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Hilton changes the rules of its ‘three stays for Gold’ hotel promotion

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In late July I wrote about an ‘open to all’ promotion that Hilton HHonors was running with airberlin.

My original article is here – I won’t repeat all of the details again.

You receive Hilton HHonors Gold status if you complete just three stays at any Hilton Group hotel.  Even reward stays count.   The Gold status will last until March 2017.

Hilton Gold 350

Hilton HHonors Gold status has the best mid-tier benefits of any hotel loyalty scheme.   The full list is here but the key ones are an upgrade (which you usually get) and free breakfast, except at Waldorf-Astoria properties.

Hilton has now changed the promotion rules.

How has Hilton changed the rules?

The promotion says that you must complete your three stays within 90 days of registration via this website.

Originally, the final day for registration was December 31st.  This meant that it was possible to complete your 3rd stay in 2016 – and this would have meant your Gold status would run until March 2018.  The rule is that you get status for the remainder of the year you earn it, all of the following year and until March of the year after that.

Hilton has changed the closing date for registration to September 30th.

This means that it is now impossible to finish this promotion in 2016 and thus get status until March 2018.  Whenever you sign up, your Gold status will ‘only’ last until March 2017.

This is still an excellent promotion, and one which is worth moving three stays to Hilton Group hotels this Autumn, but it is a little less exciting than it was.

You can register for the promotion here.  The 90 days starts ticking from the date you register.


How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

You can apply for either card here.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

10,000 bonus points, Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, Hilton Silver status and 0.5% FX fees Read our full review

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

Holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton Honors points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

Comments (48)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Felix Flyer says:

    Slightly OT too but is anyone else missing their 1000 points for changing their Holton password after the promo from a few months ago?

  • Peter K says:

    I registered for this promo and had a message saying it had worked but where on the Hilton website does it say I’ve done so? My first stay is tomorrow so wanted to make sure I’ve done it correctly. Thank you. 🙂

    • Rob says:

      It doesn’t. All you can do is complete the three stays and hope it ticks over (which is does – there is no record of people registering and the status not turning up).

      • Jambuie says:

        I emailed Honors customer service to check that my registration for the air Berlin offer had gone through. They’re replied that it had, then a couple of days later the counter on the status progress has been updated showing 3 stays until Gold.

        I’ll be getting gold with 3 stays at the Hampton Inn in Newport, which is only 5000 points a night. Drove over there last night, checked in, went home, drove back this morning for breakfast and checked out!!

  • Peter K says:

    That comment is a bit like New York….

    It’s a comment so good it had to be said twice 😉

  • Peter says:

    I just qualified for gold based on the Accenture 4 stays promo posted here a while back. The confirmation email said my status would last until March 2017 so I’m not sure this article is correct!

    • Rob says:

      That is correct – all of rest of the year you got it (2015), the next full year (22016) and then a run-off period until March the next year (2017).

  • Ian says:

    I would never book via hotels.com or any other such site as I would not get my hhonors benefits.

  • Saif says:

    I am planning on booking 3 stays at Hilton Manchester Piccadilly but not sure if it still count as 3 stays as they are quite close to each other. I am planning on booking Thursday check in, Friday check out and Sunday check in, Monday check out. Thursday check in again and Friday check out. These are 1 night stays as I’m trying to get Gold the cheapest way possible and this is the cheapest for me.
    Does anyone know if I will experience any problems because the stays are so close together?
    Any help would be much appreciated.

    Saif

  • The Cardinal says:

    Hi – I have just tried to register for this but I got a message saying my account had already registered. It hasn’t. Has anybody else come across this?

    I have e-mailed Honours Support – but my first stay is tomorrow night and wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything!

    Thanks for any comments…

    • The Cardinal says:

      Ignore this – I tried again on a different browser and for some reason it worked fine.

      • Tocsin says:

        Same for me – said already registered (using Chrome), but accepted the registration when I used IE 11 – so thanks for the heads up, your Eminence!

  • RedDom says:

    I’ve signed up for this, as were planning on staying in a hilton next year for our easter holiday in dubai. however I’m now wondering if its worth it, given the pretty good IHG accelerate offer I have (not sure I can do both)
    As a family of 4 if we booked a 2 bedroom apartment (potentially with breakfast) in either the DT Jumeirah, or Hilton The walk, what benefits could we expect if I was Gold by the time we checked in? Also any views on either of those hotels for a beach holiday with 2 young kids?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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