Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.

Hilton Honors is running a promotion that is notionally targeted at its US credit card holders. The promotion offers 5,000 bonus points for completing 2 stays between 1 October and 31 December, 2017.

What makes me suspect that any Honors members can earn these bonus points? Well, first of all I was able to register my non-US account that has never had a Citibank credit card attached.

And two… the T&Cs of the promotions state:

Cardmembers must first register for the promotion at HiltonHonors.com/Citi5K, then book and pay for two (2) completed stays using their Citi Hilton Honors Visa Signature card or the Citi Hilton Honors Reserve card or any other Visa card

It seems rather counter-productive to run a promotion for a specific credit card, and then let anybody with a Visa card participate, but that appears to be the case. A similar promotion was run in late 2016 / early 2017.

And in further news… a similar promotion seems to be available for American Express cardholders. Again, the target audience is US Hilton co-branded credit cards, but any American Express can apparently be used as payment. I also seem to have registered successfully at this website.

As Joe, Tom and others mentioned for that earlier promotion, a points stay should qualify just fine, provided you charge something to your room and subsequently onto your Visa card. I even managed to stay at a Hampton using points. At check-out I just asked “can you put $1 on my folio and charge it to my Visa card, there’s a promotion I’d like to qualify for” and I duly received my 5,000 points.

Of course, you shouldn’t go out of your way to stay with Hilton Honors for a promotion that might not work in the end. But there’s certainly no harm in registering, paying for your next two stays with a Visa card and the next two after that with an American Express, and seeing what happens…