Has Marriott Bonvoy Overtaken Hilton Honors as the Least Valuable Hotel Loyalty Program?
- Garrett Falcone
- Apr 23
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 10
Hilton Honors has long been considered one of the least valuable rewards programs due to high points prices, constant devaluations, and limited status benefits like guaranteed late checkout and suite upgrades when compared to World of Hyatt or Marriott Bonvoy.
While I'll agree there are some absurdities to the Hilton program, particularly at it's highest end properties, I personally still feel like I can often find some very good value in the program at what I'll call the "second tier" luxury resorts, so not the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi but other hotels in Hilton's luxury portfolio that still go for $1,000+ per night in cash.
Some of Hilton's flagship properties like the Waldorf Maldives are charging 250,000 points just for a standard room which is completely absurd and I don't think there's much value to be found there. However, I've often found hotels in Hilton's luxury brand portfolio (Waldorf, Conrad, LXR, and SLH) with standard rooms for 100,000 - 150,000 points per night which I believe is a nice sweet spot as these hotels are still typically retailing for $1,000/night+ in cash (this would give you a value of 0.6c - 1.0c per point).
With Marriott's constant devaluations recently, I would say Marriott's equivalent properties are generally in that same range for redemptions but as the Hilton points earning rate is significantly higher if you hold the top-tier co-branded credit card, this is what makes Hilton more valuable than Marriott in my opinion.
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Hilton Honors Earning Rates
To begin to compare Hilton to the other major hotel rewards programs, we need to first compare the earnings rate of each of the programs. The World of Hyatt program is on a different level in terms of value (even with the recent massive devaluation), so I'm just going to compare Hilton and Marriott here. You can read my analysis of the value of World of Hyatt here.
Hilton Honors:
10 points per $1 spent for general members
10 additional points per $1 spent with Diamond status (comes with Hilton Aspire Credit Card)
14 additional points per $1 spent on the Hilton Aspire Credit Card (highest tier co-branded card)
Marriott Bonvoy
10 points per $1 spent for general members
5 additional points per $1 spent with Platinum status (comes with Marriott Brilliant Credit Card)
6 additional points per $1 spent on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Credit Card (highest tier co-branded card)
As a general member, the points earning rate is the same for Hilton and Marriott, but if you pick up the highest tier co-branded card from each, the earning rate significantly drops off for Marriott (and I would say the benefits aren't as good as the Hilton Aspire Card)
Hilton Honors Redemption Rates
We've established that earning rates for general members are the same for Hilton and Marriott, but significantly higher (61% higher) if you hold the most expensive Hilton credit card compared to the equivalent Marriott card. So, given the earning rate is 61% higher for Hilton I would need the redemption rates for Hilton to be consistently 61% higher than equivalent Marriott redemptions to be able to say the Marriott program is more valuable.
Because both programs use dynamic pricing, it's hard to compare exactly but based on my personal experiences I would say Hilton redemptions are not consistently 61% more than Marriott. If anything I would say they are more equal or even Hilton is slightly cheaper for equivalent redemptions.
Just as a quick comparison, I looked at the Prince de Galles in Paris as I used that hotel in my comparison to Hyatt and for the random date I picked it's going for 148,000 Marriott points. I've never stayed at a Hilton in Paris but the Grand Hotel du Palais Royale (from what I can tell this would be the most comparable hotel) is listed at only 135,000 Hilton points.
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Hilton Honors Award Bookings
Now, there are a couple of key points to cover when booking with Hilton points:
Hilton (and Marriott) offers a 5th night free benefit when booking 4 nights with points. It's important to note that you can't book 3 nights with points, 1 night with your free night certificate, and then get a 5th night free.
Resort fees are waived on award stays, so this can save you upwards of $50 per night
In my experience, anything other than a "standard room" is usually priced laughably high to the point it would never make sense to use points for these "premium rooms".
I've found "standard rooms" are generally not too hard to find unless you are booking within a few months of the date when the hotel might be close to capacity.
Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card
The Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card is where I believe Hilton has a significant advantage over Marriott. From above, you can see using this card for Hilton stays will net you 34 points per $1 spent compared to only 21 points per $1 spent with the equivalent card at Marriott. This card has a huge annual fee of $550, but I think the perks alone more than make up for this fee. The comparable Marriott card is $650 and I don't think the perks even come close to the Hilton Aspire card.
You get a free night each year which can be used for any "standard room" - this is easily worth the fee of the card and I usually am able to book a room with a cash rate of $1,000+ with this.
Diamond status - This was Hilton's top-tier status until "Diamond Reserve" was introduced in 2026. The two big perks with Diamond is free breakast and 100% points earning boost (so 20x per dollar spent).
14x points earning per $1 spent at Hilton hotels. Coupled with Diamond status, this means you are earning 34x points per dollar just for having this card.
Quarterly airline credit of $50 - I simply add $50 to my United Travel Bank so this is worth $200 annually.
Resort credit of $200 semi-annually. I don't often stay at Hilton resorts so I don't take full advantage of this.
Clear+ credit of $209. This doesn't move the needle for me but since I have the card anyway, I do use this credit.
Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel
Cash Rate: $834
Points Rate: 105,000 Hilton points
Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel - Rome, Italy 2023
I've written about how the Rome Cavalieri is one of my favorite hotels in the world I've stayed at and I recommend if anyone is planning to stay at this hotel it's a no-brainer to pick up the Hilton Honors Aspire card. Again, this is all caveated by needing to book fairly far in advance for this hotel - looking right now in April nearly the entire summer is sold out.
For a stay in May (a beautiful time to visit in my opinion), this hotel is going for 105,000 points for a standard room or $834 which would give you 0.7c per point if you didn't take advantage of the 5th night free benefit or the credit card perks.
With the Hilton Honors Aspire card, you'll get the free night certificate which can be used for the King Deluxe room. Plus between the signup bonus and spending requirement, you'll likely have enough points for another 2 nights. With Diamond status you'll get free breakfast for 2 which would normally cost $100+. Since this is a resort, you can take advantage of the $200 resort credit here including charging dinner to your room at La Pergola, Rome's only 3 Michelin starred restaurant on the top floor of the hotel (which I would highly recommend experiencing).
Even without the credit card, I would book this hotel for 105,000 points per night especially if I was taking advantage of the 5th night free benefit. You can always get a coffee and cornetto for $5 outside the hotel.
Cash Rate: $1,543
Points Rate: 110,000 Marriott points
Zemi Beach House - Anguilla 2025
We stayed at Zemi Beach House in 2025 and it was by far our favorite resort we've stayed at in the Caribbean. It's small and unique enough to feel personal - Michael had our beach chairs ready to go each morning in our favorite spot. The hotel is located right on Shoal Bay Beach, the most beautiful beach we've ever seen.
I think the $1,543 price point is way overpriced as a result of many people using points at this hotel, but I would absolutely pay 110,000 points (1.4c per point). There are times you can buy Hilton points for 0.5c per point effectively making this a $550/night hotel which I do think is worth it.
Again, as this is a resort we were able to use the $200 resort credit with the Hilton Aspire card and were upgraded to a room with an ocean view with Hilton Diamond status.
In Summary
The Hilton Honors program gets a lot of hate for being worthless and I think there's some truth to this particularly around the most exlusive properties. However, I have found great value at luxury properties around the world with Hilton when coupled with the Hilton Honors Aspire credit card.
For a long time, Hilton has been considered the least valuable hotel rewards program amongst the 3 major programs in the US due to the very high redemption rates. But over the last 5 years I would argue Marriott has devalued it's program past the point of Hilton to where redemptions between the two programs look very similar point for point but it's signficantly easier to earn Hilton points, especially with the top-tier Hilton Aspire Card.
Now I know all loyalty programs are prioritizing credit cards as their primary source of revenue and I don't like to be promoting a card so heavily, but the Hilton Aspire Card is truly one of my favorite cards as I believe it provides significantly more value than the annual fee. I'm sure this will slowly be devalued but in the meantime it's a great card to pick up even if you just use it for one luxury trip and then cancel it.