Typically, we do not stay at Hilton Hotels.  Reason being, my initial hotel search usually leads me to a Starwood resort, which usually meets my approval so I book it.  The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express and The Starwood Preferred Guest ProgramThe Points Mom.  However, there is one Hilton Hotel that I know that I will be staying at every year…….

See, my daughter is a swimmer.  Every spring, her team attends a 3 day meet in St. Petersberg, Florida.  I happily accompany her.  (She is not so happy but I am really happy).  The team stays at the Hilton right in the heart of St. Petersberg. Hotels in St Petersburg FL – Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park.

Back at the end of last year, knowing this trip to Florida was in our future, I could not pass up two credit card offers that were presented to me.  The first was from American Express, for the American Express Hilton HHonors Platinum credit card. Hilton Honors(TM) Card – American Express.  I had 3 months to spend $750 to get 50,000 Hilton HHonors points.  Got em.  Around the same time, I got an offer from Citibank for the Citi Hilton HHonors  Visa Signature Card. Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card – Citi.com Credit Cards.  For this offer, I needed to spend $1,000 in four months to get 40,000 Hilton HHonors points.  Yup, got these points as well.  Let me also note that neither of these cards have an annual fee.

So what did I do with these 90,000 points that basically fell into my lap?  I used them to book my 3 night weekend stay at the St. Petersberg Hilton as each night required 25,500 Hilton HHonors points.  The swim team got a group rate of $150 per night (definitely a good deal).  So the 3 night stay would have cost me $450.  But 1) I applied for, 2) was approved, 3) met the minimum spend requirements and 4) received the bonus points for the sole reason of getting this stay for free.  In my head, I saved myself $450!!!!

I have since retired these cards from my “active wallet” as I do not feel the need to amass Hilton HHonors points with everyday purchases.  However, I will break them out again to use when I am staying at the actual hotel as both the AMEX and the VISA give me 6 points per dollar spent at the hotel.

I should also let you know that Hilton HHonors is an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner.  Read this prior post of mine to see what this means.  American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card | The Points MomThe Points Mom.  Currently there is a 50% bouns if you transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards to you Hilton HHonors account.  That means 1,500 HHonors® Points =1,000 Membership Rewards® Points.

So, like in my case, if you know you have a Hilton stay in your future or if you are partial to Hilton resorts, both of these cards offer many great benefits and perks and still have significant bonus point offers.  (Although the 50k Amex offer has been reduced to 40,000 Hilton HHonors points).  You can apply for and explore all of the details of these two cards below.

Hilton Honors(TM) Card – American Express

Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card – Citi.com Credit Cards