Hilton Honors American Express Card

Note: American Express is a Frequent Miler advertiser. Please see our Advertiser Disclosure.

80K Points
80K after $1K spend in 3 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
Click Here to Apply

No Annual Fee

Via some browsers you may find a targeted 95K offer with a refer-a-friend link. You can find our refer-a-friend link here (Note: this refer-a-friend link is not an affiliate link. Information about this link was collected independently by Frequent Miler)

Alternate offer: You may see a better offer that includes a $100 statement credit during the booking process at Hilton.com.

FM Mini Review: This card isn't particularly rewarding, but it's good to keep primarily for targeted Amex upgrade offers to the Ascend card.

Card Type: Amex Credit Card

Base

3X
(1.35%)

Dine

5X
(2.25%)

Gas

5X
(2.25%)

Grocery

5X
(2.25%)

Brand

7X
(3.15%)

Earning rate: ⚬ 7X Hilton spend ⚬ 5X US restaurants, US Supermarkets, and US gas stations ⚬ 3X on all other eligible purchases

Big spend bonus: Gold elite status with $20K calendar year spend

Noteworthy perks: ⚬ Free Silver status; Gold status with $20K spend. ⚬ Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees)

Overview

The no-annual-fee Hilton Honors Card from American Express offers the following benefits:

No annual fee
No foreign transaction fees
Hilton Silver status; Gold status after $20K calendar year spend
Earning rate:
- 7X at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide
- 5X at U.S. grocery stores, U.S. restaurants, and U.S. gas stations
- 3X on all other eligible purchases

Due to the relatively low value of Hilton points compared to many other types of rewards (see: Reasonable Redemption Values), this isn't the best card to use for spend. However, since the card has no annual fee, it makes sense to pick this one up for its welcome offer and keep it in case you are offered a lucrative upgrade offer to one of Amex's other Hilton cards.

Application Tips

Amex Application Tips

Safe to Apply: Amex is the safest bank for trying your luck at a new welcome bonus. They don’t usually issue a hard pull when denying your application. Plus, they’ll now warn you during the application process if you’re not eligible for the bonus.

Lifetime Rule: If you've ever had the same card before, you are most likely prohibited from getting a welcome bonus for the card if you apply now. Fortunately you'll be warned during the application process if this is the case. Amex is known to "forget" that you've had a card after about 7 years.

5/90 Rule: In general, you can get at most one credit card within 5 days and 2 within 90 days. The 5 day limit is not enforced when your applications are automatically approved. Neither rule is enforced for charge cards.

5 credit card max:Amex usually won't approve applications for new credit cards if you already have 4 or more Amex credit cards or 10 or more charge cards.

Better Offers: You may be able to get a better offer than the best available public offer. Details here.

Hard inquiries combine into 1 when approved same day

Check application status here.
If denied, call reconsideration: 877-399-3083 (new accountholders); 866-314-0237 (current accountholders)

How to Meet Spend Requirements

In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:

Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.

That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information):

Related Cards (Hilton)

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card