When it comes to using Hilton Honors points, there's bad news and there's good news.

For the bad news: Hilton Honors points aren’t the most valuable in the travel rewards world. In fact, NerdWallet currently values them at just 0.5 cent each.

But now for the good news: Hilton doles them out like candy, leaving frequent guests and credit card holders with plenty of points to use.

If you've got a pile of points but those points aren't particularly valuable on their own, you'll want to spend them wisely. You can redeem Hilton points for hotel rooms, which is generally your best bet. You can also use Hilton points in other ways, such as transferring to airline partners, booking unique “experiences,” paying for Amazon purchases and even renting cars. Just know that those other Hilton Honors points redemptions are generally not worth the time (and points).

Here's NerdWallet's guide to using Hilton Honors points, and how to get the maximum value from them.

How to book hotel stays using Hilton Honors points

Hilton Honors points can be redeemed at any of Hilton’s 7,200+ hotels and resorts. This is the most common — and usually most valuable — way to use the points.

To search for award availability, select the “Use Points” box on the Hilton search tool (you must be logged in):

Confusingly, these prices often switch to dollar amounts when clicking through to the room selection screen, though the point amounts are also displayed (much smaller) above the cash rate, as show in the screenshot below:

Hilton allows award bookings for a variety room types, including suites. That's relatively unusual for a hotel rewards program — albeit delightfully so — as it provides far greater flexibility for special getaways or larger groups. Of course, more expensive rooms cost more points.

How to maximize Hilton Honors redemptions at hotels

Hilton does not use an award chart for its properties, meaning the number of points needed to book a given room dynamically changes based on supply and demand. That makes it difficult to pin down “Hilton sweet spots” as is possible in other hotel loyalty programs — but it doesn't mean you can't find a stellar redemption. The challenge, though, is that finding them generally requires you manually search for them.

To ease this burden (somewhat), Hilton has a dedicated Points Explorer tool that lets you filter results by the number of points you actually have.

Once you’ve found a booking and want to know if it’s a good use of points, use NerdWallet's Hilton points calculator below to compare if you're getting a better deal when paying with cash versus points:

How does NerdWallet calculate whether it's better to book with cash versus Hilton Honors points? Since we've determined the baseline Hilton point value is 0.5 cent, simply divide the total cash price (including extra fees like resort fees). If the value is higher than our baseline, it's a maximized redemption. If it's lower, you might save your points for a better redemption in the future and pay with cash.