We have known for awhile that American Express was going to release a new Hilton Honors co-branded credit card portfolio. Many of us are excited to score some new sign-up bonuses with this new line of cards. Well the time is here- FOUR new cards are now available.
For those of you who had the American Express Hilton Honors card, this card is no longer available to new applicants. It has been replaced by a different shade of blue Hilton Honors Card with the main difference being that the new card has no foreign transaction fees. Similarly, the Hilton Honors Surpass card has been replaced by the Hilton Honors Ascend Card. In addition, Amex is offering two other Hilton Honors cards, the PREMIUM Hilton Honors Aspire Card and the BUSINESS Hilton Honors American Express Business Card.
Some details about the new cards are as follows:
Hilton Honors American Express Card-This The earning potential is the same as with the original Hilton Honors card. You still earn 7x points per $1 spent at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio, 5X points per $1 spent at restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations (USA ONLY). You earn 3X points per $1 for all other eligible purchases on your Card. Unlike with the old Hilton Honors card, this new version has no foreign transaction fees. You still get Hilton Honors Silver status with your Card. and if you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year, you can earn an upgrade to Hilton Honors Gold status through the end of the next calendar year. The current sign-up bonus is to earn 50,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 month of account opening. There is no annual fee with the card. Note, everyone in the industry is guessing that this is pretty much the same card as the old American Express Hilton Honors card and therefore you cannot get another sign-up bonus if you had the old version and you apply for this new version.
Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card-Just like with the regular card, the earning potential is the same as it was with the Surpass card. You earn 12x points per $1 spent at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio, 6X points per $1 spent at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations. (USA ONLY) You earn 3X points per $1 for all other eligible purchases on your Card. There are no foreign transaction fees. Like with the Surpass, you will receive complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status with the card with the potential for Diamond Status if in any calendar year of card membership your total eligible purchases on your card reach $40,000. In this case, you will be upgraded to Hilton Honors Diamond status for the remainder of the calendar year in which Diamond status was earned through the end of the next calendar year. An attractive new feature is the ability to earn a Weekend Night Reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year. As with the Surpass, you are automatically enrolled in Priority Pass Select but it’s better with the Ascend-instead of paying the $27 fee when you enter, you now get 10 free lounge visits every year once enrolled. The sign-up bonus is 75,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of card membership. In addition, you can earn an extra 25,000 points if you spend another $1,000 in the first 6 months of card membership. The annual fee for this card is $95. Note, everyone in the industry is guessing that this is pretty much the same card as the American Express Hilton Honors Surpass card and therefore you cannot get another sign-up bonus if you had the Surpass and you apply for the Ascend.
Hilton Honors Aspire Card-With this new premium card, you earn 14x points per $1 spent at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio, 7X points per $1 spent on eligible purchases on your Card for flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and U.S. restaurants. You earn 3X points per $1 for all other eligible purchases on your card. There are no foreign transaction fees. With the card, you get complimentary Diamond status. You receive one weekend night reward every year after renewal. Also you can earn an additional night after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year. You are automatically enrolled in Priority Pass Select and you receive complimentary lounge visits for you and up to 2 guests per visit. A very attractive feature is that each cardmember year you receive a $250 HILTON RESORT STATEMENT CREDIT for eligible purchases at participating Hilton Resorts. You also receive a $250 AIRLINE FEE CREDIT for incidental fees charged by the airline to your card each calendar year. If you can take advantage of these credits, you pretty much wipe out the hefty $450 annual fee. The sign-up bonus for this card is to earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.
Hilton Honors American Express Business Card-With this new business card, you earn 12x points per $1 spent at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio, and 6X points per $1 spent…
-on select business purchases
-at U.S. gas stations
-on wireless telephone services purchases directly from U.S. service providers
-on U.S. purchases for shipping
-at U.S. restaurants
-on flights booked directly with airlines or with AmexTravel.com
-on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies
You earn 3X points per $1 for all other eligible purchases on your Card. There are no foreign transaction fees. You will receive complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status with the card with the potential for Diamond Status if in any calendar year of card membership your total eligible purchases on your card reach $40,000. In this case, you will be upgraded to Hilton Honors Diamond status for the remainder of the calendar year in which Diamond status was earned through the end of the next calendar year. You will have the ability to earn a Weekend Night Reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year and a second reward night after you spend $60,000 in a calendar year. You are automatically enrolled in Priority Pass Select and you get 10 free lounge visits every year once enrolled. The sign-up bonus is 75,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of card membership. In addition, you can earn an extra 25,000 points if you spend another $1,000 in the first 6 months of card membership. The annual fee for this card is $95.
I will likely go for one or two of these cards at some point in 2018. Not yet however, because I am working on my minimum spends on my new Chase Hyatt Visa and my Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard. Also, I have taken advantage of some other spending incentives with Citi as well. Amex, you will have to wait a month or two…but I am coming!
