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Hilton Honors 80% Bonus glitch? Site Down…144k points posted with no purchase.
Last night I was helping someone book a trip and logged into my Hilton account. I noticed my balance being WAY higher than it normally would be, and investigated what had happened…What I found was that my account was reflecting 144k points being added from buying 80k and receiving a 64k bonus. Now…I wrote an article about the Hilton Honors 80% Bonus a few days ago, but I didn’t buy any. At first I was afraid that I had inadvertently purchased points while posting the article, but my nerves were calmed after I checked that no charges were pending. What’s even more interesting is that the Hilton Honors 80% promotion site is currently down and not allowing any points to be purchased. So is there a Hilton Honors 80% bonus glitch? The site is down, and 144k points posted with no purchase on my end.
Here’s the promotion and link to purchase
The error message when you go there now
The points that posted to my account without purchase
Glitch?
The only thing that I put together is that I clicked on the 80k + 64k pricing. I didn’t purchase, but I’m wondering if other people who priced out point purchases have been credited with points as well? It seems very suspicious that the Hilton/Points.com purchase page isn’t working.
What will Hilton do? My quick thoughts
If it’s just me…who knows? If it’s bigger:
This creates an awkward situation for Hilton if this is a bigger issue than just me…They’re faced with losses, but also customers getting mad because they’ve booked trips based on those points. I’m, as well as many of you, very aware of my point balances. Many people are not. If Hilton has credited accounts of people, and those people have booked stays, or even started to plan stays, based on those balances without realizing they were plumped on accident – Hilton’s mistake could cost people time and money. What will Hilton do…force customers to cancel trips booked with points?
It sort of begs the question…if this happened, will Hilton claw back the points, or will they just leave the deposits as is? I think they almost have to leave them.
Recently, Hilton garnered an enormous amount of good will by doubling extending Diamond status to those who had matched until 2018. In all honesty, the only reason I’ve been looking at Hilton and my account as much is because of that extension – so it’s at least attracting me to the brand with more frequency. I realize that this also annoyed many people who organically gained status and didn’t re-qualify, and believe me I’d feel the same, but Hilton is clearly looking to poach some elites from Hyatt and Marriott at the expense of their own loyalists. Why would they risk losing the good will of those new elites because of their error?
The worst case scenario as I see it for Hilton is that members have more points to go visit properties and spend money while there and lose the book value of the deposited points ( yes, that could be quite a bit). Those rooms have been marked for point redemptions anyways, and I’ll probably spend money at those properties in areas like bar/food/spa with much higher mark-ups and profit generation than a room that may sit unoccupied. It wouldn’t be a complete loss as this added revenue would help offset the mistake, maybe in some cases surpass it. If Hilton left the points…this would be a DOUBLE down on loyalty and customer acquisition through elite status and now free points. I’d make sure to throw business Hilton’s way.
Did you guys get any points without purchase?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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