Hilton Honors Devaluation
I appears Hilton is holding no prisoners. Not when it comes to the cost of their top tier properties in points at least. Mere months after their last massive hike in award prices they launched another staggering Hilton Honors devaluation. Once again targeting the crème de la crème Hilton properties with the value erosion. Think Waldorf and Conrad instead of Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn. It appears that Hilton thinks that no height is too high to go for a standard award night. On the flip side, or the silver lining, is that free night certificates just got a heck lot more valuable too.
Update 10/30/25: There Have Been Some Reversals
It appears that Hilton has reversed some of these devaluations according to Thrifty Traveler. The best news? It looks like they got my nasty grams about messing with my beloved Conrad Orlando property! Here are some of the properties that were noticeably cheaper than they were after the recent devaluations. Some of them are still higher than they were just a year or two ago though.
- Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea – From 160,000 down to 110,000
- Hermitage Bay – From 250,000 down to 230,000 (okay, this one still hurts)
- Conrad Orlando – From 110,000 down to 90,000
- Canaves Oia Suites – From 240,000 down to 175,000
Let's hope this is seeing a softening in award bookings and more of these reductions are to come. Charging 250,000 points for a room is just insane!
Update 9/10/25: Another Round Of Devaluations Rolled Out (250K A Night)
It looks like Hilton is back at it. For an astonishing third time in the last 9 months they have devalued many properties. The first round happened in December of 2024, and then they followed that up with another devaluation again in May. Now they are doing it again in September of 2025 to the tune of 250,000 points a night at some properties. This has completely jumped the shark. If you only get enough points for half a night at a top tier hotel when signing up for a credit card, then what is your program really worth? It renders the 5th night free option obsolete for most people, at least at their nicer properties. Spending upwards of 1,000,000 Hilton Honors points to get 5 nights at a hotel is just bonkers.
I assume that the free night certificates are still uncapped at this point and should still work on those nights where a 250K standard night is available. I should also mention the the spreads you can see for standard award pricing can vary widely depending on the date you select at the same hotel. There could be a 50,000 point difference etc. depending on when you are traveling. That makes it a bit more difficult to plan and set up your Hilton Honors portfolio for aspirational stays. Even some mid tier properties felt the crunch too. I would expect many popular hotels that you search to be 20%+ higher in cost per night versus what you saw last time you looked.
I have updated some of the examples below to show how bad this is. Make sure you are maximizing those free night certificates the best you can with these changes.
What Happened
In the middle of night the Hilton Honors team chose violence and launched standard award rates into the stratosphere. They decided to start a war on happiness of Hilton Honors points earners. In the last day or two we have seen prices shoot up to 250,000 points a night. These are for properties that were only 120,000 points just a year ago. Pure absurdity!
Here are some other properties with now higher standard awards (of which there are plenty more)
- RiverView Ranch Retreat
- From 150,000 in December / 200,000 in May / 220,000 in September
- Calala Island
- From 150,000 in December / 200,000 in May / 240,000 in September
- Waldorf Maldives Ithaafushi
- From 150,000 in December / 190,000 in May / 250,000 in September
- Hermitage Bay
- From 150,000 in December / 190,000 in May / 250,000 in September / 230,000 in October
- Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos
- From 140,000 in December / 250,000 in September
- South Bank Turks and Caicos
- From 130,000 in December / 180,000 in May / 220,000 in September
- Eichardt’s Private Hotel
- From 120,000 in December / 170,000 in May / 200,000 in September
- Milaidhoo Maldives
- From 150,000 in December / 170,000 in May / 190,000 in September
- Waldorf Astoria Osaka
- From 100,000 in December / 120,000 in May & still 120K
- Oceana Santa Monica
- From 105,000 in May / 200,000 in September
- Conrad Orlando
- From 90,000 points in May / 105,000 in September / 90,000 in October
- Evermore Orlando
- From 135,000 points in May / 150,000 in September
There are likely hundreds of other examples. There are also likely hundreds of examples of almost no change. The really annoying part is that Hilton seemed to focus on many of the same hotels that they already increased twice previously over the last year.
Free Night Certificates Are Now The Gold Standard
The silver lining of this Hilton Honors devaluation, and all of their devaluations really, is that the free night certificates are recession devaluation proof. That is because if there is a standard award available to book they should work. You have that right, it doesn't matter how high the per night points price goes. They'll still work, because they have no point or category cap like other free night certs (at least for now). With Hilton free night certs the only requirement is the room needs to be listed as a standard award. If you have a handful of these then you don't care about the points price too much. For these top tier properties at least. It does make me less likely to accept a middling 70K to 80K a night hotel stay for them though. Therein could lie the rub.
Hilton Honors Devaluation: ToP Thoughts
This Hilton Honors devaluation is a real kick in the teeth. Especially with it being another no notice one, and after they did the exact same thing six months ago. The silver lining is that it makes the best free night certificates in the business even better. The bad news is your points are worth up to 30% less than they were last night. At least in terms of what they could book at select hotels. Let me know your thoughts on this over in the ToP Facebook Group.
