This card’s welcome bonus is 80,000 points! The spending requirement is just $2,000 in six months, which is very easy to meet. This card is a good fit for people who are just starting out or have average credit history. It’s the easiest AMEX card to get approved for! And since it has no annual fee, you can keep it long term. The welcome bonus is worth about $400, which is quite high for a no-annual-fee card.

If you’re interested in other Hilton cards, you can check out our detailed comparison

This card’s bonus is still pretty good among no-annual-fee cards, so I’ve also added it to the ranking

AMEX Hilton Credit Card Overview:

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Full review

AMEX Hilton Honors Credit Card

No annual fee

  • Welcome bonus: 80,000 Hilton points (spend $2,000 within six months)
  • Rewards: 7x on Hilton hotel purchases, 5x at supermarkets, restaurants, and gas stations, 3x on all other purchases
  • Redemption: Redeemable at Hilton properties worldwide
  • Annual fee: $0
  • Apply now>>

Highlights

  • Good bonus categories: In addition to 7x points on hotel spending, dining, gas, and grocery purchases all earn 5x points, so you can rack up Hilton Honors points very quickly. And if you can make good use of Hilton Honors points, using this card for manufactured spending at supermarkets is also an option
  • Upgrade and downgrade to earn 50,000-100,000 points: After holding this card for 12 months, you can upgrade to the annual-fee AMEX Surpass credit card (no hard inquiry) and earn an upgrade bonus of 50,000-100,000 points after spending $3,000. After receiving the bonus, you can downgrade after a while and wait for the next upgrade opportunity
  • Comes with Hilton Silver status: Spend $20,000 a year to get Gold status (Hilton membership overview)
  • No foreign transaction fee: Most cards with no foreign transaction fee have an annual fee, so it’s great that this one has no annual fee. See: Foreign transaction fee introduction

AMEX card benefits

  • AMEX Offers: Amazon $20 off $20? Walmart $15 off $5? Pay your phone bill $75 off $10? Generous AMEX often sends cardholders great offers that let you earn cash back while you spend. See AMEX Offers explained for details.
  • Generous credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often offers much higher credit limits than other banks.
  • 3x credit line increase: After you’ve had the card for 61 days, you can request a credit limit increase through the website to triple your original limit.
  • Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free two-day shipping from many online stores. See the details here: official website
  • Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card automatically get an extra year of manufacturer warranty
  • Free credit score: Cardholders can check their EX credit bureau score for free every month

Drawbacks

  • Hilton Honors points are relatively low in value; on average, this card’s 5x points are about the same as 2.5% cash back

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

My experience with this card:

I used to not want to apply for this card because I always felt that Hilton points weren’t worth much and weren’t very useful. Later, I applied when the best offer was available. The reason, of course, was that I had some travel plans coming up, and the AMEX Platinum Card also comes with Hilton Gold status (which includes free breakfast), which made me take a closer look at Hilton’s membership and points programs, and in the end I decided to apply for this card.

First of all, this is a hotel co-branded card with no annual fee, which is relatively rare. It earns Hilton Honors points very quickly. You get 7x points on hotel spending, and 5x points covers the most common categories like dining, gas, and groceries (where you can manufacture spending), while other spending earns 3x points. In addition, after holding the card for 12 months, you can choose to upgrade to the annual-fee AMEX Hilton Surpass credit card and get another 50,000-point upgrade bonus. After that, you can downgrade and then upgrade again, repeatedly collecting 50,000-point bonuses. And as an AMEX card, the AMEX Offers, ShopRunner, extended warranty, and other perks are also nice. So this is a card that makes sense to keep long term.

Of course, Hilton Honors points are more inflated than other hotel points programs (SPG, Hyatt, etc.). Their average redemption value is only about 0.5 cents per point (on average, a $100 hotel costs 20,000 Hilton Honors points), and the redemption value can vary a lot. Good redemptions can get you close to 1 cent per point (40,000 Hilton Honors points = a $360 hotel stay), while some redemptions are even absurd, such as a $200 hotel costing 90,000 Hilton Honors points. But Hilton has a very broad hotel network, so you can usually find a property with decent redemption value. You can use the tool below to check how many points a hotel costs:

People who already have this card can still see an upgrade offer for the AMEX Hilton Surpass worth 100,000 points, which is essentially 100,000 points without a hard inquiry. This link does not contain the words bonus once per life time, so if you’ve had the Surpass before, I recommend using this link to upgrade. (HT.DOC)

About no lifetime language

Expired in 2019.7 According to DOC, a no-lifetime-restriction application link has appeared, but it only offers a 75,000-point welcome bonus. If you’ve applied for this card before and have since closed it or converted it, and want to apply again to get the welcome bonus, you may want to consider the link below. In the past, these no-lifetime-restriction offers were usually sent through targeted email; this one was extracted from an email. If you receive a similar email in the future, take a close look to see whether it contains the word lifetime, and whether the application page has a fixed name (if it isn’t fixed, everyone should be able to use it).

  • Hilton 75,000-point no-lifetime-language application link
  • About no lifetime restriction: In general, AMEX credit card offer terms now state that if you’ve already received the welcome bonus for this card before, you won’t be eligible for the bonus again if you reapply (which is effectively a once-per-lifetime bonus). Some targeted offers, however, often do not have this restriction; it usually depends on whether the offer terms mention it. Based on past experience, you can still get the bonus when applying again. Of course, there is some risk.

Apply

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