I let you know about the changes Hilton recently made to their awards program. And via The Gate, Hilton launched their new points pooling option today!
With points pooling, you can combine Hilton points with friends or loved ones for free. That’s great news, because Hilton used to charge $2.50 for every 1,000 points you transferred to another Hilton member.
Let’s look at how you can transfer your Hilton points to another Hilton member!
Pool Your Hilton Points
In the past, Hilton charged $2.50 per 1,000 points you transferred to another Hilton member. For example, if you transferred 50,000 Hilton points to a loved one for an award stay, it would cost $125 (1,000 Hilton points X $2.50 per 1,000 points X 50).
That wasn’t usually worth it, unless you needed a few points to top-off your account.
But now, you won’t pay anything to transfer up to 500,000 Hilton points to up to 10 friends and family members each year.
So it’s free and easy to pool your points with others to stretch your vacation longer, stay at more luxurious hotels, like the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, or Hilton Chicago, or to top off your account for a specific award stay.
And it could be especially great if several family members have just earned 80,000 to 100,000 Hilton points form the increased sign-up bonuses on the AMEX Hilton cards!
Here’s how to pool your points:
Step 1. Go to “My Account”
Sign-in to your Hilton Honors account and go to “My Account.”
Step 2. Click “More Ways to Use Points”
Under “My Points” you’ll find the option for more ways to use your Hilton points.
Step 3. Select “Pool Points”
From there, click “Pool Points” to start the points pooling process.
Step 4. Send Points Pooling Invitations
You can send invitations to up to 10 Hilton Honors members to join your points “pool.”
Step 5. Pool Your Points
You’ll get a confirmation that your points pooling invitation has been sent. And your friends and loved ones will get an email that looks like this:
From the email, they can click the “pool your points” button, where they can sign-in to their Hilton account and select the number of points they want to transfer.
Or, once you’re connected to others’ accounts, you can go to “points pooling” from your Hilton account to make a transfer for free.
The process is fairly straightforward, but the first time I tried to send a points pooling invitation I received an error. If that happens to you, just keep trying!
And don’t forget, other hotels, like Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, and more, allow you to share points with others free of charge. But certain conditions apply. You can read more about transferring hotel points between accounts here.
Other Ways to Earn Hilton Points
There are plenty of ways to earn Hilton points. For example, you can transfer other miles & points to Hilton. AMEX Membership Rewards points, Virgin Atlantic miles, and Hawaiian Airlines miles transfer to Hilton at a ratio of 2:3.
Or, you could sign-up for a Hilton co-branded credit card, like:
Bottom Line
Starting today, April 26, 2017, you can pool your Hilton points with up to 10 other Hilton Honors members, for FREE!
Hilton used to charge $2.25 per 1,000 points you transferred, so this is definitely a positive change to their award program.
And it’s great news for folks who need a few more points for a specific award stay, for anyone who wants to pool their points with others for a longer vacation, or for stays at higher tier hotels.