The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express can be worth it for high spenders who stay frequently with Hilton and appreciate the luxury perks and benefits that come with this card.
While the $450 annual fee may be off-putting to some, the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express comes with plenty of travel-related perks to offset its steep annual fee. With the airfare credits (up to $250, enrollment required) and hotel credits (up to $350, enrollment required) alone, you already net $150 more than the annual fee — not to mention the free weekend night award you get automatically, and the second one you get if you spend over $60,000 per year on the card adds further value to the card. The card also offers a Priority Pass Select™ membership — a $299 value (enrollment required).
If $450 is still too high, consider the two other Hilton credit cards instead. As for travel lovers who don’t have a particular loyalty towards the Hilton brand, a generic travel rewards card (like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®) will be a better choice. Travel rewards cards provide you with the flexibility to use any hotel you want, enabling you to deal hunt and find savings in other ways.
Intro Purchase APR
N/A
Regular Purchase APR
20.74% to 29.74%
Intro BT APR
N/A
Regular BT APR
N/A
Annual Fee
$450
Cash Advance Fee
Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater.
Foreign Transaction Fee
None
Balance Transfer Fee
Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
The information for Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card and Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express comes with an attractive welcome offer befitting of a luxury credit card:
Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.
Because we value Hilton Honors points at about 0.5 cents per point, we estimate this welcome offer to be worth about $750 — an impressive perk of signing up for this card.
With the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, you’ll earn bonus Hilton points on both travel and everyday purchases:
Earn 14X per $1 of eligible purchases on your card directly with a participating Hilton hotel or resort, 7X for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants, and 3X for other purchases on your card
The most lucrative earning rate is on dollars spent at Hilton hotels — plus, with the card’s complimentary Diamond status, you’ll earn a 100% points bonus on Hilton stays (enrollment required). This means that you can earn a total of 34 points per dollar when you use the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express on Hilton stays.
This is a great rate on hotel purchases and a high earning rate overall. However, as you can see from our chart below, Hilton’s no-annual-fee card — the Hilton Honors American Express Card — has the edge over the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express on its earning, since it includes an additional bonus on U.S. supermarket purchases.
We estimate an earning rate for the average consumer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor data and multiply that by the value of each card’s points or miles.
How much are Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express points worth?
Hilton points are valued below many other rewards programs, at just 0.5 cents per point. But if you can accumulate enough of them — and this card certainly gives you a good start — they can become extremely valuable.
While Hilton offers consumers a number of ways to redeem your Hilton Honors points, you’d be best off redeeming them for free hotel nights. Hilton has more than 6,800 properties around the world and no blackout dates that restrict when you can book award stays.
However, Hilton uses dynamic pricing, which means the amount of points required for a stay could change depending on when you book and at which property. For a standard room, award nights start at 5,000 points per night and can go all the way up to 120,000 points per night for specialty properties.
As you can see from the sample itineraries below, award nights in more desirable destinations will generally cost you more than 20,000 points, so you’ll generally need to collect a large number of points for a redemption:
| Hotel | Cash price | Points required | Points value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conrad New York Midtown | $452 | 89,000 points | 0.51 cents |
| Embassy Suites by Hilton New York Manhattan Times Square | $87 | 24,000 points | 0.36 cents |
| Hilton Garden Inn New York/Central Park South Midtown West | $134 | 24,000 points | 0.56 cents |
| Homewood Suites by Hilton New York/Midtown Manhattan Times Square-South, NY | $183 | 40,000 points | 0.46 cents |
| Average value | 0.47 cents |
To earn Hilton Diamond status, you’d normally need to book 42 nights or 21 stays, or earn 84,000 bonus points. With the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, however, you’ll automatically earn Diamond status — the highest loyalty tier of the Hilton Honors program — once you’ve enrolled. As you continue to stay at Hilton properties, owning elite status is the gift that keeps on giving.
Diamond members receive a 100% bonus to the points they earn on Hilton Hotel stays, which can quickly propel you to even more free nights than what’s already offered by the card. Not to mention, you’ll enjoy the following benefits with Hilton Honors Diamond status:
With the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, you can earn two free weekend nights. You’re awarded one weekend night annually just for being a cardmember, and you’ll get the second night if you charge at least $60,000 on the card within a calendar year.
These rewards come in the form of redeemable codes that can be used on standard accommodations at double occupancy. You can combine the two codes and use them on a single stay. These awards can be used on any night of the week — not just weekends) — and can be extremely valuable for consumers who travel often and can benefit from a free hotel stay.
You’ll receive up to a $250 Hilton resort statement credit each year, good for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton resorts. This credit renews each cardmember year.
If you’re a fan of Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels, you’re in luck — cardholders will receive up to a $100 credit to use on-property when you book a minimum two-night stay at participating properties within these luxury Hilton brands. This credit applies to purchases made on the property like massages or dining, but doesn’t count towards taxes and fees or room charges.
Cardholders will be awarded up to $250 in airline incidental credits each year (enrollment required). You can select one airline per year, then the credit will automatically be applied to your bill whenever you make qualifying purchases. Airline incidentals include baggage fees, flight-change fees, in-flight meals and Wi-Fi, among others; however, airfare ticket purchases are not considered incidentals.
Among the suite of benefits, the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express provides, you’ll also receive a complimentary membership to Priority Pass™ Select. This will grant unlimited lounge access to you and up to two guests (enrollment required). With over 1,200 airport lounges worldwide, this can be a valuable perk if you travel often.
This card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, which is essential for a travel card. While they’re only a small percentage of every purchase, foreign transaction fees can quickly add up when you’re on a vacation abroad.
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express offers a couple of valuable travel protections:
When traveling more than 100 miles from home, you can rely on Amex’s Premium Global Assist Hotline for medical, legal, financial or other assistance and organization 24/7. This can be useful if you experience an emergency while traveling.
You can experience luxury cardmember events and get access to ticket presales with the exclusive access offered by American Express Experiences. These can include Broadway shows, sporting events, concerts and more.
Depending on how you take advantage of these perks, you could save lots of money from these protections alone.
Whenever we evaluate any credit card, we consider how it compares against other options on the market. Here’s how the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express measures up against other leading hotel and travel cards.
| Credit Cards | Annual Fee | Rewards Rate | Welcome Offer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express
|
$450 | Earn 14X per $1 of eligible purchases on your card directly with a participating Hilton hotel or resort, 7X for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants, and 3X for other purchases on your card | Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. | |
|
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Review Coming Soon
|
$550 | Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases | Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® | Review Coming Soon |
|
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
|
$95 | Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio. Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations. Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card. | Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months of card membership | |
Hilton Honors American Express Card
|
$0 | Earn 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio, 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations AND 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card. | Earn 80,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $1,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card Membership. |
If you’re a diehard Hilton fan and frequently stay at Hilton properties, then the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express is the better choice — especially if you spend over $60,000 per year on your card. For most people, though, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® would be a more suitable option, due to its greater flexibility.
If you want the freedom to book different hotels or even Airbnb while still receiving fantastic rewards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is your better bet. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® provides Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases Ultimate Rewards points are generally worth 1.5 cents, but you can transfer them to several airlines and hotel partners where their value is boosted. Keep in mind, though, that you won’t be able to transfer your points to Hilton Honors.
Beyond that, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® also provides an extremely generous annual travel credit. You get $300 applied towards any travel charges on your card — airfare, Uber, Airbnb, hotels and more.
The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is better for consumers who don’t care about airline incidentals and spend less than $60,000 on their credit card per year. Instead, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card comes with slightly less value than the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, though it still offers generous point earnings. For example, instead of Diamond status, you’ll get Hilton Honors Gold status — though you can qualify for Diamond if you charge at least $40,000 to the card within one calendar year (enrollment required).
On the other hand, if you’re leery of paying a $450 annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers a high earning rate for a $95 annual fee. You’ll Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio. Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations. Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
The Hilton Honors American Express Card is a good fit for those who spend less than $30,000 annually. This $0-annual-fee credit card is beneficial for Hilton customers who don’t want to pay high annual fees. This card allows you to earn bonus Hilton Honors points, though at a significantly slower rate than the other Hilton cards: Earn 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio, 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations AND 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
If points are all you’re after, then the Hilton Honors American Express Card would be a better option than the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express.
To see rates & fees for Hilton Honors American Express Card please click here.
If you’re looking for a luxury credit card, frequently stay with Hilton and are willing to pay a large annual fee, consider getting the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express. In addition to its large welcome offer, this card is jam-packed with benefits, such as automatic elite status and tons of statement credits. By understanding everything this card has to offer, you can take advantage of its premium offerings and maximize its value to its fullest potential. This is a top-tier hotel credit card that will benefit Hilton Honors loyalists.
However, if you’re looking for more flexibility or aren’t willing to pay such a high annual fee, there are other great travel rewards credit cards out there to consider as well.
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express offers a number of valuable benefits, including travel credits, annual weekend night rewards and extensive airport lounge access. It’s worth noting, however, that the card does come with a $450 annual fee as well.
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express is issued by American Express. You should be able to use it anywhere American Express cards are accepted.
Yes, you can upgrade to the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express. You can request an upgrade from your existing account by calling 800-528-4800 — the American Express customer service number — to see if you’re eligible.
Yes, it is possible to have two separate American Express Hilton cards at the same time. However, you may have to wait 90 days between opening each card.
To see rates & fees for Hilton Honors American Express Card please click here.
The information related to the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication.
Apply Now