American Express loves its coupons; it seems especially fond of Hilton coupons. Amex throws them all over the place like a hotel version of Willy Wonka. There are quarterly up-to $50 credits on the Business Platinum and Hilton Surpass cards, quarterly up-to $60 credits on the Hilton Business card, and semi-annual up-to $200 resort credits on the Hilton Aspire card.
Initially, a popular way of liquidating the $50 and $60 quarterly credits was to buy physical gift cards at www.buyhiltongiftcards.com. You had to pay ~$5 in shipping, but it was an easy way to bank large amounts of credits in perpetuity without much effort (although using them was another matter). Soon, many of us had piles of them.
Hilton caught on eventually, however, and mysteriously “ran out” of inventory at the end of last year. Evidently, plastic cards are really hard to source these days, since the online store has been offline ever since, with a banner at the top now reading, “We are currently working on upgrading the Hilton Gift Card experience. Please stay tuned for more details in the coming months.” We’ve all been on pins and needles ever since waiting for the joys that the new experience would bring.
We suspected that the real “upgrade” of the “Hilton Gift Card experience” would involve figuring out a way to keep folks from redeeming their credits for gift cards.
Now it’s official.
Doctor of Credit noticed the following language in the terms for the quarterly Hilton credits on the Business Platinum:
Effective January 31, 2026, Hilton gift card purchases will no longer be considered an eligible purchase, and you will not receive the statement credit for any Hilton gift card purchases.
My guess is that the “upgraded Hilton Gift Card experience” will come online right around February 1st…and that it’s only a matter of time before the same language appears on the Surpass and Hilton Business cards.
Quick Thoughts
Hilton Gift cards were a decent way of consolidating $50 and $60 chunks into useful amounts that could actually pay for a hotel room (and didn’t involve hauling around multiple credit cards).
That said, I’m almost relieved now that their death is official. Using my coterie of Hilton credits to buy gift cards was just a little too easy. It meant that I had a massive pile of unused cards begging to be forgotten, lost, or given away to poor, unsuspecting victims around the holidays. Now, we can all just be happy with splitting one-night Hilton Garden Inn stays between three credit cards.
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I was just going to upgrade my no AF Hilton Amex to a Surpass and then the aspirational properties devalued. Now I’m even more glad, I didn’t upgrade.
If anyone plans on visiting the Holy Land anytime soon, it’s possible to buy gift cards online for the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem that are usable at their spa or any of their restaurants. The purchase codes as a regular Waldorf purchase (not a “gift card”) and indeed gets credited by Amex.
Holy Land? GTFO here.
Thanks Tim
I assume we’ll still be able to go into Hiltons that have a Starbucks and buy Starbucks gift cards with the credit? What about buying Hilton gift cards in person… do any locations/brands even do that?
I wouldn’t assume that, I have had more failure than success trying to unload my HGC’s…..still have a stack to unload……gonna try my luck next week at the Hilton Universal Hollywood next month
I think Rob was asking about getting the credit at Starbucks (or restaurant) attached to a Hilton that code as Hilton. Yes, those should still work for now. You’re thinking about using the HGC’s we all bought before they ran out.
A HGI with a restaurant just opened near where I live. Looks like I’ll just enjoy some happy our drinks and mozza sticks every quarter!
Out of curioisity, how does one know if the restaurant will end up coding as the hotel credit? There’s a hotel near me with 3 restaurants listed on their website but it’s unclear if the restaurants would all be covered for the credit
Trial and error. I’m guessing (hoping) this one will code as hotel spend since it’s not in the lobby, but on the second floor more integral to the operation unlike a ground level restaurant space adjacent to a hotel. Maybe wishful thinking on my part.
There’s a spreadsheet with data points on which restaurants work. I posted it above but the comment is still waiting approval since it’s a link. You can find this spreadsheet on Amex reddit, find the refebt post about gift cards.
You can call and ask the restaurant if they are a 3rd party restaurant just located in the hotel, or are actually part of the hotel. At least that’s worked reliably for me. (Been using my Amex credit for Hilton food this way for several quarters now.)
And as soon as January 1,2026 hits, Hilton gift cards will be magically available after a year’s worth of “technical difficulties”
Maybe there will be a gap between the gift card site coming back and Jan 31 so that we can all go crazy one last time.
The struggle is real! I have to laugh about using 3 Amex cards at a Hilton Garden Inn, because I worry about having the identical problem. And some quarters it’s almost that bad. Fortunately my wife frequently travels for business and sometimes we “forget” to use the company card.
Strange how much they love to advertise these coupons but when people actually find a way to consistently use them they make it more difficult to redeem!
This 100%
Good luck actually redeeming them at a property. Have yet to find one who knows how to process the gift card as a payment method.
I have had no issues burning up old one’s as well as using CC at my local Hilton restaurant.
I’ve used them in three countries with no problem.
I used my first one at conrad Seoul and it went flawlessly.
It also must be stated/flagged that the Hilton gift card vendor (AMEX I believe) was absolute hot garbage relative to industry standard players (Givex for Marriott, Buyatab for Hyatt). Notwithstanding this weird glitch, Hilton desperately needs to professionalize its operation in this regard (aka, fire AMEX for gift card provisioning).