Hilton Impresario is an invite-only programme in which luxury travel advisors can provide Hilton Impresario Benefits – such as free breakfast, upgrades, hotel credits and discounts – to their clients when booking stays at Hilton’s most luxurious brands: Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR.
The programme is also becoming more and more interesting in light of Hilton investing heavily into luxury, and increasing its footprint massively in the years to come, with exciting openings like the gorgeous Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island that opened up its doors this year.
Booking a Hilton Impresario rate is essentially like having status at Hilton without needing to have status – and even if you do have elite status, this is like the cherry on top. Our experience from hundreds of annual Hilton Impresario bookings is that Gold and Diamond members booked on Impresario are given even better treatment and many extras than if they would have booked through other rates.
In this article, we’ll go through everything you’ll need to know about Hilton Impresario: the fantastic benefits, the potential for great savings through free night offers, and more on how the programme works so you can determine whether it’s a good fit for you.
What benefits are offered through Hilton Impresario?
Hilton Impresario offers unique, complimentary benefits and discounts at all Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR Hotels worldwide.
The benefits offered are the following:
- Complimentary full breakfast for two
- Room upgrade, subject to availability
- Early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability
- $100 USD hotel credit to be utilized during the stay
- Double Hilton Honors points
- VIP treatment during your entire stay
- Discounted offers, such as third/fourth/fifth night free
It’s also worth pointing that Impresario rates are typically the most flexible rate offered by the hotel, eg. they are normally very flexible and allow for free cancellations until shortly before the arrival date.
A good agent also works directly with the property to make sure you get the very best treatment. Here at Lyxresan Travels, we’ve spent many years in the industry and know many of the management teams at the Hilton Impresario hotels worldwide, and our team works directly with the hotel to ensure they go the extra mile for you.
Is it more expensive to book Hilton Impresario rates?
The Hilton Impresario rates are normally equivalent to the Best Available Rate, which often is also called ‘Flexible Rate’, eg. the rate that has the most generous cancellation policy. This also means that there may be other rates offered by the hotel that has a more strict cancellation policy or other inclusions that might be cheaper than booking the Impresario rate.
It’s worth noting that many Impresario rates however run campaign offers, as listed in the next section, which further discount the best available rate and therefore makes it cheaper than any other rate offered by the hotel. Other times, the Impresario rate may be slightly more expensive than the cheapest rate offered by the hotel, but it’s still worth booking it given the many perks that are included.
Let’s concreticize this with an example and look at the Conrad London St. James.
For two nights in June 2024, the Impresario rate comes to £970 GBP for a two-night stay:
There is a cheaper rate that is non-refundable and includes breakfast, and that comes to £887.30 GBP (Honors Discount) for a two-night stay:
In short, this is a price difference of £82.70 GBP. However, the advance purchase rate offered by the hotel is non-refundable, whereas the Impresario rate allows cancellation until the day before checkin. Furthermore, the $100 USD credit alone negates the price difference, and that’s notwithstanding the other benefits and double Hilton Points.
As mentioned before, many times there are free night offers from the hotel, and if you were to stay four nights at the Conrad St. James with the same starting date, you’d get the fourth night free and in effect your price per night would become £362 GBP per night (25% discount), making it cheaper than the same non-refundable, breakfast rate that would come to £420 GBP per night.
Free Night Offers: Third/Fourth/Fifth Night Free
Beyond the benefits that are offered on every Hilton Impresario stay, irrespective of the stay, Hilton regularly also offers free night offers on Impresario rates. Our experience shows that at least 65% of all Impresario hotels worldwide offer some type of deal at a single point in time.
The most common offers are a third, fourth or fifth night free, but occasionally there are hotels that also offer a sixth or seventh night free. The discounts offered by Hilton Impresario also scale, meaning that if you book a hotel that has a third night free and you book for four nights, you’d get the 33% discount on all four nights of the stay.
In practice, you can get up to 33% off your stay at Hilton Impresario hotels – and on top of that get the fantastic benefits such as the credits, upgrades and VIP treatment:
| 3rd night free | 33% discount |
| 4th night free | 25% discount |
| 5th night free | 20% discount |
How Hilton Impresario works with your Hilton Status and Membership
The beautiful thing with Hilton Impresario rates is that they are offered directly by Hilton through luxury travel advisors. In short, they are treated exactly like if you booked on Hilton’s own website even if you go through an agent. You not only get your regular status benefits just as normal, you actually get double the Hilton Honors points on every Impresario booking. And of course, you’re getting a range of free benefits and occasional discounts on top of it.
The value of Impresario Rates with Hilton Gold/Diamond Status
Our experience shows that when a guest has both Hilton Diamond status and are booked through Hilton Impresario that they get better upgrades and generally better treatment from the hotel. A good agent also works directly with the property to get them to go the extra mile for you.
With that said, it’s important to make a distinction between status benefits and Impresario benefits, because even as a top-tier Diamond member, there are some differences:
- The $100 credit is unique to Hilton Impresario
- You get double the Hilton Honors points for your stay
- The breakfast benefit included in Hilton Impresario is a full breakfast; whereas the Hilton Diamond/Gold breakfast typically either is a continental breakfast, or in the US would be a F&B credit. If you do book a stay in the US, you’d both get full breakfast and can utilize your F&B credit on something else.
- Free night offers are uniquely offered through Hilton Impresario rates
- Hotels generally take much better care of guests who hold both status and book Impresario rates
We always recommend comparing Impresario rates with the lowest available rate offered by Hilton to find what works best for you.
Client Example: Hilton Impresario stay at Waldorf Astoria Bangkok
We recently worked with one of our clients to book them a four-night stay at the gorgeous Waldorf Astoria Bangkok. This hotel happens to also be offering the third night free. Given that Hilton Impresario free night offers apply to the full length of stay, they in practice got a 33% discount from the most flexible rate.
Their four-night stay in the base room, a King Deluxe Room, came to 38451 THB (roughly $1050 USD) with the 33% discount on the most flexible rate. For comparison, the cheapest other rate offered by Hilton (which was non-refundable and included breakfast) was 47733 THB (roughly $1300 USD).
In other words, they got a fully flexible booking, full Hilton Impresario benefits, and $250 USD cheaper than the non-refundable rate. Furthermore, their full Hilton Diamond benefits were honored and they got an additional $50 USD in combined F&B and spa credits to be utilized during their stay.
The client was also upgraded to a King Deluxe Suite on account of their combined Hilton Diamond status and Hilton Impresario rate.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hilton Impresario
Do you earn points for Hilton Impresario bookings?
Yes, you get full Hilton Honors benefits, including all your elite benefits. You not only earn points just a direct booking, you actually get double points on every Impresario booking.
Can Hilton Impresario benefits be applied to an existing booking?
If you have an existing booking, we can always look at whether we can rebook it for you and add Impresario benefits to your booking. Please send us an email!
Do I have to pay any fees to book Impresario rates through you?
No, we earn a commission from the hotels. There are no charges to book through us.
Is there a length of stay requirement?
No, you can book Impresario rates from one-night stays and up.
What’s the difference between this and Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts?
In principle, the programmes are quite similar, with the difference being that Impresario typically has access to more properties, and often offers better deals. It also offers unique benefits such as the double Hilton points that Amex FHR does not offer. Furthermore, Amex FHR is not a personally managed programme, meaning that you do not have a luxury travel advisor coordinating with the property on your behalf.
Why does Hilton offer the Impresario programme?
The short answer is that Hilton wants to attract luxury travellers to book directly with Hilton’s own programme versus go through other booking sites (like Booking.com). This is why they’ve partnered with select luxury travel advisors to offer perks when booking through their own programme.
Summary
Hilton Impresario is an excellent programme to get even more value out of all of your stays at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR Hotels. You get access to fantastic complimentary benefits like free breakfast, upgrades, $100 credit, and more, and on top of that, you get access to many free night-deals that trigger when you stay three, four or five nights depending on the property. The programme offers excellent value even if you’re a Hilton status member, as the Impresario benefits and the status perks combined get you the very best the hotel has to offer. Click here to receive a free Hilton Impresario quote from our team.