Update January 16th, 2018: New cards are starting to ship. From now until January 30th you need to continue to use your Citi card. On January 30th you can begin to use your American Express card. You also can’t confirm receipt of the new American Express card until January 30th. Don’t forget to consider the possibility of double dipping the free night certificates on the Hilton Surpass/Reserve changeover. Hat tip to reader PT. Update 2: Lots of cardholders that cancelled their Citi Hilton no annual fee cards are reporting receiving a new American Express card as well. This is addressed in the F.A.Q. here.
Hot off the heels of the announcement of two new American Express Hilton cards is the announcement that American Express has purchased the Hilton back book from Citi. This means that existing Citi Hilton cardholders will be converted to American Express Hilton cards. Update: Citi now has a full F.A.Q found here regarding the change. The change will officially happen on January 30th, 2018. If you’re a Reserve cardholder then American Express will give you the full 12 months to meet the $10,000 spending requirement for the free night certificate. The product changes will be as follows:
- Citi No Annual Fee Hilton becomes American Express No Annual Fee Hilton
- Citi Hilton Reserve becomes American Express Hilton Ascend (replacing the Surpass)
It might make sense to cancel your Citi Hilton cards if you don’t want the product changes to go through. I suspect we will see new bonuses on both cards when they are released in 2018. According to this you will need to keep your Reserve/Ascend card open until you receive the free night certificate (for spending $10,000).
