We’re just not ready for a third Hilton devaluation in the past year. The program now offers nearly nothing to keep members loyal.

The latest Hilton devaluation is now a staggering 250,000 point cap

This is very difficult to type as we’ve never seen such a massive change in a year from a major travel provider before. Hilton now has devalued its points program three times in the last year. Just one year ago, the maximum points per night was 120,000. And then came the avalanche:

• In December 2024, the max moved to 150,000 points per night
• In May 2025, the max moved up to 200,000 points per night
• And now, in September 2025, the max per night is now 250,000 points

That’s completely absurd. That would mean the value of the points has been completely gutted at top resorts. Hotel prices that were at the cap and continue to be at the cap have increased a gut-wrenching 108% in a single year.

What are we still collecting Hilton points for?

How bad is it really?

Let’s have a closer look at the same set of hotels I’ve been using to track each Hilton devaluation over the past year. These properties purposely aren’t all sitting at the top end of the points scale just so we can get a sense what’s happening across the board. As a reminder, each hotel has its own max points, with the global limit set to 250,000 Hilton points. A property could cost fewer points than the max, but for expensive hotels, you should expect each room will cost the max.

Aside from the anomaly in Japan and a whiff in Fiji, all observed properties are going up in price. The much ballyhooed Waldorf Astoria Maldives is once again sitting at the max. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the hotel is very difficult to book on points. Availability gets released in batches and it’s generally gone within hours.

Aside from the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal also sits at the max of 250,000 points/night. And the Conrad Maldives, which we’ve been to twice, is now at 180,000 points/night.

Hilton points are dead to me

Here’s what I just don’t understand with these properties sitting at the max. It just doesn’t make sense given the value of these points.

Hilton will openly sell you points at $0.005 each. They run frequent sales. Heck, there’s even one going on right now. Just click through to buy points and you’ll see it. (How disingenuous is that if they’re selling points cheaply just to immediately devalue them after you bought them?)

Those properties that cost 250,000 Hilton points/night? Hilton says that will cost you $1,250 per night to stay there if you exclusively bought points to do it. How does that help loyalty? Oh, sure, you could stay there for four nights in a row and get the fifth free if you’re an elite member. But does dropping 1,000,000 points for five nights make elite members feel anything other than cheated? Those five nights will cost you $5,000.

What about hotels not at the max? Well, your run-of-the-mill Doubletree hotel tends to set a points rate where you get $0.004/point in value. So, buying points just to use them there is a loss in 20% of value. The only value that once existed with Hilton was to use them at nicer properties, and now that value has been eviscerated three times in the last year.

How else are you getting your Hilton points? Credit card sign up bonuses? Actually staying at their properties? Spending on credit cards? Good luck getting enough to cover just one night of your stay, let alone the whole stay you intended to take.

Free night certificates are the only ray of light with this Hilton devaluation

If you get a Hilton free night certificate–whether it’s through a customer service fiasco or via credit cards–that will let you “bypass” the destruction caused by three devaluations in a year. That’s because the certificates (as of this date) will give you a free night so long as standard room availability exists. It doesn’t matter if the hotel costs 250,000 Hilton points per night or 50,000. Obviously, the temptation is simply to use them at the most expensive hotels.

Credit cards earning free night certificates include (these links earn me no commissions):

• Hilton Aspire credit card
  • One free night certificate for just having the card
  • Another free night certificate for spending $60,000 in a year
• Hilton Surpass credit card
  • One free night certificate for spending $15,000 in a year

I almost don’t want to promote these credit cards simply because I think it’s absurd that this is the only way in 2025 to get value in Hilton’s program, but I’d be remiss not to mention it. This is the only way to bypass the latest Hilton devaluation.

Hilton seems intent on killing every single bit of benefit from their program. It’s worth a deeper dive at a later date to unpack how exactly we got here, but it might be nice to know there’s not another devaluation lurking before I go through the effort.

What are your thoughts about how Hilton is running their business lately?

Suggested reading:

• Case in Point: The Way I Value a Hilton Point
• The Value of a Hilton Elite Night
• Everything You Need to Know About Hilton Lifetime Elite Status