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It seems someone felt left of the bonkers, hotel credit card offers running right now.
The consumer/personal Hilton Honors American Express Cards jumped into the fray with welcome bonuses ranging from 100,000 to 175,000 points.
And the cards with free night awards are especially valuable. We’ll explain why.
Plus, they don’t (yet…) feature the restrictive “family rule” language we’ve seen with other Amex products such as the Delta SkyMiles personal cards and consumer Amex Membership Rewards cards.
(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.) All information about the below cards was independently collected by FrequentFloaters.com.
Hilton Honors American Express Card Welcome Offers
All four Hilton Honors American Express Cards offer welcome bonuses of 100,000 points or (much) higher.
People absolutely averse to annual fees should check out the no-annual-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card (See Rates and Fees.) It awards 100,000 bonus Hilton Honors points after you spend $2,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first six (6) months of card membership. Terms apply. This offer expires on April 17, 2024.
(Check out this page featuring several hotel credit card offers. And if you’re one of the I-Don’t-Pay-Annual-Fees! folks, you’ll love this.)
Points earnings-wise, the card features:
- 7X Hilton Honors bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio
- 5X on purchases at U.S. restaurants
- 5X at U.S. supermarkets
- 5X at U.S. gas stations
- 3X for all other eligible purchases
The card also comes with complimentary Hilton Honors Silver elite status.
But if you’re reading a blog focused on cruises, you probably:
- have the budget to afford cards with annual fees
- know how to get your money’s worth out of annual fee cards
- Both
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first six (6) months of being approved for card membership. Terms apply. (Terms apply.)
The primary cardholder receives complimentary Hilton Honors Gold elite status — and can dial it up to Diamond after spending $40,000 in eligible purchases during a calendar year. (If that happens, you receive Diamond status for the rest of the remaining calendar year and all of the following year.)
Does the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card come with a Free Night Reward? Yes and no. Mostly, no. You can unlock a Free Night Reward after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases during a calendar year. Simply holding the card doesn’t automatically give you a free night.
(See hotel credit cards here.)
However: the Free Night Reward can be redeemed at a bunch of Hilton hotels and resorts — including all-inclusives. The only excluded locations are listed here. (This information was collected independently by Frequent Floaters and was neither provided nor reviewed by the card issuer.)
Finally, the card comes with a quarterly $50 statement credit for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio.
How many points do you earn on eligible purchases?
- 12X Hilton Honors bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X on purchases at U.S. restaurants (including takeout and delivery)
- 6X at U.S. supermarkets
- 6X at U.S. gas stations
- 4X on U.S. online retail purchases
- 3X for all other eligible purchases
The card’s annual fee is $150. (See Rates and Fees.)
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: 175,000 Points — and a Great Card for Hilton Fans
Finally, we come to the biggest offer — and what we think is the best card to hold. (By the way, this isn’t an affiliate link, so we’re not paid a commission. We might get a few Amex points. But René genuinely loves this card.)
All information related to the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card was collected independently by Frequent Floaters and was neither reviewed nor provided by the card issuer.
First of all, this card comes with an annual Free Night Reward — starting the first year you hold the card. You can earn another Free Night Award after you spend $30,000 during a calendar year, and then another if you rack up $60,000 in spending. Again, these Free Night Awards are redeemable at a ton of premium properties.
Next, the primary cardholder receives complimentary Hilton Diamond status.
Here’s a new feature: a $400 Hilton resort credit. Earn up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts.
Another new perk? Earn up to $50 in statement credits each quarter (up to $200 a year) for flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com.
Finally, you get up to $189 in statement credit for a CLEAR Plus membership.
Now, how about that huge welcome promotion?
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card offers 175,000 bonus Hilton Honors points after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first six (6) months of card membership. This offer expires on April 17, 2024. (Terms apply.) Read more here on American Express’ website.
The free nights and statement credits can easily offset the card’s $550 annual fee. (See Rates and Fees.)
Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is a small business product packed with bonus categories:
- 12X Hilton Honors bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X at U.S. gas stations
- 6X at U.S. restaurants
- 6X on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers
- 6X on flights booked directly with airlines or with Amex Travel
- 6X on U.S. purchases for shipping
- 6X on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies
- 3X for all other eligible purchases
The card comes with complimentary Gold status — but you can upgrade to Diamond when you spend $40,000 during a calendar year.
New cardholders can earn 130,000 bonus Hilton Honors points after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first three (3) months of card membership. (See Rates and Fees. Terms apply.) This is not a limited-time offer. which has been running for a while.
Read more here about the Hilton Business Amex and see more small business cards here.
What are the Other Big Offers?
I mentioned several other big offers available right now.
Marriott has a trio:
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers 185,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on the card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. (Terms apply. This offer expires on May 1, 2024.)
The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card offers 155,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after you spend $5,000 in eligible purchases on the card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. (Terms apply. This offer expires on May 1, 2024.)
You can see current hotel credit card offers on this page.
Time to Set Sail!
Hotel points and free nights come in very handy when we need to stay a night in port before or after our cruises. Plus, Hilton’s footprint is respectable, too. These elevated offers join a quadfecta of other great welcome offers available now.
For rates and fees for the Hilton Honors American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
For rates and fees for the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
For rates and fees for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
For rates and fees for the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees for the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, please visit this link.
Advertiser Disclosure: Frequent Floaters is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
