Which Hilton Credit Card Is Best?

All Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card information has been collected independently by 10xTravel.

With more than 8,000 locations worldwide, you may likely have stayed in one or more Hiltons in your life.

Perhaps you’re wondering how to make Hilton stays a more regular part of your life or how to upgrade the luxury of the experience every time you stay.

Enter the Hilton credit card.

In fact, there are four Hilton Honors credit cards, co-branded with American Express, with differing perks and annual fees.

Which one is best suited to you will depend on how you can use their perks as well as how often you frequent Hilton properties.

Let’s dive into each Hilton credit card to find out which one is best for you.

Hilton Honors Credit Cards

Here’s an overview of the four Hilton credit cards and who they’re best suited to.

Now, let’s look at each of these cards in detail.

Hilton Honors American Express Card

The Hilton Honors American Express Card offers the occasional Hilton guest an easy way to earn points and enjoy extra benefits at Hilton hotels and resorts.

Its bonus spending categories are broad, covering many everyday expenses, including gas, groceries and dining. It also has a generous base rate of 3X points on non-bonus category spending.

For a $0 annual fee card (see rates & fees), it has a generous perks package that includes complimentary Hilton Honors Silver Status. This gives you access to exclusive perks, including 20% bonus base points on stays, the fifth night for free during reward stays, elite rollover nights and a 15% all-inclusive spa discount.

This card is also free of foreign transaction fees, making it ideal for spending abroad.

You can charge the cost of your rental car to the card and benefit from its car rental loss and damage insurance plan, enjoying coverage of up to $50,000 in the event of damage or theft.

Pros

• 7X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio
• 5X points on dining purchases at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• 5X points on groceries at U.S. supermarkets
• 5X points on gas at U.S. gas stations
• 3X points on all other purchases
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Silver Status
• No foreign transaction fees
• Car rental loss and damage insurance

Cons

• No statement credit perks
• No annual free night rewards

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

If you frequent properties in the Hilton portfolio at least a few times a year and want access to elite benefits, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers a lot of value for a reasonable price tag of $150 per year (see rates & fees).

You’ll earn a competitive 6X points per dollar spent at U.S. based vendors on a range of everyday bonus spending categories including gas, groceries and dining. You’ll also earn 12X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio and 4X points on U.S. online retail purchases.

You’ll also earn 12X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio and 4X points on U.S. online retail purchases.

As a cardholder, you’ll enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status. This unlocks a range of perks, including 80% bonus base points on stays, space-available room upgrades, a daily food and beverage credit or continental breakfast (varies by brand and region) and milestone bonuses. Hilton Honors Gold Status usually requires a minimum of 40 qualifying nights, 20 qualifying stays or 75,000 base points, making this perk particularly valuable.

If you manage to charge $40,000 to your card within a calendar year, you’ll even receive a complimentary upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.

This card also comes with a free night reward when you charge $15,000 to your card within a calendar year, as well as a $200 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with a property in the Hilton portfolio, given in quarterly $50 increments.

When renting a car as a cardholder, you’ll benefit from complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status.

With this wide array of cardholder perks, offsetting the $150 annual fee shouldn’t be difficult.

Pros

• 12X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio
• 6X points on dining purchases at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• 6X points on groceries at U.S. supermarkets
• 6X points on gas at U.S. gas stations
• 4X points on U.S. online retail purchases
• 3X points on all other purchases
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status
• Spend $40,000 in a calendar year using your card, and receive complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
• Free night reward when you charge $15,000 to your card in purchases within a calendar year
• $200 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with a property in the Hilton portfolio, given in quarterly $50 increments. Eligible purchases include direct bookings made with Hilton and incidentals charged to your room and paid using your card.
• Complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status (enrollment required)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Car rental loss and damage insurance

Cons

• Free night reward requires a minimum spend of $15,000.
• $200 credit is issued quarterly, making it difficult to maximize.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

If you regularly find yourself staying at properties in the Hilton portfolio and want top-of-the-range perks, the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is a solid choice.

You’ll earn 14X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, as well as 7X points on flights booked directly with airlines or AmexTravel.com and car rentals booked directly with select car rental companies.

When dining at U.S. restaurants or ordering takeout and delivery, you’ll earn 7X points per dollar spent.

This card comes with complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status. In addition to all the benefits of Silver and Gold Status, Diamond Status includes 100% bonus points on stays, executive lounge access, Diamond Status extension, premium Wi-Fi, 48 hour room guarantees and elite status gifting. Diamond Status typically requires 60 qualifying nights, 30 qualifying stays or 120,000 base points, making this hugely valuable as a card perk.

The Aspire card offers a $400 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with participating resorts in the Hilton portfolio, given in biannual $200 increments, as well as a $200 annual statement credit for eligible airfare purchases made directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com, given in quarterly $50 increments.

As a cardholder, you’ll enjoy expedited security screening when flying, with an annual $199 statement credit toward CLEAR® Plus membership.

The luxury continues with an annual free night reward. You can receive a second free night reward after you charge $30,000 to your card within a calendar year and an additional third free night reward after charging $60,000 to your card within a calendar year.

The car rental loss and damage insurance perk is bumped up to a maximum coverage limit of $75,000 on the Aspire card. And you’ll enjoy coverage of up to $3,000 in total under the Aspire card’s baggage insurance plan.

With such a long list of perks, offsetting the annual fee of $550 on the Aspire card should be a piece of cake for the frequent Hilton guest.

Pros

• 14X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio
• 7X points on flights booked directly with airlines or AmexTravel.com and car rentals booked directly with select car rental companies
• 7X points on dining purchases at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• 3X points on all other purchases
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status
• $400 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with participating resorts in the Hilton portfolio, given in biannual $200 increments. Eligible purchases include direct bookings made with Hilton and incidentals charged to your room and paid using your card.
• Annual free night reward. Receive a second free night reward after charging $30,000 to your card within a calendar year and an additional third free night reward after charging $60,000 to your card within a calendar year.
• $199 annual CLEAR Plus membership statement credit
• $200 annual statement credit for eligible airfare purchases made directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com, given in quarterly $50 increments
• Complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status (enrollment required)
• Receive $1 in credits per dollar spent, up to $100 per property, when you use your card to book through HiltonHonorsAspireCard.com or by calling Hilton Honors at (855) 292-5757, for a minimum stay of two nights at Waldorf Astoria® Hotels & Resorts and Conrad® Hotels & Resorts.
• No foreign transaction fees
• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• Baggage insurance plan

Cons

• $200 flight credit is issued quarterly, making it difficult to maximize.
• Less opportunity to earn on typical everyday expenses compared to the Surpass card, due to narrow bonus spending categories

The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

If you’re a small business owner wanting exclusive perks when staying at Hilton properties, The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is your best bet. With an annual fee of $195 (see rates & fees), semi-frequent Hilton guests should be able to offset the annual fee with ease.

The Hilton Business Amex card earns 12X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, in addition to 5X points on the first $100,000 spent on all other purchases per calendar year (3X points thereafter).

This card comes with complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status, carrying a value high enough to offset the annual fee outright if used to its maximum. If you spend $40,000 within a calendar year, you’ll receive a complimentary upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.

The card also comes with a $240 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with participating resorts in the Hilton portfolio, given in quarterly $60 increments.

On top of the car rental loss and damage insurance plan included on every Hilton credit card, the Hilton Business card offers an additional baggage insurance plan. However, baggage insurance plan limits are slightly lower than those seen on the Aspire card, with a maximum coverage limit of $1,250 for carry-on baggage and $500 for checked baggage.

Pros

• 12X points on direct purchases with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio
• 5X points on all other purchases on the first $100,000 spent in purchases per calendar year (3X points thereafter)
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status. Spend $40,000 within a calendar year and receive complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
• $240 annual statement credit for eligible direct purchases with participating resorts in the Hilton portfolio, given in quarterly $60 increments. Eligible purchases include direct bookings made with Hilton and incidentals charged to your room and paid using your card.
• National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status
• Baggage insurance plan
• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• No foreign transaction fees

Cons

• Insurance limits are slightly lower than those on the Aspire card.

Hilton Honors Status Tiers

Through Hilton’s loyalty program—Hilton Honors—you can enjoy exclusive benefits when staying with Hilton.

By signing up for a loyalty account with Hilton and becoming a member, you’ll receive access to the following benefits, free of charge:

• Guaranteed Hilton Honors discount rate
• The ability to earn points toward free nights, travel partners and more
• No resort fees on reward stays
• Digital check-in and check-out
• The ability to choose your room
• Digital room key
• Free Wi-Fi
• Access to exclusive Hilton Honors Experiences

Above basic Member status, Hilton offers three tiers of status, with an increasing number of perks: Hilton Honors Silver Status, Hilton Honors Gold Status and Hilton Honors Diamond Status.

Hilton Credit Card Welcome Offers

Here’s an overview of the typical welcome offers you can expect on each Hilton credit card:

• Hilton Honors American Express Card: Earn between 70,000 and 130,000 points after spending between $1,000 and $5,000 within the first three to six months of card membership.

• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card: Earn between 130,000 and 180,000 points after spending between $3,000 and $10,000 within the first three to six months of card membership.

• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Earn between 150,000 and 180,000 points after spending between $4,000 and $6,000 within the first three to six months of card membership.

• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Earn between 130,000 and 180,000 points after spending between $3,000 and $10,000 within the first three to six months of card membership.

When applying for a Hilton credit card, it’s best to submit your application at a time when the welcome offer is historically highest.

This is particularly important given Amex’s one welcome offer per card per lifetime policy.

How To Choose the Best Hilton Credit Card

Deciding which Hilton credit card is best suited to you begins with self reflection.

Specifically, ask yourself the following questions:

• How often do you stay at properties in the Hilton portfolio?
• Would you be able to maximize the card’s perks?

If you’re a die-hard Hilton loyalist who regularly stays at Hilton properties, you’re going to get the most value out of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.

Through regular stays at Hilton properties, you’ll be able to make the most of the premium perks of complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status. You’ll also be able to get the full value out of the annual $400 Hilton statement credit.

Using your free night reward should be easy, and if you’re a big spender, you might even get a second or third free night reward every year.

These perks alone could justify the high annual fee of the card, particularly the more you stay at Hilton properties. However, if you want the premium perks of the Aspire card but aren’t a regular at Hilton, you’ll need to make the most of the other card perks, such as the annual $200 flight statement credit and the $199 CLEAR Plus membership credit.

If the perks of the Aspire card don’t fit your spending habits or if you simply don’t stay frequently enough with Hilton, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card could be a better fit.

The Surpass Card balances annual fees with perks, offering more casual Hilton guests the best of both worlds.

If you took advantage of the annual $200 Hilton property credit, you could offset the annual fee by $50 every year. However, as the credit is issued in $50 quarterly increments, it’ll likely prove difficult for the less than frequent Hilton guest to redeem the full $200 of this perk.

Instead, the combination of Hilton Honors Gold Status with a broad range of everyday bonus spending categories is the main selling point of this card.

Through regular spending as well as maxing out on elite status perks every chance you get, you’ll be able to offset the annual fee. Gold Status perks such as the daily food and beverage or continental breakfast credit and space-available room upgrades offer significant value when you stay at a Hilton property. The 80% bonus point boost on earned base points also adds up to big savings over time.

And if you manage to hit the minimum spending threshold of $15,000 through organic expenditure, the free night reward goes a long way to offsetting the annual fee.

If you’re a small business owner wanting to enhance the luxury of your stays at Hilton, The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is your best choice. It has a similar mid-tier annual fee to the Surpass Card, with some premium benefits that you can use to offset the cost of the card.

If you’re not willing to pay an annual fee or won’t be able to use the benefits offered on the Aspire or Surpass card to their maximum, the Hilton Honors American Express Card is your best bet.

While its perks aren’t as flashy as its sibling cards, it still offers lucrative bonus category spending rewards rates as well as complimentary Hilton Honors Silver Status. This can be a good choice if you’re looking to increase the quality of your occasional Hilton stays or earn points to reduce the cash cost of stays, without having to commit to an annual fee.

Is a Hilton Credit Card Worth a Spot in Your Wallet?

Before jumping into a card application, it’s important to consider whether a Hilton credit card is a good choice for you.

The answer to this question depends highly on your broader credit card strategy.

Hilton Honors points have a value of approximately 0.5 cents per point, making them considerably less valuable than Amex Membership Rewards points, Chase Ultimate Rewards and other flexible rewards currencies.

That said, Hilton points are easy to earn.

The Hilton cards offer high point multipliers on bonus category spending in addition to lucrative welcome offers. The welcome offers alone could easily enable you to redeem several free nights, depending on the category of property. Likewise, the bonus categories include many typical everyday purchases, making it easy to accumulate points.

The value of complimentary Hilton Honors status is also high, given the equivalent number of stays, nights and base points required to achieve the same status tiers without a Hilton card.

So, if properties in the Hilton portfolio are frequently your first choice of hotel, applying for a Hilton credit card could definitely be worthwhile.

However, if elite status alone is what you’re after, you might want to consider applying for The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. Both cards include complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status alongside a slew of other premium benefits. American Express Membership Rewards points are also highly flexible, with the ability to be transferred to 21 airline and hotel partners, including Hilton.

How To Maximize Your Points With Your Hilton Credit Card

Maximizing your points and reaping the most value out of your Hilton credit card is a combination of frequent and responsible usage.

This begins by ensuring you earn the card’s welcome offer within the specified timeframe. If you plan your application carefully, you can have the welcome offer window fall over a period of naturally high expenditure—such as bill payment time or holiday shopping season—making it easy to hit the minimum spending requirement.

Once you’ve earned the welcome bonus, the next step is ensuring you continue to use your card frequently. Always have it on hand, especially when making purchases in the card’s bonus spending categories. That way, you will accumulate points quickly, leading to more opportunities for redemptions.

You’ll also want to ensure that you maximize the value of the card’s perks. Whether that’s free night rewards, statement credits or status perks, the more you use them, the easier offsetting the annual fee becomes.

The last piece of the jigsaw is ensuring to always pay your balance off before its due date and to never overspend with your credit card. Failing to do either of these will lead to late penalty fees, high interest repayments and a damaged credit score—the last thing any points and miles enthusiast wants. Treat your credit card like a debit card and you’ll be set for success.

Earn Toward Your Next Hilton Stay With Every Purchase

Whether you find yourself in a Hilton once a year or once a month, there’s a card that could help make each experience more luxurious. Likewise, a Hilton credit card enables you to accumulate points quickly, leading to more frequent award bookings.

Once you’re equipped with the Hilton credit card best suited to you, stick around for more travel and credit card tips with 10xTravel.

Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.