Those procrastinators who have credit cards that offer credits at Hilton properties might be in for disappointment this holiday season. Apparently, the Grinch has gotten into the supply of Hilton gift cards and BuyHiltonGiftCards.com is “experiencing an inventory shortage”. It doesn’t sound like that shortage is going to be cleared up before the end of the year.
Despite the messaging at the top of the page, it is still possible to place an order. And at least one person I know has placed an order since the messaging went up and he was immediately charged for the gift card. Of course, it’s early to know whether that charge will finalize immediately or whether BuyHiltonGiftCards.com will wait to finalize until they ship, which is fairly common practice among many retailers. That said, perhaps it is less common on gift card sales since they presumably want to know that the charge will finalize before loading/shipping the gift cards.
Since they are only “hoping” to have inventory “in the coming weeks”, I think there’s a good chance that gift cards won’t ship out until sometime into the new year. Obviously that’s a bummer if you need a gift card now, but it’s potentially a bigger bummer if they only run an authorization now and finalize the charge later.
I imagine we’ll know if charges post to statements in the next few days, so you may just want to keep an eye on data points to see. On the other hand, it might be worth getting an order in sooner rather than later in case they stop taking orders at some point. You could always look for an opportunity to use the credit in person sometime in the next 11 days if the charge falls off your statement (assuming you’re using a card that may reimburse the charge, I guess in the worst case you’ll know that you probably won’t have to worry about procrastinating on 2025 Q1’s credit).
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Also hilariously, Hawaii is no longer available to select in the billing or shipping address. It was there in September. Presumably a glitch. Clearly this operations doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing.
The bigger issue is your ability to use the gift cards. Internationally I am 1 for 9 with Hilton (not Curio, not Hampton, etc..) hotels. Domestically I am 0 for 1. Most staff have never heard of Hilton gift cards. And simply swiping them doesn’t work, at least where i have tried. There are data points of them working here and there, depending on if staff knows what they are doing. Try a $43 charge and then save and try $6, it seems sometimes there is a hold on a portion. What sucks is if you plan on using the card(s) and they don’t work and then you’re on the hook to pay. Hilton corporate is seemingly aware of this problem and does absolutely nothing about it.
Yeah, we’ve heard a bunch of reports like that. Unfortunately, my experience with Marriott gift cards is typically that staff have no idea how to use them either, but usually if I stop by the desk before breakfast on the day of checkout or maybe the night before checkout, they can usually figure it out by the time I’m ready to leave. I haven’t used the Hilton gift cards yet though and it does sound like they’re more problematic.
FM should do an expose on Hilton gift cards and see if Hilton corporate is going to do anything about this.
To trigger credit on Aspire, do I buy 1 card for $200 or 4 cards for $50?
Neither. The Aspire credit is resort-specific and only works at the resorts on the list of qualifying resorts. Online gift cards won’t work for that.
DP – new Amex Biz Plat – applied and instantly approved 12/13/2024 – temp card issued (decided to wait to save actual card info in Dell/Airline/T-Mo – logged-in enrolled in all benefits selected airline.
Hilton GC ordered on 17th (credit posted showing a backdated 17th). Yet to get shipping notification. In the past they have typically shipped in 3-4 biz days (based on e-mail notification) Last purchase the credit lagged 12 days in November – both before thanksgiving.
Dell
Also ordered inexpensive laptop ($224) charge posted 17th – credit posted on the 18th as well as arrival of laptop. (TBH I think that laptops are the safest to order – when you are the end of the semi-annual time period) – but I did need a temp laptop as my old Dell from C19 has been having Intel Optane issues.
Waiting on Airline/Wireless credits to post.
Amex Credit posting have been all over the map this year – but it does seem like they have gotten better -exception has been Airline credits. This based on I’m guessing 30-40 credits across various cards.
Will update if I get a shipping notice in next couple days.
Dell has laptops for $224? I have to look into this for 2025
It is $249. I added a 10% Dell coupon ( signed up for e-mails for a 10% coupon good for a few months – google ” Dots don’t matter in Gmail addresses” I will post a reply with the Dell link to signup.
I also had an instant card number and Dell 10% off Amex offer for the card that expired this past Sun/Mon – but wasn’t sure if it post before it expired. Also stacked Rakuten 10X MR.
It’s the Inspiron 15 Laptop Model: 3520
Specs:12th Gen Intel Core i3-1215U (10 MB cache, 6 cores, up to 4.40 GHz Turbo)This chip actually has decent benchmark scores
Windows 11 HomeIntel UHD Graphics8 GB: 1 x 8 GB, DDR4, 2666 MT/s512 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD15.6″, Non-Touch, FHD 1920×1080, 120Hz, WVA, IPS, Anti-Glare, 250 nit, Narrow Border, LED-BacklitIt’s fairly basic laptop ( your not going to be doing video encoding or power user tasks) but pretty decent for surfing/streaming or for students.
But the SSD/Memory/Wi/Fi are not solder in so you could upgrade them (open Memory slot).
Its going to family overseas in a few months – after I find a deal on a true replacement and working on another SUB (I have an even older XPS13 from 2019 that is starting to get a little long the tooth).
I just went on and bought a few physical cards and paid $1.95 for shipping. I’d rather pay a couple of dollars for shipping and not lose this quarters credit. Thanks for the heads up.
wow with that much demand for Hilton GC’s i wonder how long before Amex catches on with this.
I think that this is partially/mostly subsidized by Hilton same with Airline and other credits – It will likely only change when the partner re-evaluates.
Same with Amex Offers.
I ordered a Hilton GC on Wednesday and it has posted on my Amex (I.e,, my outstanding balance is $51.95). Haven’t gotten the credit yet but it appears that the charge is official.
I ordered a %50 gift card with my Business Platinum AMEX last week and got an email that it shipped via USPS 7 days ago on December 13th. Still have not received.
I didn’t think buying gift cards triggered hilton credits?
It 100% triggers it. Already had my $50 credit post 3 days after the order.
The issue hasn’t been whether they trigger the credit (they do). The issue is whether they will work internationally. I’ve had issues in the past, including one that I needed to get replaced because the Amex cancelled it due to potential fraud (tried using it in the Seychelles).