Contents
The Offers
- American Express has a number of increased offers currently on the Hilton cards:
- Hilton Honors Card (no annual fee) – Earn 100,000 Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after spending $2,000 in the first six months of Card Membership.
- Hilton Honors Surpass Card ($150 waived annual fee) – Earn 130,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus enjoy $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150.
- Hilton Honors Aspire Card ($550 annual fee) – Earn 175,000 Bonus Points after you spend $6,000 in the first 6 months of Card Membership. (This card also comes with a free night certificate as standard.)
- Hilton Honors Business Card ($195 annual fee) – 175,000: Earn 150,000 Bonus Points after you spend $8,000 in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Earn an extra 25,000 Points after you spend an additional $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Offers end 8/13/25.
Our Verdict
The Aspire card and business card are in line with recent high card offers we saw (though the business version has a higher spend requirement). The Honors and Surpass card are more cash incentivized now, but missing the free night that we saw on a recent high offer. We will add this to our list of the best credit card bonuses.
These offers are available both at the direct link and using referral links. (No referrals in the comments below.)
Hat tip to DDG
I want to apply for the Hilton Biz, but I’ve had it before (applied Mar 2021, bonus received, closed Mar 2023). I see “lifetime language” in the app: You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card.
This was the last Amex card I had, I don’t have much experience with them. As long as I don’t get a pop up, does that mean the sign up bonus will be applied? Or is it truly once per lifetime?
Nevermind, I got the pop up
I’m doing the Hilton Honors & Hilton Honors Surpass, 230k Hilton points and $100 for $5,000 spend and no AF? Sign me up…
How soon can you cancel the card after receiving the 130k points? Do you have to wait a year and then cancel so the $150 annual is refunded at a prorated amount?
Yes, you have wait at least a year, preferably 13 months. And if you’re planning to apply for any other Amex cards after that, you should put some sort of regular spend on that card until you cancel it. Otherwise, Amex may put you in Pop-Up Jail (PUJ) just because of low spend after getting a signup bonus.
Amex tends to pay attention to whether someone is only trying to get a sign-up bonus and then “sock drawer” the card, and if so Amex penalizes them for that.
If you want more information on those policies, go to the American Express forum on FlyerTalk, there’s a giant discussion thread about it there.
Be careful – I applied for this card, the site errored out before the end so I reapplied. Got an email to call to complete processing of application as due to the site error it looked like there were two applications. Rep pushed through one and confirmed welcome bonus was applied. Now Amex is trying to deny me the SUB saying I wasn’t eligible. No pop up occurred during either application process. They’ve acknowledged the issue may have been due to the two “applications” making it look like I had the card before but they’ve led me on a wild goose chase of “backend investigations” for two months now and even with screenshots showing no pop up don’t seem to be sufficient for the SUB. Apparently many others have experiences similar to this, with this card and other Amex co-brands. Ugh.
Hilton points are worth like 0.25 cpp for budget stays
I so wish you were kidding. But unfortunately, this is the truth and you’d hard pressed to go above 0.4 cpp at most Hampton Inns and Hilton Garden Inns. Amex needs to start offering 500% transfer bonuses on Hilton for it to make any sense now.
I’ve never redeemed for less than .5 and that’s not including a 5th free night. Where are y’all staying?!
Hampton Inn, Homewood suites, Hilton Garden Inn – all of them struggle to make it to 0.5 cpp in NA.
That’s why you don’t use them for short stays at the cheaper brands. If you use them at a Waldorf Astoria or Conrad and make use of the fifth night free then it’s not difficult get 0.8 cpp. I’ve even gotten over 1 cpp with them before.
Fair. But I often find myself traveling to places where WA or Conrad won’t exist at all and their lower tier brands might be the only Hilton options. As such, I don’t think Hilton cards are well suited for me or anyone that travels like I do. But you are right in pointing out that many folks might still get a good value out of these cards.
I look at 1 night at a Hyatt Hotel. 12k points. Look at a Mariott. 30k points. Look at a Hilton. 60k points. It’s hard to ever book at Hilton.
Ha i do the exact same comparison with the 3 brands you listed and laugh at how high Hilton wants for point redemption! Then I ask myself, who in the right mind would pay with points (unless you have found a jackpot stay with5th night free) but yeah. I think we all need to mention that when we cancel our cards with Amex (i.e. devauation)
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
FWIW, I was in PUJ as recently as yesterday. Applied for Surpass today and approved with SUB.
PUJ as of 2-3 months ago. Previously had Surpass which was downgraded in 2020. Approved w/ SUB as well.
Same – after I got past the pop-up screen to the authorized user question in the middle of my Hilton application today I went to Delta to try for the SkyMiles Platinum and got the pop-up there, so I finished the Hilton one
PUJ for the same card? I believe PUJ isn’t universal, you can be in jail for certain categories of cards but not others.
“You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card”
Is that the NLL that is often mentioned, i have no idea about AMEX so not sure if this is a good or bad?
NLL doesn’t have this language.
Does Amex Hilton credit cards have the family restriction? If I have the Aspire does this mean I cannot take advantage on any of these offers?
no, not yet, so take advantage of this.
Weak!!! No FNC.