Launched in June 2014, the Hilton Curio Collection is a collection of upscale hotels in the Hilton portfolio that were “created for travelers who seek local discovery and one-of-a-kind experiences.” These are unique properties that can be compared to other soft brands like Marriott’s Autograph Collection. This means that these properties maintain much of their independent branding but that you can still utilize your Hilton points at these properties.
I reviewed Hilton Curio Collection hotels in the US and around the globe to analyze their cash prices and award prices and then computed the value received with award redemptions. The results are in the table below and will show what Curio by Hilton offers the best value for Hilton Honors points.
Collecting the data (methodology)
I searched for a single night in the middle of the summer (so approximately 6 months out). Some Curio properties did not have available nights and so I had to search for alternate weeks or months. In most cases, I was able to find availability in June or July but there were a couple of exceptions.
Fluctuating cash prices and award prices
- Hotel rates for Hilton awards fluctuate and so the prices you see below in the chart might not directly correspond to your own searches. For the most part, however, they should provide you with at least an idea of what kind of value you can receive when you use Hilton points to book a night at a Curio location.
Cash prices include taxes and fees
- The cash prices include all taxes and resort fees, since these taxes and fees don’t have to be paid when booking awards, they were factored into the redemption rates.
Hilton Honors rates and standard room awards
- The cash rates used for these calculations were the discounted Hilton Honors rates that allow for cancellations since award bookings allow for cancellations, too. And I only used standard room awards to calculate the cents per point for the redemptions.
Rewards earned on stays or credit card spend not factored in
- I did not factor in rebates earned due to points earned on stays or promotions in this calculation for the sake of simplicity. One could use this article to help them deduct their respective earning rate from the cash price if they would like.
- For example, if you’re a Hilton Diamond member, you will receive roughly 10% back on Hilton purchases depending how you value Honors points. You would then reduce the cash price by 10% and then determine your cents per point value based on the reduced rate. (You could even take that a step further and factor in value earned on credit card points.)
What Hilton Curio Collection Hotel offers the best value for Hilton Honors points?
Below is a chart that shows the price in cash, price in points, and the value received in cents per point.
The chart is interactive so you can sort the properties by name, cash price, award price, or cents per point.
| Hilton Curio Collection Locations | Cash price | Points Price | CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Admiral Hotel Mobile, Curio Collection by Hilton | $140 | 27000 | 0.52 |
| Redmont Hotel Birmingham, Curio Collection by Hilton | $210 | 40000 | 0.53 |
| Boulders Resort & Spa, Curio Collection by Hilton | $206 | 39000 | 0.53 |
| Hotel La Jolla, Curio Collection by Hilton | $288 | 60000 | 0.48 |
| H Hotel Los Angeles, Curio Collection by Hilton | $251 | 64000 | 0.39 |
| Hotel del Coronado, Curio Collection by Hilton | $527 | 95000 | 0.55 |
| Juniper Hotel Cupertino, Curio Collection by Hilton | $270 | 60000 | 0.45 |
| Miramonte Indian Wells Resort & Spa, Curio Collection by Hilton | $177 | 33000 | 0.54 |
| Madison Beach Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $556 | 80000 | 0.7 |
| LondonHouse Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton | $454 | 70000 | 0.65 |
| The Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood, Curio Collection by Hilton | $325 | 70000 | 0.46 |
| Waterstone Resort & Marina Boca Raton, Curio Collection by Hilton | $319 | 60000 | 0.53 |
| The Partridge Inn Augusta, Curio Collection by Hilton | $181 | 34000 | 0.53 |
| The Campbell House Lexington, Curio Collection by Hilton | $224 | 40000 | 0.56 |
| Pier 5 Hotel Baltimore, Curio Collection by Hilton | $222 | 50000 | 0.44 |
| Ames Boston Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $476 | 70000 | 0.68 |
| Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton | $288 | 40000 | 0.72 |
| The Marquette Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $405 | 60000 | 0.68 |
| Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton | $227 | 40000 | 0.57 |
| St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $212 | 40000 | 0.53 |
| Hotel Saranac, Curio Collection by Hilton | $272 | 51000 | 0.53 |
| The Renwick Hotel New York City, Curio Collection by Hilton | $213 | 53000 | 0.4 |
| The Franklin Hotel Chapel Hill, Curio Collection by Hilton | $219 | 54000 | 0.41 |
| The Porter Portland, Curio Collection by Hilton | $468 | 70000 | 0.67 |
| The Logan Philadelphia, Curio Collection by Hilton | $267 | 60000 | 0.45 |
| Hotel Alex Johnson Rapid City, Curio Collection by Hilton | $212 | 50000 | 0.42 |
| The Highland Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton | $233 | 58000 | 0.4 |
| The Sam Houston, Curio Collection by Hilton | $271 | 50000 | 0.54 |
| The Statler Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton | $368 | 60000 | 0.61 |
| The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, Curio Collection by Hilton | $185 | 46000 | 0.4 |
| The Darcy Washington DC, Curio Collection by Hilton | $310 | 58000 | 0.53 |
| Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton | $140 | 27000 | 0.52 |
| Mahogany Bay Resort & Beach Club, Curio Collection by Hilton | $433 | 80000 | 0.54 |
| Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton | $218 | 41000 | 0.53 |
| Indura Beach & Golf Resort Curio Collection by Hilton | $211 | 40000 | 0.53 |
| Jewel Dunn's River Beach Resort & Spa, Ocho Rios,Curio Collection by Hilton | $283 | 53000 | 0.53 |
| Jewel Paradise Cove Resort & Spa Runaway Bay, Curio Collection by Hilton | $266 | 67000 | 0.4 |
| The Fives Downtown Hotel & Residences, Curio Collection by Hilton | $325 | 70000 | 0.46 |
| El San Juan Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $365 | 70000 | 0.52 |
| Sanya Yazhou Bay Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton | $117 | 22000 | 0.53 |
| West Hotel Sydney, Curio Collection by Hilton link | $318 | 48000 | 0.66 |
| Grand Hotel des Sablettes Plage, Curio Collection by Hilton | $215 | 53000 | 0.41 |
| Maison Astor Paris, Curio Collection by Hilton | $570 | 80000 | 0.71 |
| Reichshof Hamburg, Curio Collection by Hilton | $271 | 40000 | 0.68 |
| Reykjavik Konsulat Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton | $436 | 78000 | 0.56 |
| Aleph Rome Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton link | $326 | 61000 | 0.53 |
| La Bagnaia Golf & Spa Resort Siena, Curio Collection by Hilton | $225 | 50000 | 0.45 |
| Gran Hotel Montesol Ibiza, Curio Collection by Hilton | $592 | 95000 | 0.62 |
| Lincoln Plaza London, Curio Collection by Hilton | $347 | 65000 | 0.53 |
| The Trafalgar St. James London, Curio Collection by Hilton | $479 | 70000 | 0.68 |
| AlRayyan Hotel Doha, Curio Collection by Hilton | $228 | 42000 | 0.54 |
Dynamic award pricing
Since Hilton implements dynamic pricing, the award prices can change quite a bit, too. It’s not uncommon to see rates that are 10,000 to 20,000 points different on a day-to-day basis. These fluctuations could affect the redemption rates so just use these figures as a starting point when searching for great Hilton Honors redemptions.
Limited Availability
A few Curio properties did have very limited availability when I searched.
These included:
- Niepce Paris Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
- Alexandra Barcelona Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
- El San Juan Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton (likely due to Hurricane restoration efforts)
- Madison Beach Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
If you want to book an award stay for the standard rate at one of these hotels, there’s a chance you may have to book them one year in advance to ensure open awards.
The research findings
Here are the findings for the Hilton Curio Collection chart:
The cheapest Hilton Curio Collection
The cheapest Curio property was the Sanya Yazhou Bay Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton, located in China, with prices as low as $117 for a single night. Award redemptions only went for 22,000 points so with a 100,000 point sign-up bonus you could cover an entire 5 night stay at this property. Although the cash price was low, the hotel still offered a redemption rate of .53 cents per point which is great value.
The most expensive Hilton Curio Collection
The most expensive Curio property was the Gran Hotel Montesol Ibiza, Curio Collection by Hilton at $592 per night. This hotel went for 95,000 points per night (the highest award price for a standard room) which came out to a redemption rate of .62 cents per point.
The best award value Hilton Curio Collection
The Curio property with the best cents per point redemption rate was the Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton with .72 cents per point. This is a nice luxury hotel located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The averages
Let’s take a look at the averages.
The average Hilton Curio hotel costs $300 per night and Hilton Curios require on average 55,568 points per night. This results in getting an average value of .54 cents per point when redeeming Hilton Honors points at a Curio property.
| Average cash price: | $300.82 |
| Average points price: | 55,568 |
| Average value in cents per point: | 0.54 |
By comparing these numbers to the figures for the Conrad and the ones I did for the Waldorf, we can see that on average Curio hotels offer good value for Hilton Honors points and also is very similar to Conrad hotels in terms of pricing.
These average cash prices are $150 lower than Waldorf hotels and $50 lower than Conrad hotels. The average redemption prices in points are 17,000 points less than the Waldorf and only 2,000 less than the Conrad. And finally, the average value in cents per point is pretty close to the Waldorf’s .57 cents per point and the Conrad’s .59 cents per point.
This shows me that the Curio properties offer great value for Hilton Honors points just like many Conrads and Waldorfs. It’s also further support that if you intend on using your Hilton points at upscale Hilton properties, you should probably be valuing your points closer to .5 cents per point rather than .4 cents per point.
It’s also worth remembering that Hilton Honors grants you the 5th night free on award bookings. Thus, you could get even more value on your redemptions.
Final word on the Hilton Curio Collection
These rates only offer a snapshot of the prices of these Curio hotels. Depending on the time of year and different holidays, events, etc. these properties could offer different pricing. It’s still nice to see that these redemption rate for Curio properties are quite competitive and offer great value. Obviously, what the best value for Hilton Honors points will depend on your personal travel goals, but this should give you an idea of kind of value you can get at Hilton Curio Collection properties.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
