You put a lot of effort into earning Hilton Honors points.
Maybe you have a stash of points you're saving for a big trip, or some points leftover from a big redemption that you've forgotten about.
It's important to keep in mind that Hilton Honors points do expire, but keeping them from expiring is pretty easy, fortunately. It can be as simple as earning Hilton points from a credit card.
When Do Hilton Points Expire?
Hilton Honors points expire after 12 months of inactivity. If your Hilton Honors account is inactive for 12 consecutive months, all of your accumulated Hilton points will expire and you can no longer use them to book a free stay.
Hilton defines inactivity as 12 consecutive months without any of the following activities:
- Staying at a resort or hotel in the Hilton Portfolio
- Earning Hilton points through a third-party source like a Hilton Honors credit card
- Donating Hilton Honors points through the Giving Back Program
- Buying Hilton Honors points
If your account is inactive for 12 consecutive months, you have 90 days to take any of these steps or your points will expire.
If your Hilton Honors account is inactive for 5 years, it will be completely deactivated.
How to Keep Hilton Points From Expiring
While Hilton has a short expiration period for points, the good news is it's easy to keep Hilton points from expiring. You don't even need to stay at a Hilton hotel to keep your points.
The cheapest and easiest way to keep Hilton points from expiring? Simply use 5 Hilton Honors points to offset $0.01 of an Amazon purchase by choosing to pay with points at checkout.
Here are the many ways you can keep your Hilton Honors account active.
Book a Hilton Stay
When you book a Hilton stay directly through Hilton, it will keep your Hilton points active. It's important to note that booking a Hilton stay using points won't keep your points from expiring unless your stay is complete before the points expire.
You can keep Hilton points from expiring by staying at any brands in the Hilton Honors program.
Use a Hilton Honors Credit Card
Using any of the American Express Hilton Honors credit cards will keep your Hilton Honors account active and prevent your points from expiring because you will earn Hilton points on any purchase.
Use any of the following cards to earn Hilton Honors points to keep your account active:
Earning points with the Hilton Honors American Express Card
- Current Bonus: The Hilton Honors American Express Card offers 75,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months (terms apply).
- Benefits: This card earns 7x points on purchases at Hilton hotels, 5x points on purchases at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and on dining at U.S. restaurants, and 3x points on all other purchases. You will also earn complimentary Hilton Honors Silver status.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Learn More >
Earning points with the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card
- Current Bonus: The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card offers 125,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months (terms apply).
- Benefits: Its bonus spending categories make this card a powerful way to earn Hilton points. It earns 12x points on Hilton purchases, 6x points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations, and 3x points on all other purchases. You can also earn a free weekend night at any Hilton hotel each calendar year you spend $15,000 on your card.
- Annual Fee: $95
- Learn More >
Earning points with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Current Bonus: The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card offers 150,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months (terms apply).
- Benefits: This card is stacked with valuable benefits, such as an annual $250 Hilton Resort credit, an annual free weekend night certificate, and $100 on-property credit at Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties (must book special rate). You’ll also get a $250 Hilton Resort credit, and the automatic Diamond status will get you free breakfast and lounge access at Hilton hotels. Not to mention the annual $250 airline fee credit and airport lounge access with Priority Pass Select membership has you covered when you fly. On top of that, this card earns 14x points at Hilton Honors properties and 7x points on flights booked with airlines or amextravel.com, select rental car companies, and at U.S. restaurants.
- Annual Fee: $450
- Learn More >
Earning points with the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
- Current Bonus: The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card offers 125,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months (terms apply).
- Benefits: This card gives you automatic Hilton Honors Gold status, and you'll earn Diamond status when you spend $40,000 on your card in a year. You'll also get airport lounge access with 10 free Priority Pass lounge visits per calendar year. When you spend $15,000 on your card in a calendar year, you will earn a free weekend night certificate valid at any Hilton property. This card also earns 12x points at Hilton properties and 6x points on select business and travel purchases such as flights booked directly with airlines or Amex Travel, U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. mobile phone services. For all other purchases, you earn 3x points per dollar.
- Annual Fee: $95
- Learn More >
Earn Points Through Third-Party Sources
Your Hilton points will stay active and the expiration date will reset when you earn Hilton points through any source.
In addition to using a Hilton Honors credit card or actually staying at Hilton properties, you can try these other ways to earn Hilton points.
- Book a cruise through CruisesOnly.com with your Hilton Honors member number
- Sign up for Priority Pass using the Hilton promotional link
- Rent a car with Enterprise, Alamo, or National Car Rental using your Hilton Honors member number
- Use the Hilton Honors Dining Program to earn Hilton points
- Shop at partners like Vinesse Wines
- Ride with Lyft after linking your Lyft and Hilton accounts
- Sign up for OneSimCard to use your mobile phone abroad
- Shop with Hilton points at Amazon.com
Other Ways to Keep Hilton Points from Expiring
If shopping, dining, and travel options won't work, you can also keep Hilton points from expiring with the following:
- Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors
- Donate Hilton Honors points to charity through PointWorthy
- Buy Hilton Honors points (this usually delivers a poor value, though)
- Refer-a-Friend to a Hilton Honors credit card (note that it can take up to 8 weeks to get referral bonus points credited to your account)
- Book a Hilton event
How to Restore Hilton Honors Points
Have your Hilton Honors points expired?
In 2017, Hilton Honors introduced a formal procedure to restore expired Hilton points.
To qualify to restore your points, you must meet the following guidelines:
- Your points expired within the last 18 months
- You are reinstating 1,000 to 1 million points
- You have not reinstated expired Hilton points before
- You pay a fee to reinstate your points
To reinstate your Hilton Honors points, you can log into your Hilton account and click the "Restore Points" link or go to this point reinstatement link.
Reinstatement of expired points isn't free. You will need to pay a reinstatement fee to "buy back" your points at $0.0025 per point (or $2.50 per 1,000 points) for between 1,000 and 100,000 points. To reinstate between 100,001 and 1 million points, you pay a flat rate of $250.
So, is it actually worthwhile to reinstate your points?
It depends. If your points expired, you probably haven't been very active in Hilton Honors and your points may simply expire again or go unused.
On the other hand, Hilton Honors points are worth around 0.5 cents each (double the cost to reinstate them) and you won't have trouble getting an even better value.
You can see some of the ways you can redeem Hilton points for maximum value here to potentially get 1.5 cents or more per point.
If you're going to use your expired points, it's probably worth reinstating them.
FAQ
When do Hilton points expire?
Hilton Honors points expire after 12 consecutive months of account inactivity.
How do I keep Hilton Honors points from expiring?
- Book a Hilton stay
- Use a Hilton Honors credit card
- Earn points with partners like Lyft, car rental agencies, and CruisesOnly.com
- Use the Hilton Honors Dining Program
- Sign up for Priority Pass membership through Hilton
- Shop on Amazon with Hilton points
- Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors
- Donate Hilton points
- Buy Hilton points
- Refer-a-Friend to a Hilton Honors credit card
- Book a Hilton event
How do I know when my Hilton points expire?
Unfortunately, your Hilton Honors account doesn't tell you when your points expire. There is no warning that points are pending expiration, so you will need to get a rough idea by checking the date of your last activity if you don't use your Hilton account often.
Can I reinstate my Hilton points if they expired?
Yes, you can reinstate expired Hilton points at a fee of $0.0025 per point on 1,000 to 100,000 points or a flat $250 fee for 100,001 to 1 million points.
