Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Some fun uses for your Hilton HHonors points via Hilton @Play

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Hilton @Play is the Hilton equivalent of Starwood’s SPG Moments.  It allows you to use your Hilton HHonors points for interesting ‘experiences’ rather than (more) hotel stays.

To be honest, the UK offering from Hilton @Play has been underwhelming so far.  This was partly down to the quality of the events and partly down to the relatively crazy pricing.  In some cases, it looked as it Hilton was simply buying you a ticket using a relatively poor exchange rate for your points.

At the moment, however, there are a few interesting UK events which have some value:

London Yacht, Jet & Prestige Car Show VIP experience, 75,000 points

There were two of these packages left but it was down to one as of last night.  The nominal headline item is two VIP tickets to the show, which is spread across Old Billingsgate Market and St Katherine Docks.  As VIP tickets are not normally sold it is not clear what they offer.  Standard tickets to the show are easily available for free (I had a leaflet through my door with a pair attached) so I don’t value those highly.

However, it comes with a night at the London Hilton Park Lane including executive lounge access.  A redemption night at Park Lane is usually 80,000 points and that does NOT include lounge access.  This package is a decent redemption even if you have no intention of visiting the show.

Bicester Village shopping experience

Auction, currently 135,000 points

Again, this is better than it sounds.  You get:

One night stay for two in a suite at London Hilton on Park Lane, including breakfast
Chauffeur drive pick-up / drop off from the hotel
Lunch for two @ Villandry at Bicester Village 
Champagne reception and VIP room access for two
VIP discount Card for two
£250 gift card
Half day Stylist session
Hands free shopping

Let’s focus on the good bits.  The auction winner gets a night in a suite at Park Lane and a chauffeur driven trip to Bicester Village (which is quite a long drive, probably 90 minutes in bad traffic) where they are given £250 to spend and a free lunch.

Remember that you also earn Avios points on all your spending at Bicester – take your receipts and BAEC card to the Customer Services desk before you head home!

Udderbelly Festival, 10,000 points

Hilton is the lead sponsor of the Udderbelly Festival on the South Bank this spring.  There are LOTS of tickets available on Hilton @Play for many of the events.

10,000 Hilton points, which I only value at £30 when used for hotel rooms, would get you:

4 tickets for The Amazing Bubble Man

2 tickets for Closer by Circa (some days have 4 tickets for 20,000 points)

4 tickets for Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure for Kids

4 tickets for Card Ninja

The Hilton @Play website is very buggy.  Searching by UK events will not bring these up – you need to look at ‘All Auctions’ and scroll through the pages to find the relevant dates.

If you have some unused Hilton HHonors points looking for a home, there may be something for you here.  If you are willing to travel, there are also a lot of concert tickets available, eg Coldplay, Sting and Rihanna in Berlin.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th April 2025, the annual fee on the basic Hilton Honors debit card is halved from £60 to £30. The sign-up bonus is also easier to earn – you need to spend £1,000 either in the UK or abroad within three months. The usual bonus rule requires you to spend the full £1,000 outside the UK.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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.

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (50)

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

  • Jason K says:
    12 Apr12 April 11:54

    Completely OT, sorry. Has anyone received their Curve card that applied after 19 Feb? Im trying to ascertain what order they’re shipping in. Seems to be taking a while. If you have received it, can you list your order date, and delivery date? Thanks

    • Danksy says:
      12 Apr12 April 13:13

      Me neither 🙁

      • Jason K says:
        12 Apr12 April 13:41

        The initial spending limits could be considered a little low, depending on some people usage. I got this in an email from them in case anyone is interested:

        It’s worth noting that there are some limits on spending associated with the Curve card. All of our users are initially in Group 0. Over the first few months of usage, you should automatically move into Group 1, based on your usage patterns and risk scoring, but it takes about 2 – 4 weeks of constant usage of the card. We also need to do some work on our side, and we appreciate your co-operation and patience in supplying the information needed to pass your security checks.

        After passing such checks and 2-4 weeks passing, it will increase your limits.

        The current set spend limits for users in Group 0 are as follows:

        £2000 per single transaction
        £3000 per day
        £5000 per month
        £200 cash withdrawal per day

        • Genghis says:
          12 Apr12 April 13:47

          Jason K – do you know what those security checks are?

          • Genghis says:
            12 Apr12 April 13:51

            And does anyone have any idea of how to ‘jump through the hoops’ into higher Groups? I.e. should we be using the curve card as the default card (provided no requirement for S75 protection)?

          • Jason K says:
            12 Apr12 April 17:52

            I provided nothing more than what was required to sign up, and add cards to the app. So not sure what security checks they are referring to.

          • Axel says:
            12 Apr12 April 20:49

            the security check is Curve depositing a small amount of money into your credit card account and you confirming through the curve app. the amount.

            The bank withdrawl limit seems to be £200 per 24 hours – not per day from my experience

          • Genghis says:
            12 Apr12 April 21:25

            Axel – and out of interest, for how many days have you withdrawn £200?

          • Axel says:
            12 Apr12 April 22:02

            £200 …twice and I had trouble with the card being approved the next day, even on my own PDQ machine which I have in my own shop.

            I’m keeping to my usual spending pattern with the curve card and would recommend this method for anyone else considering the card.

    • Graeme says:
      12 Apr12 April 14:19

      Applied on the 18th; no card.

      Don’t suppose anyone has any insight into when Supercard might relaunch?

      • Nick M says:
        12 Apr12 April 22:30

        I’ve had a few issues with my account and had a chat with someone from their head office the other day – all she could say is that a different company will be running it when/if they relaunch

  • Genghis says:
    12 Apr12 April 13:45

    I signed up on the morning of 17 Feb I think (the day there was loads of chat on HfP about it and then Raffles did the article the following day). Still not received it.

    • Liz says:
      12 Apr12 April 14:52

      Same here – I applied on the 17th – got an email on 25/3 asking me to load a card for payment which I did – no payment taken yet – got another email on 8/4 saying I will be contacted again within a week and given a dispatch date. Still waiting to hear ….

      • AndyW says:
        12 Apr12 April 16:16

        I signed up before 8am on the 17th and nothing. They do not seem to be doing it in order or signup. Not overly impressed with the business so far, was supposed to be a March delivery. Rule 1, always under promise and over deliver!

        • Boi says:
          12 Apr12 April 17:12

          Signed up on the morning when curve was “hot topic” on hfp. Got email that it has been despatched. I am away and therefore can’t check if it arrived.

          Is it treated as debit card? Wondering if I could use it to pay my car tax when I get back without a fee?

          As an aside note…super card working well for me here in Spain for both cash withdrawals and card payments, their rates good too.

          • Rob says:
            12 Apr12 April 22:42

            It depends …. is the boring answer – on how each company codes this sort of product.

        • Sussex Bantam says:
          12 Apr12 April 17:16

          I applied on the 18th and got mine a week ago or so. So far so good – does exactly what it is supposed to – although I haven’t used it overseas yet.

          • Jason K says:
            12 Apr12 April 17:57

            Interesting, thanks. As AndyW suggests, doesn’t seem to be in any particular order. It feels childish to be upset, but i do agree that its always better to under promise and over deliver.

            I go away soon, and won’t be back till May. Disappointing, considering the initial March dispatch date.

          • Genghis says:
            12 Apr12 April 18:11

            Agreed. Perhaps they’ll allow a few weeks of £200 a day MS as compo?

          • Alan says:
            13 Apr13 April 01:15

            Still no sign of their Android app too so my order is now on hold 🙁

  • Wally1976 says:
    12 Apr12 April 15:49

    OT – I applied for the Accor Platinum status through Amex Platinum card last week (no previous status with Accor) and it has come through today. The expiry date is 30/4/17 – is that correct? Thought I read on here that they were doing up to 31/12/17?

    Incidentally I love the wording of the email: “We’re delighted to tell you that you’ve now earned 1,100 points / and stayed 0 nights with us, which means you’ve qualified for our highest level of recognition…”

    • Genghis says:
      12 Apr12 April 15:52

      That sounds like a mistake. My wife and I applied in February and got our status until 12/17. I’d drop them a note.

    • Alex says:
      12 Apr12 April 17:23

      The same on my account … is there any link for T&C for update I can use to support my request to extend status till December ?

    • Fenny says:
      12 Apr12 April 18:47

      My plat status was due to expire this month, so I re-applied via the Amex website. Just looked now and it’s valid until 28/12/16. I don’t know whether that’s just the new “if it expires mid year, extend until December” rule and my application hasn’t been processed yet.

    • Simmo says:
      13 Apr13 April 09:34

      Mines been updated to 31/12/17.

      I haven’t had the Plat amex for 2 Years!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!