Hilton Honors Silver Status: The Benefits And How To Get It

This is the second installment in a series about the different Hilton Honors status levels. You can check out the other guides here:

• Member
• Silver
• Gold
• Diamond

Once you’re registered with the Hilton Honors loyalty scheme, it’s time to start aiming for the higher status levels, the first of which is Silver.

Silver status includes all the benefits you receive as a standard Member, along with three others listed below. There are also a number of ways to earn Silver status, so keep reading to find how to easily earn this status.

Important Note: You’ll only receive these benefits when you book a hotel stay directly with Hilton, either on their website, mobile app or by phone. If you book a stay using an OTA (Online Travel Agency) like Expedia, you’re not eligible to receive any of these benefits.

Hilton Honors Silver Status Benefits

1) 5th Night Free

This is my favorite of the three extra benefits you receive as a Silver member. When you book a reward stay of five nights or more using your points, you get the fifth night free.

For example, let’s say there’s a hotel that costs 20,000 points per night. If you were to book a five night stay, it would only cost you 80,000 points rather than 100,000 points as the fifth night is free. Staying four nights would also cost 80,000 points, so you may as well make the most of the extra night!

You can use this for stays of up to 20 nights at a time, meaning you’d get four free nights during that time.

One important thing to note is that this is for reward stays only, not paid stays.

2) 15% Bonus On Base Points

This effectively means you earn an extra 1.5 points per dollar spent at nearly all the Hilton brands (0.75 points per dollar at Home2 Suites and Tru).

This 15% bonus is only applied on base points and not on any other bonus points. That means the 15% isn’t added on to the five bonus points you earn if you’ve chosen the Points & Points earning method.

3) Two Complimentary Bottles Of Water

You’ll get two complimentary bottles of water per stay at the following Hilton brands:

• Waldorf Astoria
• Conrad
• Curio
• Hilton
• DoubleTree
• Tapestry Collection
• Embassy Suites
• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hilton Grand Vacations

These benefits are in addition to the benefits you receive with Member status:

• Earn Points & Points or Points & Miles
• Guaranteed discount
• Complimentary internet access
• Late check-out
• Digital check-in
• Express check-out
• Second guest stays free
• Quick reservations and check-in

How To Get Hilton Honors Silver Status

There are four ways you can earn Silver status with Hilton Honors, a couple of which are easier than the others.

1) Four Stays In A Calendar Year

This is a straightforward enough way to earn status. A stay can be any length of time, so the quickest way to earn it would be through four one-night stays.

You can’t book four consecutive one-night stays at the same hotel though as that’s classed as one stay. You could hotel hop four consecutive nights if you don’t mind checking in and checking out each day. Here’s what that would look like:

• 1st night – stay at Hotel A
• 2nd night – stay at Hotel B
• 3rd night – stay at Hotel A
• 4th night – stay at Hotel B

You could always add a Hotel C (and Hotel D) into the mix if you wanted.

2) Stay Ten Nights In A Calendar Year

This is also a straightforward way of earning status as the ten nights can be earned in any number of stays. You could have one stay of ten nights, two stays of five nights, five stays of two nights, etc.

3) Hilton Honors American Express Credit Card

American Express have two different Hilton Honors credit cards. The one with no annual fee comes with automatic Silver status, so it’s a great – and free – way to earn status.

You can only earn signup bonuses once per lifetime with American Express. It’s therefore best to ensure you’re getting the highest possible bonus available when applying for this card. To make sure you get a high bonus, check out Doctor of Credit as they list the best offer.

4) Hilton Honors Citi Credit Card

Hilton are unusual as they not only have four different co-branded credit cards, but they’re issued by two different banks. We mentioned American Express above, but there’s also this credit card issued by Citi. This one also comes with Silver status and doesn’t have an annual fee either, so it’s another way to get the status for free.

Again, be sure to check out Doctor of Credit for the best available signup on this card as the bonus fluctuates.

Summary

Considering you can get Hilton Honors Silver status for free simply by having one of their credit cards, it provides three good benefits. The fifth night free benefit can save you a ton of points, especially if you have the flexibility to book your reward stays in batches of five nights, while the 15% bonus points will help you rack up those award stays more quickly.

Although giving two bottles of water at check-in isn’t an expensive benefit for them to provide, it’s one that can be greatly appreciated when you’re checking in after a long day of travel.

Next up in the series, we’ll list all the benefits you get from Gold status, along with how to get it.