Last edit by: rrgg
Expiration: The 12 month expiration date on a certificate means you must reserve and complete the stay by the expiration date. You can't reserve something beyond the 12 month period. You can't extend the expiration date. (Some exceptions starting with this post.)
Eligible Dates: A certificate can be used for a Standard Room Award any day of the week. (Old policy limited them to Fri, Sat, Sun).
Other Notes:
Eligible Dates: A certificate can be used for a Standard Room Award any day of the week. (Old policy limited them to Fri, Sat, Sun).
Other Notes:
- If you earned a free night from a credit card and cancel the card, the free night certificate remains intact.
- If you cancel a reservation made with a free night certificate, the certificate becomes available right away.
- After making a reservation with a free night certificate, you'll get an email that says you booked a Standard Room Award. It will also show the points value, but no points will actually be deducted.
- The free night from the Aspire card arrives by email within 2 months of being approved and anniversary date, and the free night from spend on the Aspire/Business/Surpass arrives within a week or sooner of reaching the spending threshold. This is irrespective of your card statement date. If you upgrade from another Hilton Amex to the Aspire, the free night may post more quickly.
- Available, reserved and used certificates can be seen midway through the My Account page (https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-hon...st/my-account/)
- If you're waiting for a free night certificate to arrive, Hilton reps say it does not help to make a points reservation and then swap it later. The reason is they have to cancel the old points reservation one and make a new reservation. The old one can't just be edited to change the payment to a FNC.
- From the Hilton email regarding a special 2020 policy on some certificates, "For all unexpired Weekend Night Rewards as of March 11, 2020, and all new ones issued until August 30, 2020, we are extending the expiration date through the end of next summer (August 31, 2021). There is no need for you to do anything, as your certificate(s) are being automatically updated in our systems. We hope this adjustment gives you some additional flexibility for your travels
Consolidated "Free Night Certificate Questions & Experiences" thread
#991
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,681
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
#992
Join Date: Nov 2022
Posts: 23
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
#993
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 42
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
#994
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 42
My brother used his Hilton certificate to book a room for me in Japan. The agent added a note that I will be the one checking in; my brother made it clear that he won't be present. We share the same last name.
I see that Japan may be more picky on who checks in, due to requiring passports notably. Is there any potential for issues checking in?
I see that Japan may be more picky on who checks in, due to requiring passports notably. Is there any potential for issues checking in?
#995
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: QF Platinum, HH Diamond
Posts: 388
#996
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat Pro, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,010
I see the wiki says "If you cancel a reservation made with a free night certificate, the certificate becomes available right away." I realize we are forced to call to book, but can we cancel online? Or do we need to call to have the cert reinstated as per the wiki?
#998
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: xLAS
Posts: 1,362
Hi, I just booked a night using my Aspire's annual FNC. After I ended the call, I checked my account online. The certificate has been moved from "ready to use" to "reserved for upcoming stay," which I expected, but the room rate for the reservation says 70,000 points.
Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?
I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?
I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
#999
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 825
Hi, I just booked a night using my Aspire's annual FNC. After I ended the call, I checked my account online. The certificate has been moved from "ready to use" to "reserved for upcoming stay," which I expected, but the room rate for the reservation says 70,000 points.
Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?
I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?
I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
#1000
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,296
I called the other day to book a room with an Aspire certificate. I didn't realize that the date I wanted to reserve was about 10 days post my expiration but the rep was kind enough and extended the expiration date of my certificate to my checkout date. Not sure if this is standard practice but I thought it was very nice of them to do this without any begging on my end.
#1001
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat Pro, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,010
#1002
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: LAS
Posts: 210
Is there any way when using search to find hotels with standard award availability to have it exclude accessible rooms? I keep finding hotels that only have accessible rooms available at standard and only premium awards are available for the other rooms. Once I am in the page to view rooms within the hotel I can hide/unhide accessible rooms, but when searching on map view it lists the lowest points price & tells me if it is standard vs premium, except that can include accessible rooms so I keep clicking to find out it is not available. Trying to maximize an FNC but get tricked by this search experience and wasn't sure if I was missing any ways to filter these out.
#1004
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,212
Every year my 15K Surpass certificate comes very, very quickly - usually before I've even paid the bill. In contrast to the annual Aspire that takes a long time.
#1005
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
Tried to extend a free night certificate that expires on Dec 25th, for a booking on Jan 14th.
Agent did some investigation, then advised that they can extend the certificate (didn't specify for how long, but said that it could be done for my dates), so seems like 2-3 weeks of extension is doable.
However, they said that the extension could only be done closer to the expiration of the certificate, if I call in anytime from 2 weeks prior to 2 weeks after the expiration (so sometime in December or January, which is ~6 months from now). They were not able to make my booking at this time with the certificate. They had me instead make a booking in cash, that I should then call in to basically have the agent rework the bookings. Upon my questioning them, this would effectively be cancelling the cash booking and then booking an award booking with the free night. I brought up that sometimes rooms cancelled don't always go back into inventory. They said that this is technically a risk but they almost always go back to being available (again... we know that's not always the case at properties the WA Maldives or Conrad Bora Bora. I'm targeting Zemi Beach House, and I haven't seen that type of stuff with their inventory, so I was slightly less concerned). In any event, I opted to make a points booking for that night, that I will then cancel and hope goes back into inventory to allow me to use the then-renewed certificate. From my discussions with them, they were adamant from the notes on my account and the booking that customer service would definitely extend the certificate, but still conceded that there was a small risk that an award night might not be available at that time (even if I pre-booked the room then cancelled).
Agent did some investigation, then advised that they can extend the certificate (didn't specify for how long, but said that it could be done for my dates), so seems like 2-3 weeks of extension is doable.
However, they said that the extension could only be done closer to the expiration of the certificate, if I call in anytime from 2 weeks prior to 2 weeks after the expiration (so sometime in December or January, which is ~6 months from now). They were not able to make my booking at this time with the certificate. They had me instead make a booking in cash, that I should then call in to basically have the agent rework the bookings. Upon my questioning them, this would effectively be cancelling the cash booking and then booking an award booking with the free night. I brought up that sometimes rooms cancelled don't always go back into inventory. They said that this is technically a risk but they almost always go back to being available (again... we know that's not always the case at properties the WA Maldives or Conrad Bora Bora. I'm targeting Zemi Beach House, and I haven't seen that type of stuff with their inventory, so I was slightly less concerned). In any event, I opted to make a points booking for that night, that I will then cancel and hope goes back into inventory to allow me to use the then-renewed certificate. From my discussions with them, they were adamant from the notes on my account and the booking that customer service would definitely extend the certificate, but still conceded that there was a small risk that an award night might not be available at that time (even if I pre-booked the room then cancelled).