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Hilton Select Discount and Rebate Program: Worth It or Not?

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    Million Mile Secrets reader Dave G commented:

    Hey Daraius,

    Have you heard of Hilton Select?  I just saw a link for it on a recent Hilton reservation confirmation.  The link is https://www.hiltonselect.com/.  It seems to be a Hilton travel club.  Just curious if you thought it was a good deal.  Thanks!

    Hilton Select is a paid, members-only program that gives you discounts and cash back on hotel stays, travel, dining, entertainment, and more.  And they offer perks like concierge service, roadside assistance, and flight insurance.

    But these benefits don’t come cheap!  Their basic membership costs $399 per year, and their “premier” membership costs $549.  That’s a lot of cash!

    Hilton Select Says They’ll Save You Money…but You’ll Have to Pay a LOT to Sign-Up!

    Is Hilton Select worth it?  Let’s find out!

    What Do You Get When You Join Hilton Select?

    Link:   Hilton Select

    The basic Hilton Select membership costs $399 per year.  As a member, you’ll get:

    A Basic Hilton Select Membership Gets You $200 Cash Back on Hilton Stays

    The Hilton Select Premier membership has the same benefits as the basic membership, but some of the cash back deals are increased.  For $549 a year, you also get:

    Is It Worth Paying Extra for a Pet Concierge Service?

    Some of Hilton Select’s benefits sound interesting, but there are lots of hoops to jump through and rules to follow.  According to the terms and conditions:

    This sounds like it could be a lot of work!  Saving receipts, tracking expenses, and filling out and mailing rebate forms could be very time consuming.  And I’m not sure I’d like having to book my travel through their agency without being able to shop around for the best deals!

    Will You Get Your Money’s Worth?

    It really depends.  If you know you’ll pay for at least 2 nights in a Hilton hotel (once every 6 months) the cash back Hilton credit could offset much of the cost of membership.

    And if you’re the type of person that’s diligent about saving receipts and filling out forms, and you travel enough to spend $10 per quarter on baggage fees, in-flight food and drink, show tickets, and in-flight Wi-Fi, you could save up to $160 per year (4 x $40 per category).

    You Could Save $40 per Year on In-Flight Wi-Fi

    It’s hard to tell if you’ll benefit from the hotel, airfare, car rental and cruise discounts.  Because you have to book through Hilton Select’s travel agency, there’s no way to tell if their prices are competitive or if you can get better deals elsewhere.

    The $25 Restaurant.com certificates aren’t worth as much as they seem, because you can buy certificates for $10 (or less with a promotion code) online.  At most, they’d be worth $120 per year (12 months x $10 per month), and that’s assuming you can use them all.

    Remember, typically you have to spend at least $35 to $50 at a restaurant when you use a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate.

    Let’s look at it this way.  Suppose you bought the basic membership for $399 per year.  If you used all of the cash back Hilton credits, rebates, and Restaurant.com certificates you’d get:

    That’s $505 in value.  And that’s not including any cash back for hotel and travel or discounts on restaurants, attractions, and merchants (which I can’t quantify because they don’t tell you which merchants get discounts until you join!).

    So a basic membership could be worth it, as long as you know you can use all of the cash back credits and rebates.  And as long as you like filling out paperwork!

    But if you won’t use all the Restaurant.com certificates, or already have credit cards that get you free checked bags (like the American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles, Chase United MileagePlus® Explorer Card, or Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® for example), you might not break even on this deal.

    Membership Could Be Worth It If You Know You’ll Stay at a Hilton Twice AND Use All the Rebates

    Looking at the premier membership, which costs $549 a year, if you used all of your cash back credits and rebates you’d get:

    That’s a total of $705.  But again, you’d have to know for sure that you could use all of the benefits.

    A better deal for most folks (that won’t cost nearly as much money or aggravation) is signing-up for a Hilton credit card like the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card.  You get 2 free weekend nights after meeting minimum spending requirements, plus Hilton Gold Elite status (free internet and breakfast).  The annual fee is $95.

    And because it’s a Visa Signature card, you’ll get many of the perks Hilton Select membership offers, like concierge service, insurance, travel discounts, and savings on dining, entertainment, and shopping.

    But you will NOT get a 24 hour hotline for pet assistance. 🙂

    Bottom Line

    The Hilton Select program offers cash back and discounts for Hilton hotel stays, travel, entertainment, and airline incidentals.  And you can get discounts on shopping, dining, and attractions, plus perks like concierge service and flight insurance.

    You’ll pay $399 or $549 a year depending on which version of the program you sign-up for.

    This really would only be worth it if you know you’ll be able to use all the cash back options and rebates.  Plus, you’ll have to save receipts, track spending, and mail in rebate forms.  This might be a pain for a lot of folks!

    I’d rather get many of these benefits for free from credit cards like the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve.  But for some, this might be a good deal.

    Do you belong to Hilton Select?  Has it been worth it for you?

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)