Hilton rolls out booking and travel perks for smaller businesses

18.01.2024 - 16:03 / thepointsguy.com / Chris Silcock

Hilton's plan to boost its appeal to smaller companies took a big step forward this week with a new global booking platform that can net companies bonus Hilton Honors points.

The hotel giant debuted Hilton for Business, a travel program geared toward small and medium-sized businesses that likely book and manage their own business travel plans. The platform offers members room discounts and Hilton Honors bonus points to the business company account while individual travelers continue to earn points and elite status nights on their personal Hilton Honors account.

This is a signal of just how serious Hilton takes travel demand from smaller companies, as discounted rates for business travel are usually something reserved for large contracts with some of the world's largest companies.

It was not made public if the discounts for small and medium-sized businesses are in the same ballpark as those afforded to large corporations.

"At Hilton, we listen to the needs of our customers and then innovate to provide a superior hotel experience for every stay occasion," Chris Silcock, Hilton's president of global brands and commercial services, said in a prepared statement. "This includes our small- and medium-sized business customers who have been looking for a travel platform - and loyalty benefits - that meets their unique set of needs and reduces friction points, from booking to billing."

The program was first piloted last fall with select customers before its official rollout this week.

A business owner or travel administrator can head to this page on the Hilton website to sign up for the program with their existing Hilton Honors account. The registration process will ask for details like your company's email domain, website and mailing address. As of publication time, I was able to qualify for Hilton for Business pretty easily.

We reached out to Hilton to see if there are other qualifiers, like forming a limited liability company. A company spokesperson noted Hilton is "using a number of criteria and data sources to validate small businesses."

Once you're registered, you'll have access to a portal that tracks annual spending with Hilton, upcoming stays and the total points balance of your company's profile. You'll also have access to a link to share with employees so they can join your company's Hilton for Business program and have access to benefits.

Business owners or travel administrators with access to a company's main account can also transfer points held in the company account to individual employees linked up to the Hilton for Business program.

Hilton's main travel perks for signing up for Hilton for Business include 7,500 Hilton Honors bonus points for a company account after any program member completes