Update 10/01/18: According to this you’re spend from January 1st until January 29th actually counts towards the Ascend free night as well.
Citi Hilton cards will become American Express Hilton cards on January 30th, 2018. Something that a lot of people have been wondering about is how the free night certificates will work, currently the Hilton Reserve gives you a free night certificate if you spend $10,000 within a card member year. The American Express Hilton Ascend earns a free night certificate after $15,000 in spend. Lots of readers have been asking if it will be possible to double dip this (e.g spend $15,000 and receive two free night certificates) and we now have confirmation this will be possible. The Hilton representative on Flyertalk provided the following answer:
- The anniversary date will remain as the date you opened your Citi Reserve account. You will be able to earn two weekend night rewards: one by spending $10K that you would have earned through Citi and then a second if you spend $15K with the new Ascend card. The clock starts ticking on the $15K spend threshold on January 30 when the Ascend account goes live. So if you’ve already spent $8k on your Citi Reserve card for your 2017-2018 “card year” January 30 – once you spend $2K more, you will receive the email from Hilton Honors with your Citi Reserve weekend night reward. That $2K counts toward the $15K required to get the Ascend card weekend night reward.
So any spend after the product change is completed on January 30th will count towards both free nights. The rep also posted some information on when to expect the free night certificates to post.
- The weekend night reward code will be delivered 6-8 weeks after passing the $10,000 spend threshold. This is the same process Hilton and Citi have been using. We will continue that process with Citi until January 30th and will use the same process with Amex beginning January 30, 2018.
This is confusing because this isn’t the process Hilton has been using with Citi, the award night has typically posted 6-8 weeks after the account anniversary date. Fingers crossed American Express will not be using the old Citi system going forward.
In any case this is great news for Reserve cardholders. Being able to spend $15,000 after January 30th to receive two free night certificates is a great deal for many people (maybe not as good as a regular sign up bonus but still useful none the less). $15,000 in spend is still a lot for many people so it will be out of reach for many.
Hat tip to reader Rob
