
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

Check out my posts on all the ways to earn Hilton points, and which card earns the most for paid Hilton stays.

Bottom Line

Hilton is changing its award chart effective October 12, 2016.  There are 33 hotels moving to a lower category, and 21 locations going up in price.

Overall, these updates won’t impact most folks, because only ~1% of Hilton hotels are increasing or decreasing in price.  But check the full list to see if your hotel award stays will be affected.

And if you want more Hilton points, there are plenty of ways to earn them!

Are you surprised by any of these category changes?  Will you make adjustments to your travel plans?