Hilton Honors American Express Cards Compared
Here is the breakdown of the most important benefits
| Standout Benefits | Hilton Honors Card | Hilton Honors Surpass Card | Hilton Honors Business Card | Hilton Honors Aspire Card |
| Annual fee | None | $95 | $95 | $450 |
| Sign-on bonus
Points are typically worth ~0.6 cents per point. I will use this 0.6 as the basis for all the cash equivalent and cashback % calculations. Keep in mind you can easily get well over 15 cents per point at some aspiration properties ($1000+ per night rooms), think Waldorf Astoria and Conrads.
Points usually show up usually 3-5 days after earning meeting minimum spend.
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80k points (~$480) after spending $1,000 within 3 months from card opening date | 130k points (~$780) after spending $2,000 within first 3 months of card opening date | 130k points (~$780) after spending $3,000 within first 3 months of card opening date | 150k (~$900) points after spending $4,000 within 3 months from card opening date
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| 1st year value with current sign-on bonus | $480+ | $800+ | $800+ | $2900+ (I counted the full $1000 return protection maximum) |
| Free night certificate (FNC) – I value each certificate at $500 conservatively.
Easily worth $600-$2500 each if you use it at high value properties.
The certificates take 8-14 weeks to hit your account after earning them. They can be used at any Hilton hotel with a standard redemption available and expire 1 year after issuance.
I try to use mine only at properties at or above 80k a night.
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None | 1 FNC is given after spending $15,000 on this card in 1 calendar year | 1 FNC is given after spending $15,000 on this card in 1 calendar year
1 FNC is given after spending $60,000 on this card in 1 calendar year |
1 FNC is given for opening the card or upgrading to this card.
1 FNC is given annually after the card anniversary date
1 FNC is given after spending $60,000 on this card in 1 calendar year |
| Complimentary Hilton Honors status
All statuses provide space-available room upgrades
Points are earned only for stays booked directly with hotels in Hilton’s portfolio and is regardless of which credit card was used. These points in addition to the points earned through the Hilton credit card used to pay for the stay. |
Silver – earns 12X (7.2%) per dollar spent at any Hilton hotel, 6X (3.6%) at Tru & Home2
Spend $20,000 on this card in 1 calendar year and you will earn Gold status through the end of the next calendar year. |
Gold – daily food credit and earns 18X (10.8%) per dollar spent at any Hilton hotel, 9X (5.4%) at Tru & Home2
Spend $40,000 on this card in 1 calendar year and you will earn Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year. |
Gold – daily food credit and earns 18X (10.8%) per dollar spent at any Hilton hotel, 9X (5.4%) at Tru & Home2
Spend $40,000 on this card in 1 calendar year and you will earn Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year. |
Diamond – daily food credit, executive lounge access, and earns 20X (12%) per dollar spent at any Hilton hotel, 10X (6%) at Tru & Home2
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| Card earning rates per dollar card to your card | 7X on Hilton purchases charged directly with a hotel within the Hilton portfolio
5X for all the following:
3X on all other purchases
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12X on Hilton purchases charged directly with a hotel within the Hilton portfolio
6X for all the following:
3X on all other purchases
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12X on Hilton purchases charged directly with a hotel within the Hilton portfolio
6X for all the following:
3X on all other purchases
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14X on Hilton purchases charged directly with a hotel within the Hilton portfolio
7X for all the following:
3X on all other purchases
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| Airline credit.
Use by end of calendar year or it is forfeit. |
None | None | None | $250 per calendar year. You pick 1 airline a year to use it at. If you do Delta and Southwest you can easily use it to pay for a ticket. Otherwise it only works for incidentals like checked bag fees. This can take more explaining if you are trying to use it for a ticket so do your research prior or email me. |
| Hilton resort credit.
Use by card opening date annually or it is forfeit |
None | None | None | $250 per membership year. Only works at Hilton Resorts. Applies for any charge at a Hilton Resort as long as you stay there, including the cost of the room (not prepaid bookings), any food, spa, parking charges. |
| Return protection. One of my favorite features. It can be a pain to do the claims forms but I have never had Amex ask me to mail them the item. They usually just give you the refund and you get to keep it. | None | None | None | Up to $300 per item, up to $1,000 per calendar year total. Almost anything that has a return policy less than 90 days you can file a claim for and get the money back as statement credit. Read the full policy here. |
| Purchase protection.
Ever lost a ring or necklace? Get it reimbursed under mysterious disappearance.
Got a new phone and dropped it and smashed the screen? Get the repair reimbursed |
If something you bought is damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, they’ll pay you back up to $1,000 per item, $50,000 per year. Read full policy here. | If something you bought is damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, they’ll pay you back up to $1,000 per item, $50,000 per year. Read full policy here | If something you bought is damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, they’ll pay you back up to $1,000 per item, $50,000 per year. Read full policy here | If something you bought is lost (even mysteriously disappeared), damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, they’ll pay you back up to $10,000 per item, $50,000 per year. Read full policy here |
| Overview | This is the prime card to get if you are considering downgrading your current Hilton personal card that has an annual fee and you missed the 30 days for free annual fee refund. I would get this card before you downgrade your other Hilton card to it to get an annual fee refund, so in the end you have 2 of these. Reason being is that you are disqualified from earning a sign-on bonus from this card if you have EVER had it, downgrades count.
You earn 19X per dollar at Hiltons, that is essentially 11.4% cashback |
Great entry card, Hilton Gold status is awesome because the free food credit is bomb. Huge value for $95.
You earn 30X per dollar at Hiltons, which is essentially 18% cashback |
Great entry card, Hilton Gold status is awesome because the free food credit is bomb. Huge value for $95.
You earn 30X per dollar at Hiltons, which is essentially 18% cashback |
The annual card benefits easily pays for the $450 fee.
Best card if you like Hilton hotels and have solid plans to stay at them in the within year. You need to plan accordingly to use the $250 resort credit and the free night certificates. The $250 airline credit is very easy to use with certain airlines.
You earn 34X per dollar at Hiltons, that is ~20.4% cashback which is insanely high.
Don’t forget about the $1,000 per calendar year limit for return protection. If you remember to submit the claims and have the time to fill out the forms, you can easily get $1,000 refund a year. |
For my most recent Miami trip, I stayed at Hilton Bentley. I used 2 free night certificates, otherwise it was 90k a night or $1500-2500 cash on the weekends. I have 2 Hilton Aspire cards that still had the $250 resort credit each so I ate $500 of food in 3 days and split the hotel charge on both cards so I got it all reimbursed. The Santorini restaurant at Hilton Bentley has a GREAT happy hour every day with huge portions for $5 happy hour food. Their regular menu is much more expensive. There is also a really nice liquor store walking distance, we would bring a case to the beach daily to drink. You get 2 free chairs and umbrella a day at the Bentley Beach Club. Chars are usually $30-70 a day, umbrella $20.
I have had 2 Aspire cards for 3 years and while they are nice and provided much more monetary benefits than the actual fee, I will say it can be a PAIN to use and plan for the $250 Hilton resorts. The only place to really use it is in Miami or anywhere in Florida. Everywhere else in the country there’s barely any Hilton resorts or the resorts are just not places I’d want to go to.
I recommend you search on Hilton and see which places you’d want to go to see how many points you’d need. Not every Miami hotel is beach front. The ones that aren’t can be an annoying walk, like Gale South Beach. South Beach can get really trashy except South of Fifth neighborhood (where Hilton Bentley is). Mid beach is fine but there’s not many stores/restaurants besides hotels. I have not stayed in Ft Lauderdale.
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