AMEX Hilton Surpass Credit Card: Limited-Time 130,000-Point Welcome Offer + Free Night Certificate; Up to $200 in Hilton Credits Each Year

This card’s welcome offer is 130,000 points plus an uncapped free night certificate. This certificate can be used at any Hilton property, including Waldorf Astoria and properties in Hawaii, as long as standard room award space is available. It can easily be worth $350+! Although this card does not offer an annual free night certificate just for holding the card, it does provide up to $200 in Hilton hotel credits each year, which effectively more than offsets the annual fee by $50. The complimentary Gold status also gives you breakfast for two during stays, making it a very good deal. If you regularly stay at Hilton hotels, this can also be a card worth keeping long term.

• Application link

If you want to see which Hilton card is right for you, check out our comparison article:

• Which of the four Hilton co-branded credit cards should you apply for?

This card’s welcome offer is excellent, so I have added it to our best welcome offers ranking:

• Best U.S. credit card welcome offers ranking (personal cards) [up to $2,000+ in welcome offers]

AMEX Hilton Surpass Credit Card

Highlights

• High bonus earning rates: The 12x on hotel purchases is a very strong earning rate among hotel cards. In addition, dining, gas, and supermarket purchases all earn 6x, so you can accumulate Hilton Honors points very quickly. If you know how to get good value from Hilton Honors points, using this card for supermarket spending can make sense as well.
• [Currently unavailable] Downgrade and then upgrade again for 50,000-100,000 points: After holding this card for 12 months, you can downgrade to the no-annual-fee AMEX Hilton Credit Card with no hard pull. Later, you can upgrade back to this card and potentially receive an upgrade offer of 50,000-100,000 points after spending $3,000. AMEX HH upgrade link (enter your card number to check whether you are eligible for an upgrade).
• Complimentary Hilton Gold status: You can enjoy free breakfast. Spend $40,000 each year to earn Diamond status (Hilton status benefits overview).
• Free night certificate for high spending: Spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year to receive an uncapped free night certificate, which can be used at Hilton properties and resorts.
• [New] $200 Hilton hotel credit: Receive up to $50 in credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 per year. Bookings through official Hilton channels or eligible spending at Hilton hotels can trigger the credit.

• [New] Cardholders receive National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status

AMEX card benefits

• AMEX Offers: $20 back after spending $20 at Amazon? $15-$5 at Walmart? $75-$10 on phone bills? AMEX often sends cardholders generous offers that can earn you cash back while you spend. For details, see our guide to AMEX Offers.
• High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives much higher credit limits than other banks.
• Triple your credit limit: After holding an AMEX card for 61 days, you can request a credit limit increase through the official website up to three times your original limit.
• Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free two-day shipping at many online retailers. For details, see the official link.
• Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card automatically receive one additional year of manufacturer warranty coverage.
• Free credit score: Cardholders can check their EX credit bureau credit score for free each month.

Drawbacks

• Hilton Honors points have relatively low value, so 12x/6x may not be as impressive as it sounds; it is roughly equivalent to 6%/3% back.
• The annual fee is not waived for the first year, which reduces the value of getting the card for one year and then leaving by closing or downgrading it.

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 spend a lot on Hilton stays and are very familiar with how to use Hilton points, this can be a card worth keeping long term. After the card’s refresh, it added a $200 hotel credit, which can fully cover the annual fee if you can use it and effectively give you an extra $50 in value. Personally, though, I plan to keep the Hilton Aspire long term because that card comes with Hilton Diamond status, breakfast for two, and lounge access.

Some experience with upgrades and downgrades

Previously, I saw that the no-annual-fee Hilton card could be upgraded to this card while also receiving a 75,000-point upgrade bonus, so I upgraded a no-annual-fee card that I had already upgraded and downgraded multiple times to the Ascend. Unfortunately, AMEX has already discovered this loophole, and upgrades can no longer earn the bonus. However, after upgrading to the Ascend, I received another link for a 150,000-point bonus to upgrade to the Aspire (see below). I still could not resist and upgraded to the Aspire. Sure enough, as AMEX customer service said, if you have never had the Aspire card before, the upgrade would still come with a bonus, and in the end I did receive the 150,000-point Hilton upgrade bonus.

Both my spouse and I received the bonus after upgrading our cards, but I was luckier because I happened to catch Hilton redemptions on Amazon at 0.5 cents per point and went all in. Of course, always remember that after upgrading, you should keep the card for one year; otherwise, there is a risk that the points could be clawed back. For Hilton points, the chance of a clawback is small, but if AMEX gets annoyed with you and conducts a financial review or blacklists you, that can become very troublesome.

Right now, many people have received email offers to upgrade to the Aspire for a 150,000-point bonus. If you did not receive an email, you can log in to your account and check the amexoffer section. If you received this offer and have previously applied for the Aspire, I think you can take it without overthinking it. After all, there is no hard pull and it will not lower your credit score, so it is essentially free points. If you have not applied for the Aspire before, you may want to consider whether to apply for the Aspire first and then upgrade. In fact, the Hilton Aspire card is a negative-annual-fee card in the first year ($250*2 annual airline credits + $200 resort credit), and it also comes with Hilton’s top-tier Diamond status.

• Hilton Aspire credit card review

About the no-lifetime-language application link

[Expired as of 2019.7] A 125,000-point link without lifetime language has now been found. If you previously applied for this card and have since closed it or product changed it, and you want to apply again for another welcome offer, you can consider using the link below. In the past, these types of no-lifetime-language offers were usually sent through targeted emails; this time, the link was extracted from an email. If you receive a similar email in the future, you can take a close look to see whether it includes lifetime language and whether the application page has a fixed name on it. If there is no fixed name, it should probably be usable by everyone. One of our authors also applied for one, and we will provide firsthand feedback as soon as possible on whether the bonus can be received.

• Hilton Ascend 125,000 no-lifetime-language application link
• About no lifetime language: These days, AMEX credit card application offer terms usually state that if you have previously received the welcome bonus for this card, you will not be eligible to receive the welcome bonus again if you apply again (effectively, you can only get the bonus once in a lifetime). Some targeted offers often do not have this restriction; it generally depends on whether the offer terms mention it. Based on past experience, applying again may still get you the bonus. Of course, there is some risk.

How to Apply

The application requirements for this card are fairly standard, and generally having more than six months of credit history should be enough to apply. Since this is a co-branded credit card, it’s best to first sign up for a Hilton membership, and then enter your membership number when applying. Otherwise, a new one will be assigned to you automatically.

• 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