Hilton Isn’t Actually Tightening Points Expiration Rules

by Gary Leff

In January 2020 Hilton changed its points expiration rules from expiring points after 12 months of account inactivity to expiration after 15 months of inactivity.

Then the pandemic hit, and like many programs Hilton paused points expiration. Hilton points don’t expire at all through the end of 2021, so this isn’t urgently top of mind for most members.

However the Hilton Honors terms and conditions rolled back and started showing 12 month expiration again. That’s a mistake.

A Hilton spokesperson tells me “the current policy is 15 months.” As for why the terms and conditions say something stricter, they “are investigating the issue now and will confirm when it is resolved.”

To keep Hilton points from expiring, starting again in 2022, you need to earn or redeem points at least once every 12 months. Credit a stay or redeem points (even towards a small Amazon purchase), or in an absolute worst case buy points ($10 for 1000 points without a discount or bonus).

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. OK. How on earth do you view pt expiration or last activity? I have AW but I don’t think that tells you- if it does I can’t figure it out. I logged in to HH and clicked Member. Also tried Points, Activity, and Profile. WTF???

  2. @Sexy_kitten

    On the Hilton Honors Activity page for some reason it defaults to “Upcoming Stays” being checked and not “Other Activity”. Try checking “Other Activity”, then the “Update” button. Add 12-15 months to the latest entry and that’s your points expiration date. I thought it was 12 months, but Gary says 15 months now. To be safe, make a small charge on a Hilton credit card every 11 months if you haven’t stayed at a Hilton in a year.

  4. Points should never expire. The consumer earned them by choosing your hotels. If they expire, we are free to take our business elsewhere.

  5. I find HILTON to be the WORST at caring NOTHING about customer LOYALITY. I appealed 2 time to restore the more than 200,000 hilton honor points (yes I was a very loyal customer) and after the 2nd appeal they offered a measley 20%. When the same thing happened with Marriott and Hyatt, it took 1 phone call to restore. I am so done with Hilton!! Good Bye!!!

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