Hilton extends elite status and points expiration

In the first move of its kind, Hilton Honors has extended the elite status and points expiration by a year.  As the travel industry has suffered tremendously from the coronavirus outbreak, very few people are traveling, and elite status benefits and award points are bound to go unused.  In Hilton's own words:

Your Hilton Honors Status and Points

We consider it our privilege to have you as a Hilton Honors member and we want to show our appreciation by extending your benefits:

• 2019 Status Extension. All members whose 2019 status was scheduled to be downgraded on March 31, 2020—whether it’s Diamond, Gold or Silver—will automatically receive an extension through March 31, 2021.
• 2020 Status Extension. We are extending your 2020 member status through March 31, 2022. This means you will continue to enjoy all the Diamond, Gold or Silver benefits you have access to today for the next 24 months.
• Points Extension. We will pause the expiration of all Points scheduled to expire between now and December 31, 2020.
• Weekend Night Rewards Earned on Eligible Hilton Credit Cards. We have extended the expiration date of all unexpired Weekend Night Rewards as of March 11, 2020, and all new ones issued until August 30, 2020, through the end of next summer (August 31, 2021).

Your Travel Flexibility

We remain committed to offering you flexible booking options. Given these unique circumstances, we are making further adjustments to our individual booking policies:

• Existing Reservations. All reservations—even those described as “non-cancellable” (“Advanced Purchase”)—that are scheduled for arrival on or before June 30, 2020 can be changed or cancelled at no charge, up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival day.
• New Reservations. Any reservations you make—even those described as “non-cancellable” (“Advanced Purchase”)—that are booked between today and June 30, 2020 for any future arrival date can be changed or cancelled at no charge, up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival day.

This is definitely a gesture of good faith by Hilton, and hopefully the other hotel and airline carriers will follow suit.  While most hotel groups have waived cancellation fees for non-cancellable bookings, none have yet gone as far as Hilton has in extending elite and points expiration.

Bottom line

It's good to know that during this trying and difficult time, your Hilton points and status are safe.  Now here's to hoping that the other chains will also jump on the bandwagon as people are no longer traveling and losing out on the benefits of their points and elite status.

From all of us at Flying for Fitness, please stay healthy during this trying time.  We hope you enjoyed this post.  Please consider visiting one of our sponsors by clicking on the advertisements.  Our sponsors pay us for customer visits and help us to keep the lights on.  Thanks!