Hilton free night certificates: How to earn them and maximize their value
Free night certificates are an appealing way to save money at hotels — and Hilton Honors offers one of the most valuable certificates out there. Unlike most other programs’ free night awards, which limit you to certain hotel categories or points-per-night values, you can use Hilton free night certificates virtually anywhere, including at the program’s most aspirational properties.
These Hilton free night certificates come as perks on some Hilton cobranded cards, either on your cardmember anniversary or when you reach a set spending threshold. Sometimes, cards will offer these valuable free nights as part of a limited-time welcome bonus, like the Hilton Honors American Express Card and Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card are doing right now.
In this guide, we’ll highlight how to earn Hilton free night certificates and how to get the most value out of this fantastic perk.
Related: These are the best Hilton hotels in the world
Overview of Hilton free night certificates
Let’s start with the basics. First, Hilton free night certificates are only valid for standard award rooms. They can’t be used for upgraded accommodations, which will be noted as “Premium Room Rewards” when you search on Hilton’s website. There are no blackout dates, but if a standard award room isn’t available on the date of your stay, you won’t be able to use a certificate.
Hilton free night certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issuance, and you can use them at most participating properties in the Hilton Honors program. While previously restricted to weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) nights, you can now use them any night of the week.
You can see any unused certificates in your online account (along with those redeemed in the last 12 months), so if you’re wondering when your certificate expires, simply log in and scroll down to see them.
Finally, it’s worth noting that each card in the Hilton Amex portfolio awards these certificates in slightly different ways — which we’ll cover next.
Related: The best hotel credit cards that come with an annual free night
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How to earn Hilton free night certificates
The following three Hilton credit cards offer ways to earn valuable free night certificates.
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card used to allow cardholders to earn a free night certificate after meeting a spending requirement, but American Express announced in March that this perk will be discontinued.
Hilton Honors American Express Card
Though the Hilton Honors Amex Card doesn’t typically offer a free night certificate as a perk, it’s currently offering one as part of the welcome bonus. For a card with no annual fee (see rates and fees), that’s an excellent offer.
Current welcome bonus: Earn 70,000 Hilton Honors bonus points plus a free night reward after spending $2,000 on purchases on the card in the first six months of card membership. Offer ends April 29.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
If you open the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, you’ll receive one free night upon opening the card and then one each year after your account renewal. You can earn a second free night by spending $30,000 on the card in a calendar year and a third night when you spend $60,000 in a calendar year. The card comes with a $550 annual fee but also includes benefits like complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status and up to $400 annually (up to $200 semiannually) in statement credits for eligible purchases at eligible Hilton resorts.
Current welcome bonus: Earn 175,000 points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on the card in the first six months from account opening.
The information for the Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card
Both new and existing holders of the Hilton Surpass Card can earn a free night certificate after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year. The card also provides complimentary Hilton Gold status plus up to $200 back each year (up to $50 in statement credits each quarter) on Hilton purchases. The card has a $150 annual fee (see rates and fees).
Current welcome bonus: Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points plus a free night reward after spending $3,000 on purchases on the card in the first six months of card membership. Offer ends April 29.
Related: Hilton Surpass vs. Hilton Aspire: Do you want Gold or Diamond status?
Where can Hilton free night certificates be redeemed?
While each certificate is valid at virtually any property in the worldwide Hilton portfolio, a few dozen are excluded, including many Hilton Grand Vacations properties and other “distinctive properties.” You can see the full list of these excluded properties on Hilton’s website.
Still, the vast majority of Hilton Honors properties accept these certificates, including aspirational hotels and resorts in places ranging from Bora Bora and the Maldives to Kyoto, Japan, and Park City, Utah.
This makes Hilton free night certificates more valuable than comparable ones offered by Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt and IHG One Rewards, which generally restrict certificates to certain hotel categories or points redemption values.
When will you receive your Hilton free night certificate?
Hilton free night certificates are sent electronically to your email address on file.
The Hilton Aspire’s terms and conditions indicate that your initial free night certificate should arrive within eight to 14 weeks after opening the card. Your annual certificate should arrive within eight to 14 weeks of your anniversary date.
For the current welcome offer on the Hilton Surpass, the terms state that it’ll take “up to 16 weeks” for the email to arrive with the details of your free night reward.
Finally, for certificates earned through spending on either card, you’ll receive them eight to 12 weeks after reaching the spending requirement.
We’ve found the process to be much quicker in practice. That said, your experience may vary, so don’t plan on using these certificates too soon after you earn them.
Related: How to choose the best Hilton credit card for you
How to use Hilton free night certificates
Once you’ve earned one (or more) of these certificates, the process to redeem them is straightforward. Historically, this had to be completed over the phone, but now you can also do it by online chat. Either way, we’ve found the booking experience to be relatively hassle-free.
However, before you even pick up the phone, you’ll want to verify that your desired property has standard award inventory available for your desired dates. If standard rooms are sold out or you would rather book premium rooms, you must either pay out of pocket or redeem Hilton points.
To check availability, go to hilton.com, enter your search criteria (be sure to check the “Use Points” box) and then look for any property with “Standard Room Reward” listed in the results.
In this example, for a one-night stay in New York City over Christmas, you could use your free night certificate for the first two properties. But since the Conrad New York Midtown only has “Premium Room Rewards” available, you wouldn’t be able to do so there.
Some hotels may even have multiple room types under the “Standard Room Reward” designation, so be sure to look at each individual property to confirm the available rooms.
Once you’ve verified that standard awards are available, call Hilton at 800-446-6677. Let the agent know that you would like to make a reservation using your free night certificate(s) from your American Express card(s). Each free night should be associated with your account, but the email you received will have the certificate number in case the agent has trouble locating it.
If you have two or more Hilton free night certificates, you should be able to apply them to a single reservation, as Senior Editorial Director Nick Ewen did for a weekend trip with his family to Toronto for a concert:
Even though his confirmation listed the regular award cost (100,000 points for a two-night stay), he didn’t actually use those points since he attached two free night certificates to the reservation.
Note that these certificates can’t be combined with Hilton’s fifth-night-free perk, so you don’t want to use them on a five-night stay, as you must redeem points for all five nights to get one free. However, you could use a certificate for a sixth night, which can be a great option to extend your stay at a luxury resort.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the automatic Hilton elite status provided by credit cards is honored on all stays booked directly with Hilton, including reservations using free night certificates.
Related: When you should redeem free night certificates instead of hotel points
How to maximize Hilton free night certificates
Now that you know how to redeem your certificates, here are some strategies we’ve used to get as much value as possible from these credit card perks.
Redeem them at higher-tier properties
Your priority should be to redeem Hilton free night certificates at higher-tier properties. That’s because these certificates are valid at virtually all properties around the world — even those pricing upward of 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
So when you’re deciding how to use these free nights, try to aim for properties that cost 120,000 points per night or more. Since Hilton points are worth 0.6 cents apiece based on TPG’s April 2025 valuations, and since these certificates are essentially substitutes for using points, you’d get $720 of value on a 120,000-point stay. You can often get far more than that, though.
For instance, a Sunday night in September at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi costs an eye-watering $2,132. But since this is a standard room reward, bookable with 150,000 Hilton Honors points, you could pay for it with a free night certificate and save yourself over $2,000. You won’t get that sort of value from most World of Hyatt free night certificates or Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates.
Here are some terrific properties that normally require a high number of points per night:
Related: Is the $100 property credit for select Hilton cardmembers worth using?
Look for high paid rates
Another strategy to maximize the value of your certificates is to look for properties with high cash prices. High paid rates tend to correlate with high award rates, but that’s not always the case. Upscale hotels may have surprisingly low prices in the offseason, while you’ll often see low- to mid-tier properties charging sky-high room rates during special events, even though the number of points you’d need to redeem for a free night isn’t unreasonable.
Although Hilton no longer publishes award charts, its Points Explorer tool can help with your search.
This resource will highlight the maximum number of points a property can charge and the lowest award rate a member has booked. Generally speaking, if you find a weekend night when the property is charging the maximum award price, that’ll correlate to high paid rates — and thus get you solid value for your Hilton free night certificate.
Combine with other reservations
If you only have one or two Hilton free night certificates and are planning a longer stay, consider combining them with a paid stay or a regular award stay. While these might need to be booked separately, it does provide some additional benefits:
It allows you to redeem an award for more expensive nights. There are many times when a weekend night costs significantly more than a weeknight — for instance, in Las Vegas, we’ve seen properties go for 50,000 points on a Saturday night but only 34,000 points on a Sunday night. By combining a free night certificate with a standard booking, you can pay for the cheaper night with cash or points and attach the certificate to the pricier one.
It can be combined with card perks. Many cards offer perks for hotel stays, and some of these can be leveraged with a free night. For example, you could combine a free night with a separate reservation through a program like American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts via The Platinum Card® from American Express.
You could talk your way into an upgrade. A final possible strategy for scoring an upgraded room would be to combine a free night certificate (or two) with a premium room reward at the end of your stay. As long as the premium room type you booked is available at check-in, you might have luck convincing the agent to bump you right into the upgraded accommodations for the entire stay. Just be aware that this plan could backfire, forcing you to switch rooms halfway through your stay.
Related: Best ways to use 130,000 Hilton Honors points and a free night reward
Bottom line
You can redeem free night certificates at most properties in the Hilton Honors portfolio, giving you numerous ways to maximize their value.
The Hilton Surpass Card and Hilton Aspire Card provide a wealth of opportunities to earn these valuable certificates, and the Hilton Honors American Express Card is offering a certificate as part of its welcome bonus right now. Whether you’re a Hilton loyalist or you only stay at Hilton properties occasionally, it could be worth adding one of these to your wallet.
The information for the Hilton Aspire card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Surpass Amex card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Amex card, click here.
