Hilton Hotels Corp. has made several adjustments to its Hilton Honors loyalty program, including point extensions and lowered status milestones, the company announced Tuesday.
No Hilton Honors points will expire until Dec. 31, 2021. Previously, points could expire if a member did not show activity in their account for at least 15 months, according to the program's terms and conditions. Further, Silver, Gold and Diamond members who were set to downgrade in 2020 or 2021 will have their status extended to March 31, 2022.
Hilton also has lowered the status qualification requirements by 50 percent across all tiers, including stays, nights and base points in 2021. For example, to earn Gold status in 2021, a member must complete 20 nights, 10 stays or 37,500 points instead of 40 nights, 20 stays or 75,000 points. As previously announced, all 2020 nights automatically will roll over to the 2021 calendar year.
The bonus-night threshold, formerly 40 nights, will begin at 20 nights in 2021. Gold members will earn 10,000 bonus points for 20 nights stayed and will continue earning the additional 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights above that level in a calendar year. At 60 nights, a member still would earn the additional milestone bonus of 30,000 bonus points.
In addition, Hilton has reduced the threshold for gifting status nights. Previously, Diamond members who stayed 60 nights could gift Gold status or 100 nights to gift Diamond status. Those thresholds are now 30 nights and 60 nights, respectively, for 2021.
These new extensions and changes "are in place through 2021, and Hilton Honors will continually gather member feedback and evaluate the program benefits and policies to help inform program updates," said a Hilton spokesperson in an email.