American Express Hilton Honors Card Review
Updated June 25, 2023.
The Facts
The Math
The value of Hilton Honors points varies greatly and the general consensus is that it doesn't exceed 1 cent per point. Our current valuation is below half a cent. Thus, unless you are working on topping off your points balance for a certain redemption, we won't recommend this card for general spending, because it will be a stretch in our opinion to value points as high as 0.7 cent to be able to beat 2% cashback provided by cards like Citi Double Cash, or Fidelity Visa. However, you may consider this card for the 7x and 5x categories depending on your points valuation.
Amex Hilton vs. Amex Hilton Surpass: The Surpass card costs $95 more, but returns extra 5 points on Hilton, extra 1 point on gas/groceries/dining, and comes with the complimentary Hilton Gold, the potential Hilton Diamond status after $40K, and a free weekend night after $15K. If you value the free weekend night and/or Hilton Gold more than $95, upgrading to the Surpass card is a no-brainer.
The Conclusion
After the March 2013 devaluation of Hilton program, we won't recommend this card for general spending.
- Annual Fee: none
- Signup Bonus: 70,000 points + one free night after you spend $2,000 within 6 months of new account opening. This signup bonus is not available to applicants who have or have had this card. Historical best bonus of this card: (1) 70,000 points + one free night in 2022 and 2023; (2) up to 150,000 points in 2021; (3) $100+100,000 points in 2021; (4) 100,000 points in 2021; (5) 90,000 points in 2019; (6) 80,000 points in 2017; (7) 75,000 points in 2020. The free night certificate expires after 12 months of issuance. Hilton's most expensive hotels require 95,000~120,000 points or $400 to over $1,000 in cash per night. Here are some examples of exceptional redemption for free nights: Waldorf Astoria Maldives, Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach, Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam, Grand Wailea - A Waldorf Astoria Resort, Waldorf Astoria Chicago, Waldorf Astoria Park City (in peak seasons), Conrad Bora Bora Nui, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, Conrad Koh Samui, Conrad Punta de Mita, Conrad New York Midtown, Conrad Tokyo, Zemi Beach House - LXR Hotels & Resorts, Oceana Santa Monica - LXR Hotels & Resorts, The Biltmore Mayfair - LXR Hotels & Resorts, Cliffrose Springdale - Curio Collection, Hilton Seychelles Labriz, and Hilton Seychelles Northolme.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 7x Hilton, 5x U.S. gas stations, U.S. grocery stores, and U.S. restaurants, 3x everywhere else.
- Best Use of Hilton Honors points: Hilton Honors points are best used for hotels and resorts in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio, including Waldorf Astoria, LXR, Conrad, Canopy by Hilton, Curio Collection by Hilton, Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, motto by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, tru by Hilton, spark by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, and Hilton Grand Vacations.
- Hilton Benefits: (1) Complimentary Hilton Silver status, which is not much but at least offers 5th Night Free for an awards stay. (2) Hilton Gold status with an annual spending of $20,000. Hilton Gold, which is normally achieved by 20 stays, 40 nights, or 75,000 base points, and guarantees breakfasts for two at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, DoubleTree, Curio Collection, and Tapestry Collection, is considered the best mid-tier hotel status in industry. (3) 500 bonus points each time you book a stay online with any Hilton portfolio website and pay with your card.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip. (2) Amex Offers - you receive savings in form of statement credit or earn bonus points on select merchants when using your Amex card; you need to manually add an offer to your Amex card to be eligible for savings or bonus, and unlike other savings/bonus programs, you don't need to shop through a certain portal. (3) ShopRunner membership for free 2-day shipping with select merchants. (4) Entertainment Access including American Express Presale and Premium Access (dining).
- History: In May 2013, Amex changed the rewards structure on this card, and you may see the old structure in our old review. In January 2018, after Amex took over Citi's Hilton credit card portfolio and became the sole issuer of Hilton credit cards, Amex introduced two new products - the $450 Hilton Aspire and the $95 Hilton Business Card and revamped two existing products - Hilton Ascend ($95, name changed from Hilton Surpass but changed back to Surpass in 2019) and the non-fee Hilton Amex.
The Math
The value of Hilton Honors points varies greatly and the general consensus is that it doesn't exceed 1 cent per point. Our current valuation is below half a cent. Thus, unless you are working on topping off your points balance for a certain redemption, we won't recommend this card for general spending, because it will be a stretch in our opinion to value points as high as 0.7 cent to be able to beat 2% cashback provided by cards like Citi Double Cash, or Fidelity Visa. However, you may consider this card for the 7x and 5x categories depending on your points valuation.
Amex Hilton vs. Amex Hilton Surpass: The Surpass card costs $95 more, but returns extra 5 points on Hilton, extra 1 point on gas/groceries/dining, and comes with the complimentary Hilton Gold, the potential Hilton Diamond status after $40K, and a free weekend night after $15K. If you value the free weekend night and/or Hilton Gold more than $95, upgrading to the Surpass card is a no-brainer.
The Conclusion
After the March 2013 devaluation of Hilton program, we won't recommend this card for general spending.