So there has been a raft of changes to the Hilton Honors program. First and foremost the name. Hilton has decided that the double H at the beginning of the Word Honors was unnecessary. Obviously for a long time many people have often wondered why it is essentially named twice. Many assumed that the H stood for Hilton but the program was commonly know as Hilton HHonors, so Hilton Hilton Honors. Well its now gone, and with it the re-branding has begun. New logo, New app and a gradual change and feel to the website is progressing.
Along with the re-branding the Hilton Honors program is introducing some big changes scheduled for introduction throughout 2017. These changes are probably the biggest changes to the way the program works in over a decade.
So what are the changes:
Pay with Honors Points and Cash is changing. From 1st of march it will be possible to pay for your stay with any combination of points and money rather than the previous fixed limited Points and cash offering. The principle is rather simple. If the room cash price is $100 per night and the Points reward value is 20,000, it will be possible to pay $50 + 10,000 points, or any combination in between starting at 5000 points.
Does this devalue the points? Will the points redemption price change?
Well Hilton have assured everyone that whilst the previous category system is going to be phased out you will not pay more in points today than you previously would have done. There is still going to be great redemption’s and poor redemption’s. We do advise with the new system to calculate how much value you are getting per point to make sure you are not wasting your points.
Hilton have been very proud of the way this new system is implemented. The new slider, which is rather neat, is how you choose what proportion of money and points you wish to pay. If you want to give it a go, tick the points and money checkbox on the left when choosing a rate and where you see the points and money logo you will be able to play with the amounts via the slider on the payment page.
Other changes for 2017 include the ability to pool your points with another Honors member so if you do not have enough for a stay you can pool your points with your friends or family and get your redemption your after.
Diamond members will have the ability to pause their membership for the period of twelve months should they feel that they would not be able to maintain it in the current year. This will only be offered to select members who qualify it has to be noted.
For more information on the changes view the new Hilton Honors page here