American Express has officially launched the new Hilton cards. Given the amount of hype these cards are/will be getting I thought this would be a good chance to take a proper look at the cards and sign up bonuses to see if signing up for them now makes sense or if you should wait.
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Hilton Honors American Express Card (no annual fee card)
This card isn’t new and there are basically no major changes. The public sign up bonus if 50,000 points but newly generated referral links are showing 65,000 points. Old referral links are showing 75,000 points but they also have an expiry date listed of 01/17/18 so no guarantee you’ll get that bonus. I don’t see any reason to sign up for this card now, the 75,000 bonus will come back at some stage.
Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card
Card has the following sign up bonus:
- 75,000 points after $2,000 in spend within the first three months
- An additional 25,000 points after you spend an additional $1,000 within the first six months
We saw a 125,000 point bonus in November last year on the Surpass card (and Ascend is really just a refreshed Surpass card). The annual fee has also been increased from $75 to $95, along with 10 free priority lounge passes and no foreign transaction fees. I think we will see another 125,000 point bonus in the future, so I don’t think there is any need to rush and get this card.
Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
Card has the following sign up bonus:
- 75,000 points after $3,000 in spend within the first three months
- An additional 25,000 points after you spend an additional $1,000 within the first six months
Basically the same as the Ascend card but with some extra benefits (second weekend night free with $60,000 spend and different category bonuses). Again I’d be surprised if we didn’t see a 125,000 point bonus on this card in the future. If you have a short term need of points/benefits of this card then signing up might make sense.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
Card has the following sign up bonus:
- 100,000 points after $4,000 in spend within the first three months. This also comes with a free weekend night certificate your first year and on card anniversary.
I consider the free weekend night certificate one of the cards benefits, rather than a true sign up bonus. This bonus is actually lower than I thought it was going to be. That being said I think the benefits of this card are a little bit too good. Card issuers have a habit of launching a card with really great benefits and then scaling them back over time (just look at the Prestige or Sapphire Reserve). I do think we will see a higher bonus on this card in the future, but probably only an extra 25,000 points or so. Personally I think the chances of a card devaluation are greater than a bonus increase, so applying for this card now rather than waiting IF you highly value the card benefits is a good idea. Please make sure you sit down and spend some time critically thinking about the annual fee vs benefits. I talk more about this in our review.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to get caught up in the new card hype. Take a deep breathe, wait a day or two and think about if applying actually makes sense. These bonuses are going nowhere in the short term so please don’t feel like you need to apply immediately. When you compare these offers to what American Express has offered in the past they are really nothing special. Although it’s worth remembering they no longer have to compete with Citi so maybe we won’t see as aggressive bonuses in the future. As always read these things everybody should know before applying for American Express cards.
