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The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has a very nice 150,000 Hilton Honors bonus points offer available, but it’s this premium hotel card’s perks that put it over the top.
While there are certainly plenty of premium benefits anyone can take advantage of, you really should only choose this as your premium credit card if you are loyal to the Hilton brand and intend to base your card usage around Hilton stays. Otherwise, The Platinum Card® from American Express is probably the better premium Amex card choice.
The annual fee is steep at $450 (typical of premium cards), but you’ll find all the generous credits and perks, if used, easily make up for that cost.
The Hilton Honors program has an exclusive partnership with American Express now, and there are two other Hilton Cards you may want to consider if you don’t think all the premium benefits are worth the annual fee.
- Hilton Honors American Express Card
- This is the no annual fee option for earning Hilton Honors rewards for those who stay less than 20 nights out of the year.
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
- This option does have an annual fee and I generally recommend it for those who stay at least 20-25 nights yearly to make up for that fee in rewards.
For business owners, the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is a good option, with benefits and an annual fee most equivalent to the Surpass Card.
150,000 Bonus Points With The Aspire Card
You’ll be able to find the 150,000 bonus points offer directly through the American Express website. Like many other Amex credit card offers, it’s usually better to go directly through their site, rather than redirecting from review sites or other credit card portals. I’ve seen a 100,000 bonus points offer when visiting some review sites.
When you redeem towards Hilton hotel stays (the best choice for redemption), we value the 150,000 points to be worth $900.
The bonus requirements are the same for either offer – you’ll have to spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.
Here are some tips if your normal everyday spending won’t be enough for the requirement.
What Makes The Aspire Card So Great?
Rewards. Credits. Freebies.
The Aspire Card earns 14X Hilton Honors bonus points at participating hotels or resorts within the Hilton Portfolio (see the next section below for the listing of properties). 7X Hilton Honors points are earned on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies, and U.S. restaurants. The select car rental companies include: Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, E-Z, Fox, Hertz, National, Payless, Sixt and Thrifty.
You’ll earn 3X Hilton Honors bonus points on all other eligible purchases.
We value each point to be worth 0.6 cents, so your return for each points earning tier is as follows:
- 14X = 8.4% return
- 7X = 4.2% return
- 3X = 1.8% return
You’ll have complimentary Diamond Status with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card, which includes Silver and Gold Status benefits along with it’s own. Here’s everything you’ll get with Diamond Status:
- Guaranteed Member Discount
- Points Towards Free Nights
- No resort fees on Reward Stays
- Digital Check-in and Choose Your Room
- Digital Key
- In-Room and Lobby Wi-Fi
- Second Guest Stays Free
- Late Check-out
- Free Transfer of Points and Points Pooling
- 5th Standard Reward Night Free
- 2 Bottles of Water
- Elite Tier Rollover Nights
- Space-available Room Upgrade
- Complimentary Breakfast at all hotels
- Unlimited Milestone Bonuses
- Executive Lounge Access *Diamond Status tier
- Diamond Status Extension *Diamond Status tier
- 48-Hour Room Guarantee *Diamond Status tier
- Elite Status Gifting *Diamond Status tier
Enjoy one weekend night reward with your new Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and every year after renewal.
Plus, earn an additional night after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
With your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, enjoy up to $250 in statement credits each year of Card Membership for eligible purchases at participating Hilton Resorts. Visit hilton.com/resorts for the list of participating Hilton Resorts.
Statement credits of up to $250 per calendar year toward incidental air travel fees with your selected qualifying airline at www.americanexpress.com/airlinecreditchoice. Choose your airline carefully, but you’ll be able to change your choice one time each year in January.
With your Card, book a 2 night minimum stay at HiltonHonors.com/aspirecard and get up to $100 in credits for qualifying charges at participating hotels (Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, and Conrad Hotels & Resorts).
Relax with unlimited lounge visits for you and up to 2 guests per visit once enrolled in complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which offers access to over 1,300 airport lounges around the world.
This is more than $400 in value when compared to the standalone Priority Pass Prestige membership level that most closely resembles Priority Pass Select.
No additional fees on purchases made abroad, which are typically 2.7% per transaction for cards that don’t have this feature.
As you can see, if you’re able to max out a good portion of the credits and weekend night rewards, and use the Priority Pass Select membership, you’ll actually come out on top despite the annual fee.
What’s The Competition?
THE PLATINUM CARD® FROM AMERICAN EXPRESS
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
The Platinum Card® from American Express has a special offer for 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 in purchases within your first 6 months.
Membership Rewards® points are some of the most valuable in the market. Redeeming these points by booking travel through American Express or by redeeming for gift cards will give you a standard 1 cent per point value. The 100k bonus points are worth $1,000 going this route.
You can potentially get more value by transferring your points to Membership Rewards travel partners. Using this strategy can get you up to an average value of 2 cents per point. Get around $2,000 in value with 100,000 points this way. Read more on this here.
With this card, earn 10X Membership Rewards Points for eligible purchases on the Card at restaurants worldwide and when you Shop Small in the U.S. (up to $25,000 in combined purchases) during your first 6 months of Card Membership
5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.
The biggest drawback to this card is the $695 annual fee (see Rates & Fees, Terms Apply), which puts it in the premium class of credit cards. The card has a market because it offers premium travel benefits, such as 5X points for flights (up to $500,000 on these purchases) and eligible hotels, access to 40+ Centurion Loung and Studio locations worldwide, up to $200 in Uber credits yearly, up to $200 airline fee credit annually, and an annual Walmart+ membership. These benefits are given as statement credits.
For frequent travelers, the added benefits make sense in terms of value and added luxury.
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Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Disclaimer: These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. It is not the bank advertiser's or any other entity's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.