Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express Review
2018.1.18 Update: This card is discontinued and replaced by AmEx Hilton Ascend.
Contents
Application Link
- This card no longer accepts new applications.
Benefits
- 90k Offer: earn 90,000 HHonors Points after spending $3,000 in first 3 months. The highest sign-up bonus is 125k.
- We value Hilton HHonors Points at 0.5 cents/point (Hotel Points Value), click here to see how many points are required for a free night. So the 100k highest sign-up bonus is worth about $500! The weekend free night is worth about $300, considering you will get it after 1 year, the estimated value should be subtracted by annual fee $75, which is then $225.
- Earn 12 Hilton HHonors points per $1 spent on hotel stays within Hilton Portfolio; 6 points on US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations; 3 points on other purchases.
- Complimentary HHonors Gold status for cardholder. Upgrade to HHonors Diamond status when you make $40,000 or more in purchases each calendar year.
- With this credit card, you can get access to Amex Offers, which often offers very good discounts at some stores. In the past we have seen offers like: Spend $15 or more and get $5 back at Walmart; Spend $75 or more and get $25 back on Amazon.com.
- Another option is to first get the no fee version AmEx Hilton credit card for 12 months, then you can upgrade it to the Surpass version without a Hard Pull and receive a bonus of 50k/100k. Here is the link to upgrade with the 50k offer, it’s better to input your credit card number rather than log in, because you may not see the upgrade offer via login.
- Refer a friend: You can earn 15,000 bonus Hilton points for every approved account you refer, up to 80,000 Hilton Points per calendar year.
Disadvantages
- $75 annual fee, NOT waived for the first year.
- The 6x bonus categories are limited within the United States. Well, the Foreign Transaction Fee exists anyway, so better not use it outside the US.
Recommended Application Time
- Note that AmEx has a policy: If you currently or have previously held a specific AmEx credit card, you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus offer. So if you want to squeeze the highest rewards from credit cards, you should apply for the sign-up bonus first, and then take the upgrade offer, and then possibly go on upgrading/downgrading.
- You can only get the welcome bonus once in a lifetime, so be sure to apply when the historical highest offer appears.
- AmEx doesn’t care about the number of hard pulls.
- You can try to apply for it when you have a credit history of 6 months.
Only one AmEx credit card can be approved in a day. This rule does not apply to charge cards, you can be approved for one credit card and multiple charge cards in the day.Multiple cards approved in the same day will only have one Hard Pull.- Only 2 AmEx credit cards can be approved within 90 days, but again, this rule does not apply to charge cards.
- You can keep at most 5 AmEx credit cards, not including charge cards.
Summary
There are 4 Hilton credit cards, you should probably get all of them if you are interested in getting lots of Hilton HHonors points. You should keep the AmEx Hilton and Citi Hilton anyway since they both have no annual fee, but the AmEx Hilton Surpass and Citi Hilton Reserve are more suitable for those who often stay in Hilton.
Related Credit Cards
- AmEx Hilton
- AmEx Hilton Surpass (this post)
- Citi Hilton
- Citi Hilton Reserve
Recommended Downgrade Options
After Applying
- Click here to check AmEx application status.
- AmEx reconsideration backdoor number: 877-399-3083. The 「real」 backdoor number of Amex is well protected. Different from Chase, the representatives from this AmEx reconsideration backdoor number only have the right to help you submit requests.
Historical Offers Chart
This card is discontinued on 2018.01.18.
Application Link
- This card no longer accepts new applications.
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