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If you’d like to pad your Hilton Honors account, now could be a great time to sign up for one of the hotel chain’s co-branded Amex cards. As of today, the Hilton Honors Card from American Express and the Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American Express are offering elevated sign-up bonuses, offering you the opportunity to earn up to 100,000 points from one credit card application. Both of these offers will be available through May 31, 2017.
Hilton Honors Card
Through the end of May, you can earn 80,000 Hilton points when you spend $2,000 in purchases in your first three months of cardmembership. The standard sign-up offer for this card is 50,000 points after you make just $750 in purchases in the first three months, so you stand to earn an extra 30,000 points with this current offer, and the the minimum spending requirement is still relatively low.
This card has no annual fee, though it does charge a 2.7% fee on foreign transactions. You’ll earn 7x points on Hilton purchases, 5x points at US restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations, and 3x points on everything else. The Hilton Honors Card also grants you complimentary Silver status in the Hilton Honors program, and you can fast-track to Gold status by spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year.
Hilton Surpass Card
Currently, this card is offering a sign-up bonus of 100,000 Hilton points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. Prior to this offer, the bonus was 75,000 points with the same minimum spending requirement, so now’s definitely an ideal time to apply for this card.
This is a more premium pick than the entry-level Hilton Honors Card — with an annual fee ($75) and higher earning rates to match. You’ll get 12x points on Hilton purchases, 6x points at US restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations, and 3x points everywhere else. The card also offers complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status, with the opportunity to upgrade to Diamond status when you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year. It charges a 2.7% fee on foreign transactions, so like with the no-fee Hilton Honors card you won’t want to use this one abroad.
Are These Offers Worth It?
Deciding whether a credit card sign-up bonus is “worth it” ultimately comes down to your award travel priorities and plans. If you have a Hilton award stay in mind — especially at an expensive, higher-tier property — the points haul from these sign-up offers could help you lock in a redemption.
Hilton recently overhauled its loyalty program, rebranding it as Hilton Honors (rather than HHonors) and introducing a new flexible Points & Money payment option along with the ability to pool points with friends and family for free. These updates led to TPG increasing his valuation of Hilton points from 0.5 cents to 0.6 cents. That’s still relatively low compared to other hotel loyalty currencies such as Starpoints, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Speaking of valuations, based on TPG’s latest numbers 80,000 Hilton points are worth $480, and 100,000 are worth $600, but the points could get you more or less in value depending on how you decide to redeem them. With the new Points & Money redemption option, 100,000 points could get you two nights at the top-tier Conrad Maldives (when you also pay $440.28 out of pocket per night). Of course, 80,000-100,000 points could also take you quite far at a lower-level Hilton hotel, where you’ll need as few as 5,000 points for a free night.
Keep in mind that these elevated sign-up offers aren’t the only option for boosting your Hilton points balance. If you already have one or both of these cards but are open to signing up for another one, consider the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card, which is currently offering 75,000 points after you spend $2,000 in the first three months. This card has no annual fee, and like the Hilton Honors Card from American Express, it offers complimentary Hilton Honors Silver status.
You can also transfer points to Hilton Honors from the American Express Membership Rewards program and the Citi ThankYou Rewards program (both at a 1:1.5 ratio). So you have no shortage of ways to get more Hilton points.
Bottom Line
If you’ve been considering signing up for the Hilton Honors Card or the Hilton Surpass Card, now’s a great time to act, since you’ll earn 80,000 to 100,000 points for meeting the minimum spending requirement. These cards aren’t your only options for earning Hilton points quickly, but they do offer complimentary elite status and earn you as much as 12 points per dollar on purchases with the hotel brand. Be sure to sign up by May 31 if you’re interested.
Source: thepointsguy.com