The Hilton Honors program has gone through a lot of changes over the past years but there have always been a very small subset of hotels that were incredibly cheap on points. They're in areas that you would least expect so without further ado, here are the best Hilton Honors Category 1 hotels that only cost 5,000 points.
Here's what we're covering:
Top 5 Hilton Honors Category 1 Properties
What other Hilton hotels out there are Category 1 that deserve some attention as ridiculously good offers on points?
We've gone through all current 16 Hilton Honors Category 1 hotels for 5,000 Hilton Honors points and picked the top 5 based on these criteria:
- Uniqueness
- Location
- Amenities
- Cash price of room – all searches done in the post are for March, 2016 (updated in 2019) and in USD currency except for the Hilton Garden Inn Bali
- Cents per point – the higher the better
If you're looking for a tool to find ALL Category 1 hotels, make sure to head to new Hilton Honors PointsExplorer tool. I will say that it's not the most intuitive. Of course, bring the slider all the way to the left to filter down to 5,000 point stays but what you need to do on top is to sort it from “Lo-Hi”.
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1 – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Elazig
This is the only DoubleTree that is a category 1 in the Hilton family. Located in the small town of Elazig in central Turkey, this is the first 5-star hotel in the city. Nearby you have the historic bazaar, archeological and ethnography museum, Harput Castle, Hazarbaba Ski Center, and Keban Lake.
Turkey currently now has the largest collection of Hilton Category 1 hotels in the world with 9. This is the last remaining stand of these low categories properties you'll be able to find. I've picked another one down below but you'll also find properties in Bolu, Diyarbakir, Erzincan, Eskisehir, Kahramanmaras, Konya, Kutahya, and Samsun.
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Elazig
- Category: 1
- Location: Elazig, Turkey
- Reward Night: 5,000 Honors points
- Paid Rates: $37/night
- Cents Per Point: 0.74
2 – Hampton by Hilton Bucaramanga
In Colombia is the city of Bucaramanga located between Medellin and close to the bordering Venezuela. This is a brand new property in the exclusive neighbourhood of Cabecera which has some of the best shopping, dining, and night life in the city.
- Category: 1
- Reward Night: 5,000 Honors points
- Paid Rates: $44/night
- Cents Per Point: 0.88
3 – Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport
This one is sure to get you excited. 500 meters from the international airport that you'll be flying into in Bali is this Garden Inn which is joining the Hilton portfolio May 1, 2016.
Fine it's not a beachfront property on Kuta or the Conrad Bali but you'd be able to stay for free in Bali even if you have a small stash of points.
What's good to know here is that they offer complimentary shuttles to Kuta which is really only 10 minutes away so you're not far from the action. Honestly, you're coming out on top by staying here because you can then save your money on a good local driver to maximize your experience on the island like I did with my 5 day itinerary in Bali.
For inspiration, you should also check out the reasons you need to go to Bali now.
Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport
- Category: 1
- Reward Night: 5,000 Honors points
- Paid Rates: $58/night
- Cents Per Point: 1.16
4 – Hilton Garden Inn Konya
This Hilton Garden Inn is a stylish business hotel and one of the more popular properties in the Anatolian city of Konya.
Konya is located between Ankara and Antalya. While this isn't necessarily on the tourist path, it may be on one of your stops if you're doing a road trip from Istanbul, you're a local to the region, travelling domestically, or here on business.
The property is located next to the Mevlana Culture Center and is with a few minutes’ walk of a range of shopping and business centres. Alaaddin Park also as 2 km from the hotel.
- Category: 1
- Location: Konya, Turkey
- Reward Night: 5,000 Honors points
- Paid Rates: $125/night
- Cents Per Point: 2.5
5 – Hilton Garden Inn Tuxtla Gutierrez
The only other country that has Category 1 Hilton Honors properties is in Mexico. This modern Garden Inn is located on the main boulevard and bordered by a plaza, banks and restaurants. The neighbourhood itself is a commercial district but is only 10 minutes from downtown.
Hilton Garden Inn Tuxtla Gutierrez
- Category: 1
- Location: Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico
- Reward Night: 5,000 Honors points
- Paid Rates: $41/night
- Cents Per Point: 0.82
Frequently Asked Questions
The most enticing property on the Category 1 list is the Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia.
Category rebalances are usually done between February and March.
If you're looking for the full list of Category 1 hotels, simply head to the Hilton Honors PointsExplorer tool and do a filter on hotels that require 5,000 points.
Unfortunately, there's been a negative trend for how many properties are under Hilton's Category 1. In most cases, hotels have disappeared from this list because they've closed (i.e. Hilton Hurghada or Hilton Sharms Waterfalls Resort), or they've been upgraded to Category 2 or higher.
Bottom Line
The disparity between the cost of redemption to true level of hotel is so high that these are honestly hotels that are worth building a trip around.
That said, there are only properties in Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey now remaining in the updated Hilton Category 1 property list.
Of all the properties on this list, the most aspirational has to be the Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport.
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