The Hilton Honors program is a favorite of mine because of how easy it is to earn points. Most commonly, points can be earned via hotel stays, credit card spending and regular quarterly promotions. When it comes to hotel stays, Hilton Honors members earn 10 base points for every eligible dollar spent. But you can really amplify your points earning capabilities through Hilton branded credit cards and taking advantage of Hilton promotions.

On my recent road trip to South Dakota, I stayed four nights in total at Hilton properties and spent $664 ($590 before taxes and fees). Those stays earned me 5,908 base points. However, because I paid with my Hilton Aspire credit card and signed up for Hilton’s promotion, I earned an additional 23,112 bonus points! In this post, I’ll show you how stacking a Hilton promotion with a Hilton-branded credit card can supercharge your points earning potential.

How To Earn Hilton Points

All Hilton Honors members earn base points for staying at Hilton properties. In addition, there are three main ways to earn bonus points for those same hotel stays. Bonus points can be earned via promotions, credit card ownership and elite status.

Base Points

When you stay at a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio, you earn 10 base points for every dollar spent on your room rate and other eligible room charges, including telephone calls and room service.

Bonus Points

Promotions

You can earn extra points on every stay if you sign-up for Hilton’s year-round bonus promotions. I took advantage of the below promotion on my road trip.

Registering only takes a minute and you won’t miss out on any future bonus points.

Whenever a new hotel promotion is announced, I’ve made it a habit to always register, even if I have no plans to stay with that hotel chain. It only takes a minute and could end up being very rewarding if you end up with an unplanned stay. If you register every time, you’ll never miss out on bonus points, especially for last-minute hotel stays.

Credit Card Ownership

If you own one of Hilton’s co-branded American Express credit cards, you also earn bonus points on every dollar spent on hotel stays:

Earn 7x points with the no-fee Hilton Honors Card
The $95 per year Hilton Honors Surpass Card earns 12x points
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card ($450 annual fee) earns 14x points
And, the Hilton Honors Business Card ($95 annual fee) earns 12x points

Elite Status

Another benefit of owning a Hilton credit card is elite status, which gets you even more bonus points on hotel stays.

Silver status (earned with the Hilton Honors Card) offers a 20% points bonus
Gold status (earned with the Hilton Honors Surpass and Business cards) offers an 80% points bonus
Diamond status (earned with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card) offers a 100% points bonus

How I Earned My Bonus Points

I own the American Express Hilton Aspire Card which earns the most bonus points (14 points per dollar spent) on purchases charged directly with a property within the Hilton portfolio (including bookings and incidental charges). With this card, I also have automatic Diamond status, which gets me a 100% bonus on base points earned.

Additionally, I registered for the Hilton “go more, get more” promotion, which ran from May 6, 2019 through September 8, 2019. Registered Hilton Honors members earned double bonus points beginning on their second stay during the Promotion Period. I had stayed at a Hilton property in late May for work, so I earned bonus points for all three stays on my road trip.

So here’s how my points earning broke down:

Base Points – For simply being a Hilton Honors member, I earned 5,908 base points (10x points per dollar).
MyWay Bonus – MyWay is a feature of the Hilton Honors program that allows Gold and Diamond status members to choose extra benefits based on personal preferences. One option is to earn additional bonus points at hotels in the Hilton portfolio which got me 2,000 bonus points.
Promotion Bonus – By registering for the “go more, get more” promotion, I netted another 5,908 bonus points.
Elite Status Bonus – My Diamond status got me a 100% point bonus, which equaled 5,908 bonus points.
Credit Card Bonus – With my 14x points per dollar for using my Hilton Honors Aspire Card, I earned another 9,296 bonus points.

The grand total for everything came to 29,020 Hilton Honors points.

For some reason my stay at the Hampton Inn Deadwood did not earn the correct bonus points but after speaking with an Amex representative, those 3,135 missing points will be credited on an upcoming statement.

With my nearly 30,000 new Hilton points, I have enough for a free night at moderate Hilton brands like Hampton Inn, Home2 Suites and Homewood Suites.

Or I can save them for my big anniversary trip to Hawaii in 2020!

How I Earned Almost 30,000 Hilton Points on my 2019 Road Trip — I can put the extra points earned from my road trip to my 5th wedding anniversary stay at the Grand Wailea in Maui!

Hilton Honors Credit Cards

As I’ve mentioned, I own the Hilton Aspire Card which earns the most bonus points per dollar spent on hotel stays. However, the $450 annual fee is not for everyone, even though the card delivers outstanding value. The good news is there are two other personal cards and a business card to consider.

Besides the Hilton Honors Aspire Card, you can choose from:

Hilton Honors Card (no annual fee) – currently offering a sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of account opening
Hilton Honors Surpass Card ($95 annual fee) – currently offering a sign-up bonus of 125,000 points after you spend $2,000 in the first three months of account opening
The Hilton Honors Business Card ($95 annual fee) – currently offering a sign-up bonus of 125,000 points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months of account opening

So which Hilton card is right for you? See a side by side comparison of all three personal cards.

Bottom Line

Earning a crazy amount of extra Hilton points is pretty easy to do if you stack Hilton promotions with earning points from Hilton credit cards. This fall I earned 29,020 Hilton points from only four nights of hotel stays. I spent $664 in total, which means I earned 43.7 points for every dollar spent on my road trip.

Owning a Hilton credit card is the easiest way to boost your earning potential. For me, the Hilton Aspire Card and the Diamond status I receive from it, earned me just over 17,000 of those extra points. In addition, stacking the available Hilton promotion on top of that got me another 5,908 points. All of it really adds up! So always remember to pay for your Hilton hotel charges with a Hilton credit card and sign up for all available promotions. If you do this, you’ll earn extra points and quickly boost your Hilton Honors points balance!