AMEX Hilton Aspire Credit Card: 150,000 Welcome Bonus, Plus Automatic Diamond Status!

This card's signup bonus for the Aspire is 150,000. The card itself already offers a ton of perks, including one uncapped Hilton free night certificate every year (starting in year one), which can be used at any Hilton hotel. You also get annual flight and hotel credits that add up to $600, which more than covers the annual fee, and they're easy to use. The biggest highlight is the complimentary top-tier Hilton Diamond status, with room upgrades, lounge access, free breakfast, and more. Overall, it's a card well worth keeping long term.

• Hilton Aspire application link

This is the premium card I recommend most. It is worth keeping long term, and it's the best value.

• Premium credit card comparisons and recommendations
• Which of the four Hilton co-branded credit cards should you apply for?

This card's signup bonus is very good, and I've added it to the signup bonus ranking.

• U.S. credit card signup bonus rankings (personal cards) [up to $2,000+ signup bonus]

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card credit card overview

Perks

• $400 Hilton Resort Credit every year (replaces the original Resort $250 reimbursement benefit): $200 every six months, and the first half should expire after 6/30. The eligible spending is very broad, including room charges, in-room dining, hotel restaurants, activities, and more. Note that eligibility is based on when the charge finally posts to the card, so try not to spend right up against 6/30. Hilton now has a dedicated resort list on its website, so be sure to check it before booking (eligible Resort list)

• $200 airfare reimbursement (replaces the original $200 airline incidental reimbursement): $50 per quarter. Purchases made on airline websites or in AMEX Travel are eligible for reimbursement, such as airfare, baggage fees, seat selection fees, and more. It does not include other activities or change fees, and gift cards are not included. (If you don't know what to use it for, UA Travel Bank still works.)

• Clear reimbursement: $189 in reimbursement, which is basically enough to cover the annual fee. See: Clear expedited security lane intro (reimbursable with Green/Plat/BizPlat/Aspire)
• Complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status
• Complimentary cell phone insurance: up to $800 per claim, with a maximum of two claims every 12 months. You must pay with this card.
• High earning rates: 14x on hotel spending is among the highest for hotel cards. In addition, dining, gas, and airfare all earn 7x, so HH points pile up fast.
• Complimentary Hilton Diamond status: Hilton's top-tier status, which includes free breakfast, more points and extra perks on stays, and the possibility of suite upgrades (Hilton benefits overview).
• Annual free night reward: one free night certificate is automatically issued every year (usable at Hilton hotels and resorts). You get it in year one too!
• Big spend bonus: spend $60,000 on the card in each calendar year and you can earn an additional free night certificate.

AMEX card perks

• AMEX offer: Amazon spend $20 get $20? Walmart $15 off $5? Pay a $75 phone bill and get $10 off? Generous AMEX often sends cardholders great offers, letting you earn cash back while you spend. See AMEX OFFER explained for details.
• Generous credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives much higher credit limits than other banks.
• Triple credit line increase: after holding an AMEX card for 61 days, you can request a credit limit increase to 3x the original amount through the website.
• Free ShopRunner membership: enjoy free two-day shipping from many online stores. For details, see: official website
• Extended warranty: items purchased in full with an AMEX card automatically get one extra year of manufacturer warranty
• Free credit score: cardholders can check their EX credit bureau score for free every month

Introduction to the Hilton Honors Loyalty Program

Hilton currently has about 5,000 hotels and resorts worldwide across 13 hotel and resort brands. Gold and Diamond members can enjoy free breakfast, along with possible room upgrades.

• Points value: The average value is 0.4 c/p, 100 Hilton = $0.4 (Points Valuation & Analysis). In other words, a hotel stay worth $40 would require about 10k Hilton points to redeem.
• How to redeem: You can search and book directly on hilton.com. Hilton has now completely eliminated hotel award categories, and the number of points required is based on the current cash price. Most redemptions fall in the 0.3–0.5 c/p range. If you redeem points for four consecutive nights, you can get the fifth night free, meaning five nights cost only 80% of the usual points.
• Points features: If there is no activity in your account for 24 months, your points will expire. Hilton supports family point pooling, allowing multiple accounts to combine points for use together. In addition, each person can transfer 50k points to others per year and receive up to 200k Hilton points (excluding family pooling).
• My take: To get outsized value from Hilton points, it often makes sense to target lower-priced hotels that still have reasonable award rates. For example, many Hilton properties in China have consistently offered good redemption value. You can also use points for hotels near major attractions or during special periods, such as New Year’s Eve in Times Square or trips to Hawaii. Also, it is best to aim for “stay four, get one free” or “stay five for the price of four” style redemptions whenever possible. Hilton has a very broad footprint and a large number of properties in the U.S., making the points easy to use. Combined with family pooling and point transfer features, it is also relatively easy to top off your balance.

Credit Cards

• Personal credit cards: AMEX Hilton Honors 、 AMEX Hilton Surpass 、 AMEX Hilton Aspire
• Business credit card: AMEX Hilton Business
• Detailed analysis: Complete Guide to Hilton Hotels

My take:

From the new card description, if you are not a frequent Hilton guest, Diamond status is not very useful. So whether it is worth keeping long term depends on whether the combined $500 in airfare and resort credits is easy to use. If you can trigger it by buying airline and hotel gift cards and then cashing them out, then this card is a no-brainer to keep. If you only keep it for one year, in the first year you can get 150,000 points + 1 free night + $250 in airfare reimbursement (usable twice) + $250 in resort reimbursement (usable twice). After that, if you do not need it, downgrading to the no-annual-fee Hilton card is also a good option. In short, if you can use all of the credits, this is a very valuable card. For long-term holding, if you can fully use the credits it basically pays for itself, and the included Hilton Diamond status is still very valuable. If you only want the signup bonus, I do not recommend applying for this premium card with a $450 annual fee that is not waived in the first year. It is better to choose the $95 annual fee Hilton Ascend card, and then downgrade to the no-annual-fee Hilton card in year two. This is the premium card I recommend most. It can be held long term, and it's the best value!

• Premium credit card comparisons and recommendations

Upgrade tips

There are probably still quite a few Ascend cardholders receiving upgrade offers to the Aspire card. I upgraded from Ascend five months before the annual fee, and after the upgrade I was immediately able to get one $250 airline reimbursement (based on the calendar year) + one Hilton resort $250 reimbursement (based on the cardmember year). One interesting thing about the free night certificate is:

• At the time of the upgrade, I also received the annual free night certificate from the Aspire card (based on the cardmember year). On the fee side, the Ascend annual fee was refunded on a pro-rated 5-month basis, and then the Aspire annual fee was charged on a pro-rated 5-month basis. Five months later, when it was time for Aspire to charge the annual fee again, after paying the full $450 annual fee, I received another annual free night certificate.
• In other words, in theory, upgrading to Aspire when Ascend is about one month away from its annual fee is the most worthwhile. That is because you can receive two free night certificates within 2-3 months while only paying about one year's worth of the $450 annual fee. Another benefit is that free night certificates are valid for one year after issuance, so the two certificates will expire around the same time and can be used together.
• Note that after the upgrade, the free night certificate will not be issued immediately; it will be issued in about a month. After the annual fee is paid, it will also be issued in about a month. Please be sure to leave enough time.

Apply

This card has moderate approval requirements, and I’d recommend applying if you have at least six months of credit history. Since this is a co-branded card, it’s best to first sign up for a Hilton membership and then enter your membership number when applying. Otherwise, they will automatically assign you a new one.

• AMEX official application status check link
• For the same AMEX credit card, the public welcome bonus is generally available only once (once-per-lifetime restriction)
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-528-4800, 877-399-3083, 866-314-0237) to speed up credit card approval or request a review of a denied application.
• AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards total.
• You can apply for a total of two AMEX credit cards every 90 days, excluding charge cards.
• After you submit your application, a pop-up may appear telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome bonus. In that case, it is usually best not to continue with the application (detailed analysis)
• More about applying for AMEX credit cards

Application link: