Despite rising costs of living from gasoline to groceries, American consumers are still prioritizing travel this upcoming summer. Some are shortening trips or choosing cheaper destinations to save money, but according to a recent survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, about one in five consumers still plan to use loyalty points or rewards to lower travel costs.

Hilton is simplifying the use of its loyalty program with action: the hotel giant launched a social-media-first campaign last month, planning to give away a total of 1 billion Hilton Honors points. The campaign kicked off with Instagram posts featuring Paris Hilton and Formula One star driver Lando Norris. The sweepstakes runs through July 30, offering Hilton a natural way to weave into pop culture and consumer hotspots. After all, who better to 'give away' these points than the brand's most recognizable ambassador and a driver whose McLaren Formula 1 Team has partnered with Hilton for over 20 years?

"It's about channeling their professional influence to their respective fan bases," said Mark Weinstein, Hilton's global chief marketing officer, of the campaign. "It's a fun way to tap into summer travel conversations while returning to culture and dialogue in a way that fits our brand, rather than just a series of giveaways."

The campaign focuses on the Hilton Honors program, which has 260 million members, and showcases the marketer's unique approach to loyalty. While extra nights, free room upgrades, and experiences through new cruise partner Explora Journeys are core rewards in the program, Weinstein insists that loyalty is more emotional than transactional.

"If the first nine bagels are bad, you never want the tenth one free," he said. "Loyalty isn't earned by accumulating points; it's earned by redeeming them. Similarly, it's not gained through accumulating elite status, but through the actual value that status delivers."

According to earnings released Tuesday, Hilton's system-wide comparable RevPAR (revenue per available room, a key industry metric) grew 3.9% in the second quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. The company also raised its full-year RevPAR growth outlook to between 3% and 3.5%, with third-quarter World Cup benefits partially offset by fourth-quarter midterm election impacts.

"We're not in a commodity business," the executive added. "We operate in the business of 'irrational preference.'"

Creator and brand platform

Beyond well-known brand ambassadors, Hilton is also embracing the creator economy. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, ad spending in this space in the U.S. is expected to reach $44 billion this year, making it a "core media channel." Weinstein noted that working with creators means brands like Hilton must trade some narrative control for immediacy and relatability.

"The content may not always perfectly match your script, but you're betting on the authenticity of creator content and its resonance with audiences, and that benefit is worth the brand risk," he said. "As a CMO and brand leader, that can sometimes be a bit nerve-wracking."

Hilton's relationships with creators have evolved alongside the field. Early creator partners, including some micro-creators, tended to produce their own versions of TV ads, perhaps due to overly rigid and directive briefs from brands.

"If you want to be active on these platforms, you have to trust creators to know their audiences well enough to deliver the message in the best way. That means brands may face some 'wear and tear,'" Weinstein said.

This emphasis on trust applies equally whether dealing with creators who have 10,000 followers or 10 million. Meanwhile, creator marketing continues to take a larger share of production and media budgets originally allocated to traditional advertising. Weinstein attributes Hilton's ability to partially cede creative control to the strong foundation laid by its global brand platform, "For the Stay," launched in 2022.

"That's why a brand platform is so important: you don't need a home run every time," Weinstein said. "Content production has never been cheaper, and capturing attention has never been harder. If you can reduce risk in the environment, you can actually hit some singles and doubles, and those hits eventually add up to runs."

The evolution of AI roles

As global CMO, Weinstein oversees brand and performance marketing for Hilton's 28 brands across more than 9,200 hotels in 144 countries and territories. Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a significant role in helping Hilton achieve its marketing goals. The technology is "rapidly transforming" Hilton's ability to keep its room inventory information, including accurate photos and descriptions, up to date, ensuring rooms remain bookable and promotable, the executive said.

"We have a large team supporting this work. They often feel overwhelmed trying to keep information for 1.3 million rooms current. Having technology that can handle this at scale is transformative for us. It's not just about automation; it's about truly leveraging AI capabilities to help us do this job," he explained.

AI is also lowering the cost of performance marketing and enabling Hilton to generate thousands of campaign variations, allowing for more personalized and customized delivery than ever before—a necessary capability in a category where a brand can go from irrelevant to critical in as little as 10 seconds due to shifting consumer needs.

"Once a customer completes a hotel booking, their decision window closes. So we use AI to respond in that moment, assembling the right creative, delivering it, and buying media—this is definitely a competitive game-changer," Weinstein said.

Beyond content creation, the next frontier for AI is discoverability across tools that, in some cases, are replacing search engines as the entry point for travel planning. According to the Global Travel Confidence Index by Allianz and Ipsos, more than a third of Americans planning summer travel are already using AI to help plan their vacations.

"Suddenly, talking about our user community sometimes matters more than our own ads," Weinstein said, highlighting the importance of platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and Wikipedia. "We have to recognize that we can't control the environment where content is consumed. It may be distributed to corners where large language models (LLMs) are interpreting and responding."

Hilton is testing ad placements in AI spaces while also learning the evolving rules of the game, where answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) are joining—and possibly replacing—traditional search engine optimization (SEO). Under the dual influence of AI and creators, marketers like Hilton are quickly learning to let go of control.

"You have to ensure you tell your brand story clearly, stay true to yourself, and keep doing what you've always done," Weinstein explained. "You can't control the so-called 'funnel' or the 'linear process.' Information is being spread everywhere. What's meant to happen will happen."