Hilton Honors American Express Card Review: Hotel Perks with No Annual Fee

If you’re a casual traveler and Hilton Honors member looking to earn points from your daily spending, the Hilton Honors American Express Card is a good card to consider. With solid rewards on everyday purchases and complimentary Silver status, it offers valuable hotel perks without the cost of a higher-tiered Hilton Honors credit card. The generous welcome offer also sets you up with a good pool of points.

That said, if you’re a frequent jet-setter seeking premium benefits or more value from your rewards, one of Hilton’s higher-tiered cards or a general travel credit card might be a better fit. For occasional travelers, though, this card strikes a nice balance of perks and simplicity.

• Annual fee: $0
• Welcome offer: Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after you spend $2,000 on eligible purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express® Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 8/13/2025.
• Rewards rate: 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.
• APR on purchases: 20.24%-29.24% Variable
• Foreign transaction fees: None
• Other benefits:
  • Complimentary Silver elite status
  • Global Assist® Hotline¹
  • Exclusive access to tickets and event presales
• Recommended credit: Good / Excellent

• Good welcome offer for a $0 annual fee

  One of the biggest perks of the Hilton Honors American Express Card is its welcome offer. Currently, you can earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after you spend $2,000 on eligible purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express® Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 8/13/2025.

  Compared to other no-annual-fee travel cards, this is a large lump sum of points to earn from a welcome offer. Plus, you only have to spend approximately $333 each month for six months to earn it.

  Note that Hilton no longer publishes an award chart, so it’s impossible to tell exactly how many free nights you can get with your points — still, this welcome offer could easily cover two- or three-night stays.

• Generous earnings on everyday purchases

  With the Hilton Honors American Express Card, you can 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.

  This is an excellent earning rate for routine expenses, even considering that Hilton Honors points are less valuable than most credit card rewards (more on this below).

• Ability to earn and redeem points at more than 8,000 hotels worldwide

  Hilton has one of the largest footprints of hotels in the world. With more than 8,000 properties across 139 countries and territories, you’re likely to find a Hilton hotel in most places you plan to travel. You can also easily redeem points at any of those hotels, with no blackout dates.

  Did you know?

  The Hilton family of hotels includes 24 brands — ranging from budget-friendly accommodations to luxury resorts — at over 8,000 locations worldwide. Popular hotels include Conrad Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites and Waldorf Astoria.

   

• Complimentary Hilton Honors Silver elite status

  Just by having the Hilton Honors American Express Card and being enrolled in the Hilton Honors program, you’ll be granted complimentary Silver elite status. Hilton Silver status comes with better-than-average perks compared to other hotel programs. In addition to basic member benefits, like guaranteed Hilton Honors discount rates, no resort fees on reward stays and complimentary WiFi, you’ll get:

  • A 20% points earning bonus on every stay
  • Fifth night free when you book a standard room stay with 100% points
  • Two complimentary bottles of water when you arrive (at select hotels)
  • Elite rollover nights
  • An all-inclusive spa discount
  • Eligibility to earn Gold status when you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year
  Earning Gold status unlocks additional perks, including 80% points bonus on base points on every stay, daily food and beverage credit at select brands in the U.S. and complimentary continental breakfast at select brands outside of the U.S., upgrades if space is available and opportunities to earn milestone bonuses when you reach a certain number of hotel stays.

   

• Foreign transaction fees: None

  While some credit cards charge foreign transaction fees of up to 3% of the amount of each transaction when you use the card to make purchases outside the U.S., this card does not.

  However, acceptance of American Express cards is generally more limited outside of the U.S. You should also be aware that the highest-earning rates on dining, groceries and gas are limited to U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations. So this card may not be your top choice for international travel.

  → See other credit cards with no foreign transaction fee.

• Hilton points are inflated

  One of the biggest drawbacks of Hilton points is that they’re only worth around 0.5 cents each* (which is about half of the value of points from many other credit cards). That, coupled with the fact that Hilton no longer publishes an award chart, means that you may need a huge amount of points to get a free night stay. For example, we recently found a standard room at the Hilton Austin listed for 70,000 points per night for a stay in July 2025.

  As mentioned, the card does offer impressive rewards earnings, so you may be able to earn enough points to get free nights relatively quickly, even in spite of the inflated value. Plus, since cardholders get complimentary Silver status, you can further your value by taking advantage of the fifth night free benefit when you book a standard room with points.

  → Read more about what credit card points are worth.

  *Based on LendingTree’s value methodology

• Limited travel benefits

  Although the Hilton Honors American Express Card offers a few valuable travel benefits, like complimentary elite status and car rental loss and damage insurance², it lacks many of the other perks offered by travel credit cards that do charge annual fees — like annual credits and free award nights. But this is a tradeoff that comes with qualifying for a card with a $0 annual fee.

  If you’re set on getting a Hilton card, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card (see rates & fees) and Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express both come with extra travel perks that can help make their annual fees worth it.

	Hilton Honors American Express Card	Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card	Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express
Annual fee	$0	$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150	$550
Welcome offer	Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after you spend $2,000 on eligible purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express® Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 8/13/2025.	Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.	Earn 175,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card after you spend $6,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
Bonus points structure	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 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 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases. Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.	Earn 14X points on eligible purchases at hotels or resorts in the Hilton Portfolio, 7X points on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and U.S. restaurants and 3X points on other purchases.
Status	Hilton Honors™ Silver Status	Hilton Honors™ Gold Status	Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status
Annual/free night rewards	None	Free Night after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year	Free Annual Night Reward in your first year of card membership and every year upon card renewal
Statement credits	None	Up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a Hilton property using your card	Up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually on eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts using your card Up to $50 in statement credit each quarter on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com using your card Up to $199 in Clear® Plus Credit Up to $100 in property credit at participating Waldorf Astoria® Hotels & Resorts and Conrad® Hotels & Resorts properties when you book a 2 night minimum stay with your card
Car rental status	None	National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status (enrollment required)	National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status (enrollment required)
Foreign transaction fees	None	None	$0
Global Assist® Hotline1	Yes	Yes	Premium Global Assist® Hotline2
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance3	Yes	Yes	Yes
Purchase Protection4	Yes	Yes	Yes
Baggage Insurance Plan4		Yes	Yes
Extended Warranty4		Yes	Yes
Trip delay insurance5			Yes
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance5			Yes
Cell Phone Protection5			Yes
Return Protection6			Yes
Global Dining Access by Resy			Yes
Send & Split®, Dispute resolution, Year-End Summary, Plan It®, Additional Cards and Events with Amex™	Yes	Yes	Yes

→ Check out our picks for the best Hilton credit cards.

Hilton Honors American Express Card vs. Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card

If you frequently stay at Hilton hotels and want a Hilton credit card that comes with a few more perks, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card may be a better option. It does charge an annual fee ($0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150). But it also comes with a higher welcome offer and earning rate on eligible purchases, as well as more travel benefits (like complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold Status instead of just Silver).

That said, if you get the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card and find that the value isn’t worth the fee, you can downgrade to the $0-annual-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card before the annual fee kicks in.

Hilton Honors American Express Card vs. Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express

Going another step up with Hilton Honors cards, the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express comes with premium perks at a price to match. This $550-annual-fee card gives you the highest level of rewards points on travel purchases. But when it comes to general purchases, you earn the same rate as the Hilton Honors American Express Card.

It also offers several statement credits, an annual free night reward and complimentary Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status (enrollment required). Additionally, when you use your Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express to book your travel, you get a variety of travel protections.

Hilton Honors American Express Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Another option to consider is a general travel credit card that’s not tied to a hotel brand, like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. Although you won’t get hotel-specific perks, like elite status or late checkout, the upside is that you have the ability to transfer your miles to more than 15 transfer partners or book nights at just about ANY hotel. This added flexibility may be worth it, especially if you travel less frequently or vary your stays across several different brands.

Plus, enjoy Hertz Five Star status, auto rental collision damage waiver and travel accident insurance for a modest $95 annual fee.

If you want to earn a generous amount of Hilton Honors points and get complimentary elite status without paying an annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Card could be the right card for you.

But if you’re a Hilton loyalist, you may get more value from one of the other Hilton credit cards — even with their annual fees. On the other hand, if you’re looking for more flexible rewards that can be used at any hotel chain, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card may be a better option.