American Express and Hilton Honors have come together to offer a new American Express Hilton Transfer Bonus to the Indian cardmembers of American Express. The promotion, which kicked off a few days ago, is offering a straight 50% bonus on transferring your Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors, with the points being received in your Hilton account by September 30, 2019.

The normal transfer ratio between American Express Membership Rewards points and Hilton Honors is 1000 MR = 900 Hilton Honors Points.

The following cards offer the ability to transfer points to Hilton Honors:

• Personal Cards
  • The American Express Centurion Card
  • The American Express Platinum Card
  • American Express Gold Card
  • American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card
  • The American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card
  • The American Express Gold Credit Card
  • The American Express Membership Reward Credit Card
• Corporate Cards
  • The American Express Gold Corporate Card
  • The American Express Green Corporate Card
  • The American Express Platinum Corporate Card

How to transfer Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors?

You would first need to register your Hilton Honors Account with Membership Rewards before you make the transfer go through. You will get an email back from American Express stating that your Hilton Honors account has been successfully registered. This could take a day or two. If you already have made a transfer in the past, you don’t have to add your number again. If you don’t have a Hilton Honors membership, join now.

American Express Hilton Transfer Bonus Terms & Conditions

Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. At the regular redemption rate, 1000 Membership Rewards Points = 900 Hilton Honors Points. From 12:00:00 am IST on August 1, 2019 until 11:59:59 IST September 30, 2019, when you transfer Membership Rewards Points to Hilton Honors you will receive 50% more Hilton Honors Points on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1,000 Membership Rewards Points to Hilton Honors, you will be credited a total of 1,350 Hilton Honors Points. 

A maximum of 900,000 Membership Rewards Points per account can be transferred per calendar year (January to December). Remember, once you transfer out the points to Hilton Honors, you can’t transfer them back into your Membership Rewards account under any circumstances. The bonus points will not be added to your account instantaneously, but will be added to your account up to eight weeks from the offer end date (by November 30, 2019). 

Should you transfer?

The American Express Hilton Transfer Bonus is a lucrative one, and perhaps one of the best ones you would receive in the coming days. As American Express is the only transfer partner for Hilton Honors in India, if you would like to stash up on Hilton Honors points, this is your best opportunity to do so.

What good are Hilton Honors points?

Hilton Honors points are good for stays in many Hilton properties, aspirational, and in the city as well many a times. For example, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is available for nothing less than 600$ + ST + taxes (postpaid rates) during the rains and 1000$ during the tourism season. By using 95,000 Hilton Honors Points (63,333  American Express Membership Rewards points),  you can get a fabulous value of 10 US Cents (INR 0.65) per MR point even in lean season, which is great value in my book.

Closer home, for vacation, there is the Hilton Shillim resort as well, available for 48,000 Hilton Honors points per night or INR 20,000 upwards for the base villa.

One way to get more value out of your Hilton points is by taking advantage of Hilton’s 5th night free on award stays, which Hilton status gets you. Hilton status is easy to earn because it comes automatically with the American Express Platinum Card.

How to generate Membership Reward points?

American Express has been offering some generous promotions recently, which you can benefit from if you want more Membership Rewards Points.

• American Express Membership Rewards Card is currently being offered free, which gets you 4,000 Membership Rewards for sign up (subject to min. spends), and then for four transactions of INR 1,000 per month, you get another 1,000 Membership Rewards points.
• All American Express cards have bonuses going out, up to 5,000 Membership Rewards points per supplementary user added. So, you can add more users to your card and get another handsome bonus added to your account. Check here for details.
• If you want a large boatload of Amex Membership Rewards points to start, here is a special offer getting you 110,000 Membership Rewards points on signing up for the American Express Platinum Card. 

Bottomline

This is a great promotion and if you have plans to stay at a Hilton brand hotel in the coming months, perhaps it makes sense to transfer some Membership Rewards points over to Hilton Honors now. I will certainly be partaking in this promotion as well and will report back with my experience when I can.

What do you make of the American Express Hilton Transfer Bonus? Will you be able to use it?

(H/T: Jasmiet Singh)