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There are some awesome new offers out today on the Hilton Surpass and no-fee Hilton Honors credit cards. While the best public offers are shown below, see the “Quick Thoughts” section for details on targeted offers that are even better and good for as many as 200,000 Hilton Honors points.
The Public Offers & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
100K points ⓘ Affiliate 100K points after $2K spend within the first 6 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) (Offer Expires 1/8/2025)No Annual Fee After clicking through, be sure to choose the card you want on the landing page. Recent better offer: (Expired 7/31/24) 70K points + free night certificate after $2K spend within the first 6 months. FM Mini Review: This card isn't particularly rewarding, but it's good to keep primarily for targeted Amex upgrade offers to the Surpass card. Earning rate: ✦ 7X Hilton eligible Hilton purchases ✦ 5X US restaurants, US Supermarkets, and US gas stations ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. 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) |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
165K points ⓘ Affiliate 165K points after $3K spend within the first 6 months. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 1/8/2025)$150 Annual Fee Recent better offer: (Expired 7/31/24) 130K points + free night certificate after $3K spend within the first 6 months. FM Mini Review: Easy way to secure Hilton Gold status (which offers free breakfast among other perks). Those who want Diamond status may be better off with the Aspire card. Earning rate: ✦ 12X Hilton spend ✦ 6X U.S. restaurants, US Supermarkets, and US gas stations ✦ 4X U.S. Online Retail Purchases ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases Base: 3X (1.44%) Dine: 6X (2.88%) Gas: 6X (2.88%) Grocery: 6X (2.88%) Shop: 4X (1.92%) Brand: 12X (5.76%) Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: ✦ Free night award after $15K spend in calendar year ✦ Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend ✦ Terms apply Noteworthy perks: Free Gold status. Diamond status w/ $40K spend. ✦ Up to $200 in Hilton credits ($50 per quarter) ✦ Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) |
![](http://cdn.nextinsure.com/imaging/opt/0fb236dd-aecb-49ed-9f28-94aaf0efd9a2.png?w=300" alt="Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card" />)
Quick Thoughts
The offers above are the best publicly-available and represent the highest point totals I think we’ve ever seen on these cards. When you also consider the points earned on spend, you’ll end up with a ton of Hilton points with either offer. The Surpass offer is particularly attractive in my opinion given that $15K in purchases in a calendar year on that card yields a free weekend night certificate — in this case, that first $10K in purchases will also be extra rewarding.
But could get even better. When I’m testing new offers in various browsers on my computer, I sometimes stumble on even better targeted offers.
In this case, once again we’ve stumbled on even better offers on both of these Hilton cards. Pictured below are targeted offers we came across for up to 200,000 Hilton Honors bonus points on the Hilton Surpass card (150K after $2K in purchases in the first 3 months + 50K more points after an additional $8K in purchases in the first 6 months) or up to 150K Hilton honors bonus points on the Hilton Honors American Express Card with no annual fee (100K points after just $1K in purchases in the first 3 months plus 50K more bonus points after an additional $4K in purchases in the first 6 months). Those offers are outstanding.
Note that we saw those targeted offers via Hilton’s website at this link (again, the offers appear targeted as we saw them on-again off-again): https://creditcard.hilton.com/hilton-honors-credit-card/?utm_mcid=3571194&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=%2Bhilton%20%2Bcard&utm_cmpid=1356231525&utm_adgid=55044009340&utm_tgtid=kwd-449507486555&utm_mt=p&utm_adid=519395029434&utm_dvc=c&utm_ntwk=g&utm_adpos=&utm_plcmnt=&utm_locphysid=9016851&utm_locintid=&utm_feeditemid=&utm_devicemdl=&utm_plcmnttgt=&utm_programname=cchc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz82I_cS18AIVdWxvBB2jVAXcEAAYASAAEgLyofD_BwE
On the one hand, we recently saw Hilton introduce a new all-time-high standard award tier with the Waldorf-Astoria Maldives pricing at an eye-popping 150K points per night for a standard room. That marks a 58% increase in the price of a top-tier Hilton award night in just the past couple of years, which would seem to dilute the value of this offer.
On the other hand, our Reasonable Redemption Value for Hilton points is 0.45c per point and it isn’t entirely rare to get half a cent or more in value per point. Even at 0,45c per point, the 200K offer is worth $900 — and with the right redemptions, it certainly isn’t impossible to get well over a thousand dollars in value. In the past, I’ve found plenty of nice redemptions for around 60K points per night; after completing the minimum spend you would probably have just about enough points for 5 nights at a hotel in that range given some of your spend being in the card’s bonus categories (and that the 5th night is free on award stays). As a higher-end example, the Conrad Bora-Bora Nui, pictured in the featured image at the top of this post, typically charges about 80-90K points per night for a standard award room (versus often $800 per night or more. Note that I’m only seeing close-in availability right now). Getting enough points for two nights from the bonus alone (and perhaps a third from meeting the spend and a fourth with $15K total spend in a calendar year) is pretty incredible. Keep in mind that Hilton free night certificates issued this year are valid until 12/31/22, which means that you could theoretically pick up a free night from $15K spend this year and another free night with $15K spend next year and put them together for your trip to paradise. Given the high bonus point offer here, that’s an excellent opportunity.
The Surpass card is also a good long-term keeper given that it provides Hilton Gold status, which gets you free breakfast at almost all Hilton properties worldwide (though YMMV in the current environment as to what free breakfast entails).
On the other hand, if you’ve had the Surpass but never had the no-annual-fee card, an offer like this is probably as good as it gets for picking up a once-per-lifetime bonus on that card.
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Is once in a lifetime still around 7 years?
i.e. 2013 or earlier is OK?
Nick – All great info, but, I have to post roast you for leaving this bit out. Makes the Surpass a much sweeter deal.
For 2021 only, Hilton credit card spend (not SUB) is considered base points AND again for 2021 only, Hilton has cut the number of base points to achieve status in half. Therefore, if you spend and accumulate 60,000 points on the Surpass card you can achieve Diamond status until the end of 2022 (or maybe Feb. 2023 something like that). If you go for the $15k free night, you will have minimum 45k points. Realistically, some of your spend would likely be in the 6x categories. With $10k at 3x and $5k at 6x you would have 30,000 + 30,000 = 60,000pts and lock in Diamond status for over a year. I’ve been able to do this on both P2 and waiting for points to post on P1 this year. Even sweeter if you stack with the SUB for a new card. Almost forgot . . . Also, till the end of June, you get an extra 10,000 pts for every $5k spend when you activate the AMEX offer.
Stack all of these and you could really come out big with the Surpass card this year.
What is SUB?
Sign up bonus.
Nick’s new post today 5/13 sums this up nicely.
I had the Surpass for a long time, but then upgraded to the Aspire when they had that deal late last year where AMEX promised to waive the annual fee and then do a prorated AF the next year making it a great bargain. Well, as you know, they pulled that offer back for a lot of people, including me. So, I downgraded to the no fee card in protest. Question: Do you think I would still be able to get the SUB points for the Aspire because I never received SUB points and I only had the card for 2-3 weeks?
Check your email: a reader just reached out to let me know that Amex sent an email saying that they would honor that after all (she also downgraded like you and got the email inviting her back to the Aspire with honored terms). I’m going to republish that post in a little while with the update.
Thanks for the heads up. I just got my email inviting back to Aspire under the terms they originally offered.
Hi Nick, great post! For the Surpass card, do the 10 priority passes allow for a dining credit ?
Nope. Amex cut out Priority Pass restaurants a couple of years ago.
Looks like business card has 180k offer too. Public on Hilton site.
Awesome! I will get that updated.
I don’t see that offer on the biz, I only see 130k on Hilton’s site (tried regular and incognito browsers).
Interesting. Hilton site reads as 130k under their offers, but clicking through takes me to 180k offer. My offer page: https://apply.americanexpress.com/hilton-cobrand/?page_url=57
(I’m in regular chrome, but not logged into Hilton or Amex accounts)
There’s been several rounds of improved offers for the no fee and Surpass cards but nothing for the Aspire. Do you think that Amex already feels like the Aspire is a good enough deal on its own that they don’t feel compelled to do anything for that card?
I’ve been waiting for a better Aspire offer but maybe it’s a futile wait?
*Edit for spelling
Yes, my opinion is that I think they don’t think they need to improve on the Aspire offer (and I think they’re right for what it’s worth). If I were placing a bet, I would sooner bet that they increase the annual fee on the Aspire than that they increase the offer. I very much hope I’m wrong – I’d love to see an awesome increased offer on it – but since the beginning of the pandemic they have basically had increased (and in some cases amazing) offers on just about every card they issue *except* the Aspire. I just don’t think that’s coincidence.
I am curious to know if anyone knows how long it usually takes AMEX to issue an upgrade offer on the Hilton cards? I currently have the no AF Hilton from when they just had the 100K+$100 offer but would really like to upgrade to the Surpass.
At least a year because of the card act
Yup, what Jeff said ^^
I’m trying to remember, if someone had the no fee Hilton (player 2 in our case), can she still apply for the Surpass?
Yes, you can have them all or multiples of the same card. Sign up bonus 1x per lifetime and 5x total cc rules still apply. Amex counts the previous generation $95 AF Hilton as a surpass for 1x per lifetime rule…I forget what the previous one was called.
As Jeff says, yes. Each Hilton card is a separate product, so you can get the welcome bonus once each on the no-fee Hilton, the $95 Hilton Surpass (formerly called the Ascend for a short time, but it was also called the Surpass before that), and the $450 Hilton Aspire (and also the Hilton business card).