AMEX Hilton Honors Business Card: 130,000-Point Welcome Bonus; $240 Annual Hilton Statement Credit

This card currently comes with a 130,000-point welcome bonus, and the spending requirement of $6,000 in six months is quite manageable. In the long run, the card also offers up to $240 in annual Hilton statement credits, which can effectively offset the annual fee if you use them.

• Application Link

The rewards on this business card are pretty solid, so I’ve added it to the rankings.

• Best US Small Business Cards [Up to $2,000+ in Rewards]

American Express Hilton Honors Business Business Card Overview:

【Note】If this is your first time applying for a business credit card, please read “Introduction to Business Credit Cards” carefully first.

Highlights

• Complimentary Hilton Gold status: You can enjoy free breakfast. Spend $40,000 in a calendar year to earn Diamond status (Hilton elite status overview).
• New $240 Hilton statement credit: You should be able to use it by paying for room charges with this card. However, this $240 is split up!!! You get $60 per quarter. So you need at least four stays to fully use it.
• New National Executive status: It’s actually pretty easy to get this higher-tier status, so this perk isn’t especially valuable.

AMEX Card Benefits

• 【Business card only】AMEX Open Savings: Use an AMEX business credit card at select merchants to earn an extra 2x Membership Rewards points or a 5% discount. Participating merchants include FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, Hertz^®, HP.com, and more. See: Open Savings overview
• AMEX Offers: Examples include $20 back on $20 at Amazon, $5 back on $15 at Walmart, and $10 back on $75 for phone bills. Generous AMEX often sends cardholders good offers that let you earn cash rewards while spending. See also: Best Recent AMEX Offers, Past Great AMEX Offers Summary, and AMEX Offers Guide.
• 【Business card only】More and better AMEX Offers: Business cards often receive more good offers, such as offers for Staples, Office Depot, Sam's Club at 20% off, and more (sometimes even usable for gift cards). These business-only offers are generally not sent to personal cards.
• High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives much higher credit limits than other banks.
• 3x credit limit increase: Starting on day 61 of card membership, you may be able to request a credit limit increase to three times your original limit through the official website.
• Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free two-day shipping at many online stores. See details here: official link.
• Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card get the manufacturer’s warranty automatically extended by one year.
• Free credit score: Cardholders can check their EX credit bureau score for free each month.

Cons

• Hilton Honors points are worth relatively little, so 12x/6x may not be as impressive as it looks. It’s roughly equivalent to 6%/3% cash back.
• The annual fee is not waived for the first year, which lowers the value for people who plan to keep it for only a year and then cancel or downgrade.

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

If you’re eligible for business credit cards and want to keep a mid-tier Hilton card long term, this card is more worth holding than the personal Hilton Ascend card. That’s because the business version comes with Open Savings as well as more and better AMEX Offers.

How to Apply

This card’s approval threshold is fairly average; I’d recommend having at least six months of credit history before applying. Since this is a co-branded card, it’s best to first register for a Hilton Honors account and then enter your member number when applying. Otherwise, one will be automatically assigned to you.

• 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: