We’ve been singing Hilton’s praises lately – even floating the idea that Hilton could dethrone Hyatt as the best hotel loyalty program. But recent developments could turn that on its head.
Late last year, Hilton quietly raised award rates at many of its top properties. Just weeks ago, Hilton did it again: standard room awards that once maxed out at 150,000 points per night now top out at a whopping 200,000 points per night. That kind of increase doesn’t just sting, it signals a shift that could potentially threaten the most valuable perk in Hilton’s arsenal: its free night certificates.
These certificates have long been the crown jewel of Hilton’s loyalty program, offering unparalleled flexibility and value. But with award rates soaring and Hilton showing little restraint, how much longer can this incredibly valuable benefit last?
Read More: Hilton's Free Night Certificates Are the Best By Far: Here's Where to Redeem Them
The Best Free Night Certificates Available … For Now
All the major hotel chains – Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG – offer free night certificates through their co-branded credit cards. But Hilton’s stand out in one major way: there’s no cap on how expensive a property can be, as long as there’s standard room availability.
That means your free night certificate can unlock stays at ultra-luxurious properties around the globe, including those now under the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) brand, recently folded into Hilton’s portfolio. For now, nothing is off-limits.
Other chains? They’re far more restrictive and have been for quite some time.
Historically, Hilton free-night certificates were limited to weekend redemptions – they were only redeemable on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. That changed during the worst of the pandemic, when Hilton began allowing redemptions any night of the week. In late 2022, that flexibility became permanent.
Combine that with no cap on how much a specific property can cost with points (as long as standard room award availability exists) and a growing luxury portfolio, and you’ve got a travel perk that’s currently unmatched.
But that’s exactly what makes us nervous.
Award travel perks that provide outsized value rarely stick around for long. And after two recent devaluations to Hilton’s award pricing, it feels like these free night certificates are too good to last in their current form.
How Other Chains Handle Free Night Certificates
Here's a look at the free night certificate structures of the other major hotel chains for comparison.
Hyatt Free Night Certificates
World of Hyatt offers both the consumer World of Hyatt Credit Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link), and a business version, the *world of hyatt business*. But only the consumer card offers a free night certificate.
Each year you hold the card (starting your second full year with the card), you'll receive a free night certificate. These certificates can be redeemed at any category 1-4 Hyatt property. That covers Hyatt hotels that cost up to 15,000 points per night – or more when Hyatt is charging peak rates.
Considering Hyatt's award chart goes all the way up to category 8, you can safely assume that you'll be able to book a middle-of-the-road hotel with your free night certificate. Far from the worst, but also far from the best.
And with Hyatt's annual reshuffle of property award categories, getting outsized value from the free night certificate is getting more difficult. That said, with an annual fee of only $95 on the card, you shouldn't have to work too hard to get much more value out of the certificate than you're paying for the annual fee.
All information about the World of Hyatt Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Marriott Bonvoy® Free Night Certificates
The *bonvoy brilliant* is the top dog in Marriott's credit card portfolio. It charges an annual fee of $650 each year (see rates & fees) … but with that, you get a ton of benefits that can easily offset that fee.
To start, each year on your cardmember anniversary, you'll get a free night certificate that can be redeemed for any Marriott property that costs 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points or less. After Marriott shifted to a dynamic pricing model for award stays – charging unpredictable points rates that hinge mostly on the cash cost – there's a silver lining: Marriott also introduced an award top-off feature.
This means Marriott Bonvoy credit cardholders have the ability to “top off” a free night award certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. So, for example, if you have a free night certificate to use at any Marriott property that costs up to 85,000 points each year, you could apply up to 15,000 of your own Marriott points to book a property that costs up to 100,000 points. This feature makes it possible to use the annual free night from the Bonvoy Brilliant card at many of Marriott's properties around the world.
The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (for full disclosure, this is our personal referral link) is a mid-tier card in Marriott's credit card portfolio with a much more palatable annual fee of $95 each year.
When it comes time to use the free night certificate from your Boundless Card, you'll have fewer choices than the free night you get with the more expensive Brilliant. It is only valid for properties costing 35,000 Bonvoy points or less each night.
With the ability to top off free night award certificates, you could use the certificate (plus 15,000 points) to book a free night at any property that costs up to 50,000 points each night.
Finally, the *Bonvoy Business* also offers an annual free night certificate for properties that can be booked for up to 35,000 Bonvoy points each night. This benefit starts in your second year, after renewing your card. But again, you'll be able to apply up to 15,000 additional Bonvoy points to this free night certificate that allows you to book a property costing up to 50,000 points each night.
All information about the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) Free Night Certificates
The *ihg premier* provides an annual free night certificate for properties costing up to 40,000 IHG points each night. Like many other hotel cards offering a free night certificate, that benefit becomes available in your second year of holding the card.
IHG has long been an afterthought for many travelers, but after making some significant changes to its loyalty program a couple of years back, the chain added the ability to top off annual free night certificates with an unlimited number of points. This essentially allows cardholders to book any hotel in the IHG portfolio as long as they're willing (and able) to kick in some extra points.
Like the personal version, the *IHG Business* also provides an annual free night certificate (available in your second year of holding the card) for properties costing up to 40,000 IHG points each night with the ability to top the certificate off with an unlimited number of points.
Hilton Free Night Certificates
Hilton and American Express team up to issue a handful of different co-branded credit cards. But only two of them offer these free award night certificates as a perk.
On one, getting a Hilton free night certificate is as easy as keeping the card open and paying your annual fee. On the other card, you'll need to spend a certain amount each year to get one. Critically, Amex doesn't restrict you from holding both and earning free night certificates on both.
Here's a breakdown of American Express cards that can get you Hilton's free night award certificates.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
We think the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card might just be the best hotel card, period.
While it does have an annual fee of $550 (see rates & fees), it comes with an incomparable amount of benefits that can easily offset that. And it starts with a lucrative Hilton free night certificate.
Each year you hold the card, you'll get a free night certificate that can be used for a standard room at almost any Hilton hotel in their entire portfolio (as long as there is standard room award availability). Unlike other hotel credit cards, you get this benefit right off the bat, within about eight to twelve weeks of opening the card, not after your first full year with the card.
The Aspire card also allows you to earn a second free night certificate each year by spending $60,000 or more on the card in a calendar year.
In addition to the powerful free night certificate, the Hilton Aspire Card comes with automatic top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond status just for holding the card. It's the only hotel card that will instantly give you top status, unlocking benefits like room upgrades, hotel club lounge access, and certificates of up to $25 each day to use for dining during your stay.
The card also provides up to $400 per year in Hilton Resorts statement credit for incidentals charged to your card at participating Hilton resorts. You can use this for just about anything you charge to your room, like spa treatments, restaurant charges, and more. You'll get $200 in the first half of the year (January through June) and then another $200 in the second half of the year (July through December).
If that isn't enough, you'll get up to an annual $200 airline fee credit. Just use your Hilton Aspire Card to pay for a ticket (or seat assignment, upgrade – whatever!) directly with the airline, and the credit should kick in. The only downside here is that it's a quarterly benefit, with $50 available every three months. These are use-it-or-lose-it benefits, so every quarter you forget to use it would mean you'd lose out on $50 back.
All information about the Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Learn more about the Hilton Honors Aspire Card (for full disclosure, this is our personal referral link)
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
The *Hilton Surpass* also provides a free weekend night certificate, but only after you spend $15,000 on your card in a calendar year.
You'll also get Hilton Honors Gold status just for holding the card. This will get you free breakfast at almost any Hilton hotel abroad, or a daily food and beverage credit at U.S. properties.
The Hilton Surpass card has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150 (see rates & fees)
Learn more about the *Hilton Surpass*.
As you can see, Hilton's free night certificates are far superior to those offered by the competition, and recent increases to standard award rates at many Hilton properties across the globe have made these certificates more valuable than ever.
Plus, the addition of the Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) brand to Hilton's portfolio has exponentially increased the ability to redeem these certificates for outsized value.
Why We Think A Devaluation Might Be Coming
Let’s connect the dots:
- Hilton has raised standard award rates at many properties not once, but twice, in less than a year.
- After a recent devaluation, some of the chain’s best properties now cost up to 200,000 points per night. That makes the chain's free night certificates even more valuable … maybe even too valuable.
- No caps, being able to use them any day of the week, and SLH properties now in the mix? That feels like an unsustainable level of generosity, especially when none of Hilton's primary competitors even come close.
We don’t have insider intel, but based on Hilton’s recent moves, a change – likely a cap on how many points a property can cost to use a free night certificate – feels inevitable.
Bottom Line
Hilton’s free night certificates remain one of the most powerful perks in hotel loyalty. You can still use them at some of the best properties in the world, with no caps and no blackout nights (as long as you can find standard room award availability).
But given Hilton’s recent pricing hikes, that perk in its current form seems like it can't last much longer. If you’ve been eyeing a top-tier Hilton stay, now is the time to earn (and burn) these certificates on a bucket-list redemption.
Because in the world of points and miles, perks that offer this much value never stick around forever.
I think you should be a bit more upfront about the “benefits” the Aspire card/Diamond status grant un the US. There are very few properties left with what you call “hotel club lounge access” as Hilton has removed what *they* call Executive Lounges from many properties stateside. Room upgrades are vanishingly rare thanks to the number of people who have unearned (e.g. Aspire granted) Diamond status – and not all Hilton brands offer upgrades (Embassy Suite, Hampton, Garden Inn, Home2, Homewood, LivSmart, Motto, Tempo, Spark, Tru do not). The average food/bev credit, again for only those chains that offer one, is typically $10-$15 which doesn’t pay for anything except a couple bottles of water.
Diamond status is much better outside the US, thanks to these credit card status offers not being available to citizens in most other countries. If I could have the experience with Hilton in the US that I’ve had in Europe, where they actually not only upgrade you, have Executive Lounges, and include free breakfast spreads that far outstrip the puny continental on offer here, I’d be with you on singing their praises.