In case you missed it, American Express has announced a new Hilton card called Aspire with a $450 annual fee. It also comes with Diamond status as long as you keep the card. If that card sounds familiar, that’s because it’s incredibly similar to the card mentioned in a survey back in October, 2016. Another thing that survey mentioned was the possibility of Diamond+ status for spending $60,000. The new card offers a free night certificate at that spend level.
I find it strange that Hilton will be allowing people to get their top tier status simply by holding a card with an annual fee of $450, especially considering the other benefits of the card. My mini prediction is Hilton will be rolling out a new loyalty tier above Diamond with new benefits. This is pure speculation, but I like to speculate.
Additional update: When I asked American Express directly about this they stated that “this is all we have to share at this time”. Take from that what you will, but I would’ve thought an outright denial or directing us towards Hilton would have been the typical response.
