American Express Hilton Honor’s Aspire Credit Card Review

Tommy

Just a Millennial living in the real world...

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post and will be updated with new information as it comes available.

When I first heard about, the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire credit card, I literally thought it was too good to be true. It’s the only luxury credit card that gives out more annual credits than the annual fee on the market. So if you fully utilize those credits every year then you are already ahead of the game. Literally AMEX is paying you to own their credit card. I guess they are banking on people not being able to fully use both of those credits, which can be a little challenging for some people, but easily doable for the average traveler.

I became a Hilton loyalist in 2019 when I first heard of the Hilton Honors credit card ladder strategy by multiple people on the internet. This was an easy way for me to gain a bunch of points in a short amount of time. I have never had a problem with Hilton and I think their customer service is outstanding. So I really like Hilton and I’ll discuss below why the Aspire card is one of the best premium hotel credit cards on the market.

Who should get this card?

The AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire credit card is great for people who are Hilton loyalists and they travel a few times a year. Even with the high annual fee, the benefits can easily outweigh the cost especially in the first year with the sign-up bonus. Plus Hilton has one of the largest portfolio of properties when compared to Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG. They are in 118 countries and they have 6,300+ hotels. So it is very easy to find a Hilton hotel around the world, which makes it easy to redeem points.

Sign-up Bonus

If you use my Aspire link, AMEX is offering 150,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months. I value Hilton Honors points at 0.05 cents, which is what you can typically find for award stays. So that equates to $750 in value, which is more than the annual fee.

How to Earn Points?

The Aspire credit card makes it very easy to earn Hilton Honors points. The Hilton Honors award program switched to dynamic pricing last year, which prices award nights on supply and demand so you need to build up a good amount of points. Award nights can range anywhere from 5,000 points to 95,000 points per night for standard rooms and higher for suites.

You will earn 14 points per dollar spent at Hiltons. That includes all purchases made on property and nightly rates. So if you dine at a restaurant on the property or buy anything on property, make sure to have them bill it to your room or use the credit card. You’ll also earn 7 points on flights booked directly with airlines or AMEX travel portal, car rentals (Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Thrifty, and others), and US restaurants. And you will earn 3 points per dollar on everything else. Lastly, with automatic Diamond status, you will earn a 100% points bonus (20 points per dollar) on most Hilton stays (10 points per dollar at Homes2 Suites and Tru brands).

The Perks

Automatic Diamond Status for the primary cardholder: As a Diamond member you will earn a numerous of benefits. But the top benefits include space-available room upgrades, executive lounge access (food & drinks), 100% bonus on base points for every stay, free breakfast for you and a guest, and all of the benefits of Gold and Silver statuses.
Priority Pass Select Membership: Cardholders will receive a Priority Pass Select membership, which gives you and two guests access to over 1,200 airport lounges around the world. Unfortunately, AMEX got rid of Priority Pass partner restaurants so you will need the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s priority pass if you want that too.
Annual Free Weekend Night Certificate(s): You will earn a free weekend night certificate at every anniversary date. And you will earn another free weekend night after spending $60,000 per year. I would not recommend spending $60,000 unless you have the wherewithal. But instead, open up the Hilton Honor Surpass credit card ($95 annual fee) and spend $15,000 in one year for a free weekend night certificate. These certificates take about 60-90 days to post to your Hilton Honors account after your anniversary date.
$250 Hilton Resort credit: You will earn a $250 resort credit every anniversary year. The credit covers incidentals at participating Hilton Resorts. The resort credit will also cover room fees/taxes, dining, activities, and spa treatments. There are 200+ Hilton Resorts around the world (including Las Vegas, Colorado, Orlando, and Chicago) so having this credit card will actually give me an incentive to travel. I would advise to make sure you can plan one annual trip to one of these resorts even if it’s a staycation as a failsafe because this is an important way to recoup the annual fee.
$250 airline credit: You will receive a $250 airline credit to use for incidentals every calendar year. Incidentals include checked bags, change/cancellation fees, seat assignments, or lounge passes. AMEX is pretty strict about them so if you are unsure if the credit will work, then make sure to test try a small purchase. You have to choose an airline at the beginning and you can only have one per year. But sometimes AMEX will change it for you if you haven’t used the credit. Lastly, the credit is per calendar year so in Year-1, you can actually double dip the credit, meaning you will get $250 for the 1st and 2nd years. This is important to note especially if you are approved for the credit card late in the year as this happened with me so I immediately spent the credit to double dip.
A $100 Hilton on-Property Credit for 2-night+ paid stays at Conrad hotels or Waldorf Astoria hotels: You can book stays through the Hilton website and the credit is used for incidentals. Conrad and Waldorf Astoria stays are the most expensive as Waldorf Astoria stays can be $1,000+/night. Again the credit can only be used if these are paid stays not award stays. So I would recommend only using this credit if you have the wherewithal for it and not go out of your way for it. The combined $500 credits already outweigh the annual fee and they are more flexible.
AMEX Retail & Travel Benefits: The Hilton Honors Aspire includes trip cancellation insurance. trip delay insurance, baggage insurance, secondary collision damage waiver (upgradable to primary for a flat fee of $12.25-$24.95) (actually a good deal when compared to the rental car companies), extended warranty, purchase protection, and return protection benefits. Specifics can be found in the link above.

Redeeming Points & Free Weekend Night Certificates

A great tool to redeem award stays is to use the Hilton Points Explorer tool. This tool allows you to compare Hilton hotels and their point redemptions per night. Another nice option Hilton gives you is to pay with the Points & Money option. If you don’t have enough points this is a great option and sometimes you can actually get better value using this method. You can also pool points with friends and family.

The best strategy is to try to use points or free weekend night certificates to book expensive nightly rates, which will help you get the most value. It’s all about doing the math. As I said above that you can typically find award nights for 0.05 cents per point so that is what you should aim for.

Competitors & Alternatives

The top three cards that compete with the Hilton Honors Aspire is the Marriott Brilliant credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and AMEX Platinum card. The Marriott Brilliant card is a direct competitor while the other two have transferable points and luxury benefits. Your choice depends on whether you prefer being loyal with one hotel chain or if you want to find the best bang for your buck using the Chase or AMEX travel portals or transferable points.

Bottom Line

The Hilton Honors Aspire credit card is one of the best premium hotel credit cards on the market. I have owned the card for 1 year and I earned $1,600+ in value within the first year including the sign-up bonus. I expect to earn about $400+ in value net annual fee per year, which is a lot of value per year. The perks are amazing for travel and Diamond status is nice to have for the upgrades, executive lounge, and free breakfast. This is a really good card if you don’t have a similar premium card where the benefits overlap like the AMEX Platinum card (Hilton Honors Gold status and Priority pass). And it’s a must have in your wallet if you are a Hilton loyalist, you can travel a few times a year, and you can utilize the $250 resort credit. You can also get a ton of value from the annual free weekend night certificate using it on a more expensive stay. Here’s the link to apply for the AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire credit card and the 150,000 points bonus.

Sign-Up Bonus: 9

Earning Potential: 8

Perks: 9

Overall: 8.67

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