I f you earn Hilton Honors points as a result of renting vehicles, be aware that that option will no longer be available with four rental car companies in 2017, as the Hilton Honors frequent guest loyalty program will be terminating its relationships with Avis, Budget, Sixt and Europcar.
Hilton Honors Terminates Relationships With Four Rental Car Partners
You may continue to earn Hilton Honors points with the following rental car partners with vehicle rentals completed prior to Sunday, December 31, 2017 — as long as you provide your Hilton Honors membership number at the time of booking your reservation, which must occur prior to:
- Monday, July 31, 2017 with:
- Sixt, through which you can earn 500 Hilton Honors bonus points whenever you rent from Sixt — even if your rental is not part of a hotel stay — and based on the elite level status which you earned, you can earn a discount of:
- Up to 10 percent for Gold, Silver and Blue levels
- Up to 15 percent for Diamond VIP elite status level
- Europcar, through which you can earn 250 Hilton Honors bonus points whenever you rent from Europcar — even if your rental is not part of a hotel stay — and based on the elite level status which you earned, you can earn a discount of:
- Five percent for Blue level
- Ten percent for Gold and Silver elite status levels
- 15 percent for Diamond VIP elite status level
- Sixt, through which you can earn 500 Hilton Honors bonus points whenever you rent from Sixt — even if your rental is not part of a hotel stay — and based on the elite level status which you earned, you can earn a discount of:
- Thursday, August 31, 2017 with:
- Avis, with which you must also provide Avis Worldwide Discount number K851000 to earn 500 Hilton Honors bonus points on all qualifying vehicle rentals of one day or greater at any participating Avis airport or off-airport location — plus receive a discount of up to 25 percent off each time you rent
- Budget, with which you must also provide Budget Customer Discount number U106100 to earn 500 Hilton Honors bonus points on all qualifying vehicle rentals of one day or greater at any participating Budget airport or off-airport location — plus receive a discount of up to 25 percent off each time you rent
Summary
Although I do not credit my car rentals with the frequent travel loyalty programs of lodging companies and airlines — as I prefer to credit my vehicle rentals in their respective frequent renter loyalty programs — this is still a loss of a method to earn Hilton Honors points; and one fewer option with which to keep a Hilton Honors membership account from expiring.
Alamo, Enterprise and National Car Rental — all of which are divisions of the same company — are not affected, as they are the preferred car rental partners of the Hilton Honors frequent guest loyalty program.
The car in the photograph at the top of this article was rented from Europcar in Oman. Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
