Each of the four Hilton Honors co-branded credit cards issued by American Express US have just come out with great limited-time welcome bonuses, which are available until January 8, 2025.
The American Express US Hilton cards represent one of the best ways to diversify your hotel rewards game outside of Marriott Bonvoy. With these juicy welcome bonuses, you can unlock nights at some of the chain’s best properties at a very steep discount.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Up to 175,000 Points!
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is the top-tier personal card in the Hilton lineup, and commands an annual fee of $550 (all figures in USD).
As part of the limited-time offer, you can earn 175,000 Hilton Honors points upon spending $6,000 in the first six months.†
This offer is higher than the card’s standard welcome bonus of 150,000 Hilton Honors points. However, we’ve also seen other, even more lucrative welcome bonuses last year that came with Free Night Rewards attached.
The current welcome bonus is indeed quite generous, and is most certainly worth the annual fee. We value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents per point, and using that metric, we’d peg a value of $875 on the welcome bonus alone.
In terms of ongoing value in exchange for the $550 annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card gives you instant top-tier Hilton Diamond status for as long as you hold the card, and a total of up to $600 in statement credits each year.
You can also earn up to three Free Night Rewards each year: one on your cardholder anniversary, one upon spending $30,000 in a calendar year, and one upon spending $60,000 in a calendar year.
Each Free Night Reward is good for a stay worth up to 150,000 points, which can be used at some of the chain’s most prestigious properties that typically run hundreds of dollars per night or more.
This offer is available until January 8, 2025, so be sure to sign up before then if you’re eligible.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Up to 165,000 Points!
The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is the mid-tier personal card in the Hilton lineup, and commands an annual fee of $150.
As part of the limited-time offer, you can earn 165,000 Hilton Honors points upon spending $3,000 in the first six months.
Earlier this year, the card offered a welcome bonus of 130,000 Hilton Honors points plus a Free Night Reward, as well as other occasional limited-time offers of 150,000+ points with various incentives attached.
The current welcome bonus is indeed quite generous, and is most certainly worth the annual fee. We value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents per point, and using that metric, we’d peg a value of $825 on the bonus points alone.
In terms of ongoing value in exchange for the $150 annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Cardgives you instant Hilton Gold status for as long as you hold the card, a total of $200 in statement credits for Hilton stays each year ($50 every four months), as well as a Free Night Reward upon spending $15,000 every calendar year.
This offer also runs until January 8, 2025.
Hilton Honors American Express Card: Up to 100,000 Points!
The Hilton Honors American Express Card is an entry-level product with no annual fee.
As part of the limited-time offer, you can earn 100,000 Hilton Honors points upon spending $2,000 in the first six months.
Earlier this year, the card had offered 70,000 Hilton Honors points with a Free Night Reward, as well as occasional limited-time offers of 100,000+ points, sometimes with statement credits or Free Night Rewards attached.
While the signup offer isn’t as strong as some previous offers that came with both a high welcome bonus and a Free Night Reward, it’s still a very attractive deal if you wanted to sign up now.
If you haven’t gotten started with US credit cards yet, the Hilton Honors American Express Card represents one of the best choices for your first US credit card. Thanks to its $0 annual fee, you can easily hold onto it year after year and boost your US credit history in the long run.
This offer also runs until January 8, 2025.
Hilton Honors Business Card: Up 175,000 Points!
As for the Hilton Honors Business Card, the card’s offering an elevated welcome bonus that’s substantially higher than its baseline offer.
The offer is for 175,000 Hilton Honors points upon spending $8,000 in the first three months, with an annual fee of $195.
As with the Surpass, you’ll also have Hilton Gold status for as long as you hold the card.
Plus, you can earn a $60 statement credit for stays at eligible Hilton properties worldwide each quarter, for up to $240 in credits each year.
As a reminder, this card recently had an overhaul, and many of its benefits changed.
This offer also expires on January 8, 2025.
Strategies for the Amex US Hilton Cards
Let’s go over a few key points on the best strategy for maximizing these offers. Which of the three refreshed Hilton Honors credit cards should you apply for?
As mentioned above, if you haven’t gotten started with US credit cards yet, it may make sense to begin with the no-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card – which also happens to have the easiest minimum spending requirement.
However, it’s worth noting that the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card could be the right choice too.
That’s because you always have the option of downgrading the Hilton Surpass Card to the no-fee Hilton Card after 12 months if you don’t see the value in holding the card year after year. That way, you’d still keep your oldest account open to bolster your US credit history.
Overall, a newcomer to the US credit card scene would do well to begin with either the Hilton Honors American Express Card or the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.
If you’re in the market for a business card, then the natural choice is to go with the Hilton Honors Business Card. Keep in mind that it doesn’t count towards the Chase 5/24 rule, which is something to consider if you have your eyes on any of Chase’s cards.
However, there’s always a strong argument to be made for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, which can easily be a keeper card if you stay at Hilton properties with any frequency.
Despite the $550 annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is one of the strongest rewards cards in all of North America once you factor in the ongoing benefits:
- An automatic Free Night Reward every year
- Instant Hilton Diamond status
- $200 airline incidental fee credits ($50 each quarter)
- $400 Hilton resort credits ($200 every six months)
- 14x points at Hilton hotels
Hilton’s best luxury properties generally cost 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night at most, with two properties – the Waldorf Astorias in Los Cabos and the Maldives – exceeding the cap at 150,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
If you can snag one or two of these limited-time bonuses, and earn Free Night Rewards through spending or by simply holding the Aspire card each year, you’ll have enough points for a couple of nights at some of Hilton’s best hotels, or even more nights if you book some of the more modest hotels in Hilton’s portfolio.
As it stands, there aren’t any “family language” restrictions on the Hilton Honors co-branded credit cards. That means that you’re still eligible for the welcome bonus on any card that you haven’t held before.
However, American Express US has been adding family language restrictions to most of the other families of cards in its lineup, and this could change at any time for the Hilton Honors family.
Therefore, the most prudent approach would be to work your way up the Hilton Honors lineup over time – starting with the Hilton Honors American Express Card, followed by the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, and finally with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card – to ensure you don’t miss out on any welcome bonuses should American Express US add family language restrictions.
Conclusion
Once again, we’re seeing great welcome bonuses on the Amex US range of Hilton Honors cards.
The top-tier Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card which commands an annual fee of $550, offers up to 175,000 Hilton Honors points.
Meanwhile, the Hilton Honors American Express Card and the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card are offering 100,000 and 165,000 Hilton Honors points, respectively. The lowest-tier Hilton Card comes with no annual fee year after year, while the mid-tier Surpass Card comes with an annual fee of $150.
The elevated offers for the personal cards and the business card are available through both public and refer-a-friend channels, until January 8, 2025.