This card’s welcome offer is 70,000 points plus one free night certificate with no category restriction! This certificate can be used at any Hilton hotel worldwide as long as a standard room is available, and it is worth at least $350+. Altogether, the welcome offer on this no-annual-fee card is very generous, with an estimated value of $700+. This card is especially suitable for users who are just getting started and have an average credit history. It is the easiest AMEX card to get approved for!

If you are interested in other Hilton cards, you can read our detailed comparison:

Among no-annual-fee cards, this card’s bonus is fairly high, so I have also added it to our rankings:

AMEX Hilton credit card overview:

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Full review

AMEX Hilton Honors Credit Card

No annual fee

  • Welcome bonus: 70,000 Hilton points + 1 free night certificate (spend $2,000 in 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 purchases, dining, gas, and supermarket purchases all earn 5x points, so you can accumulate Hilton Honors points very quickly. Also, if you can make good use of Hilton Honors points, using this card for manufactured spending at supermarkets can make sense.
  • Earn 50,000-100,000 points through upgrades and downgrades: After holding this card for 12 months, you can upgrade to the annual-fee AMEX Surpass credit card with no hard pull, and receive an upgrade offer of 50,000-100,000 points after spending $3,000. After receiving the bonus, you can downgrade after some time and then wait for the next upgrade opportunity.
  • Complimentary Hilton Silver status: Spend $20,000 in a year to earn Gold status (Hilton benefits overview).
  • No foreign transaction fees: Most cards with no foreign transaction fees have an annual fee, so it is nice that this card has no annual fee. See: Introduction to foreign transaction fees

AMEX card benefits

  • AMEX Offers: Spend $20 at Amazon and get $20 back? Walmart $15 off $5? Pay your phone bill and get $10 back on $75? Generous AMEX often sends cardholders good offers that let you earn cash rewards while spending. For details, see AMEX Offers Guide.
  • High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives credit limits much higher than other banks.
  • Triple credit-limit increase: After the 61st day of card membership, AMEX cards can request a credit-limit increase to three times the original limit through the official website.
  • Complimentary ShopRunner membership: You can enjoy free two-day shipping at many online stores. For details, see: official link
  • Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card automatically receive one additional year of manufacturer’s warranty coverage.
  • Free credit score: Cardholders can check their Experian credit score for free every month.

Drawbacks

  • Hilton Honors points are relatively low in value. On average, this card’s 5x points are roughly equivalent to 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 have no interest in applying for this card because I always felt Hilton points were not very valuable and were not easy to use. Later, I applied when the offer was at its highest. The reason was, of course, that I had some upcoming travel plans, and the AMEX Platinum Card also came with complimentary Hilton Gold status, which provides free breakfast. That prompted me to take a closer look at Hilton’s loyalty program and points program, and I ultimately decided to apply for this card.

First of all, this is a no-annual-fee hotel co-branded card, which is relatively rare. This card earns Hilton Honors points very quickly. Hotel purchases earn 7x points, while the 5x categories cover the most common purchases: dining, gas, and supermarkets, including potential manufactured spending. Other purchases earn 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, upgrade again, and repeatedly collect 50,000-point bonuses. Plus, the AMEX Offers, ShopRunner, extended warranty, and other benefits that come with AMEX cards are also nice. Therefore, this is a card that is suitable for long-term holding.

Of course, Hilton Honors points are more inflated than other hotel points such as SPG and Hyatt. Their average redemption value is only about 0.5 cents per point. On average, a $100 hotel requires 20,000 Hilton Honors points, and redemption values fluctuate a lot. Good redemptions can reach around 1 cent per point, such as 40,000 Hilton Honors points for a $360 hotel, while some redemptions are so terrible that a $200 hotel requires 90,000 Hilton Honors points. However, Hilton has a very broad hotel footprint, so you can usually find a property with an acceptable redemption value. You can use the tool below to check how many points a hotel requires:

People who already have this card can still see a 100,000-point offer to upgrade to the AMEX Hilton Surpass, which is essentially a way to get 100,000 points with no hard pull. This link does not include “bonus once per lifetime” language, so if you have previously had the Surpass, we recommend using this link to upgrade. (HT: DOC)

About no lifetime language

Expired as of July 2019According to DOC, there is now an application link with no lifetime language, though it only offers a 75,000-point welcome bonus. If you previously applied for this card and have since closed or product-changed it, and you want to apply again to earn another welcome bonus, you can consider using the link below. In the past, these types of offers without lifetime language were usually sent through targeted emails; this one was extracted from an email. If you receive similar emails in the future, check carefully to see whether there is any lifetime language and whether the application page has a fixed name on it. If there is no fixed name, it should generally be usable by everyone.

  • Hilton 75,000-point application link with no lifetime language
  • About offers with no lifetime language: In general, the offer terms for current AMEX credit card applications state that if you have previously received the welcome bonus for the same card, you will not be eligible to receive the welcome bonus again, which is effectively a once-per-lifetime bonus rule. Some targeted offers often do not have this restriction, generally depending on whether the offer terms mention it. Based on prior experience, it has still been possible to receive the bonus again when applying. Of course, there is some risk.

Application

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, a new 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: