Non-affiliate disclosure: All information about this card has been independently collected by US Credit Card Guide and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
2024.9 Update: The new offer is 165k. Offer ends on 2025/01/08.
2024.8 Update: The welcome offer is now lower. It seems the best you can see currently is 150k via incognito mode.
2024.5 Update2: The new offer is 130k+1FN. Offer ends on 2024/07/31.
Application Link
Benefits of the Hilton Honors Surpass Card
- 165k offer: earn 165,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 within the first 6 months. The recent best offer is 150k+$150 or 150k+50k.
- We value Hilton Honors Points at 0.4 cents/point (Hotel Points Value), click here to see how many points are required for a free night. So the 170k welcome offer is worth about $680.
- Earn 12 Hilton Honors points per $1 spent on hotel stays within Hilton Portfolio; 6 points on US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations; 4 points on U.S. Online Retail Purchases; 3 points on other purchases.
- Complimentary Hilton Gold status for cardholders. Upgrade to Hilton Diamond status when you make $40,000 or more in purchases each calendar year.
- One Free Night (FN) Reward at a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio after spending $15,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year.
- [New] $200 Hilton credit: get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio using this card. That’s up to $200 in statement credits annually. Note that unlike the Hilton “resort” credit on the Aspire card, this Hilton credit covers all Hilton stays.
10 free Priority Pass Select (PPS) lounge passes each year. You can use them either on cardholder or guests.[Update] This benefit is no longer available after 2023/10/19.- With this credit card, you can access Amex Offers, which often provide significant discounts at select stores. Previous offers have included: Spend $15 or more and get $5 back at Walmart; Spend $75 or more and get $25 back on Amazon.com.
- Refer a friend: Earn 20,000 bonus Hilton points for every approved account you refer, up to 80,000 Hilton Points per calendar year.
- No foreign transaction fee.
Disadvantages
- [New] $150 annual fee, NOT waived for the first year. ($95 annual fee before 2023/10/19.)
Recommended Application Time
- Note that AmEx has the following policy: If you currently or have previously held a specific AmEx credit card, you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus offer. To maximize rewards, apply for the welcome offer first, then consider upgrade offers, and cycle through any potential upgrades/downgrades.
- You can only receive the welcome bonus once in a lifetime for each AmEx card, so be sure to apply when the historical highest offer appears.
- AmEx doesn’t consider the number of hard pulls.
- Consider applying when you have a credit history of 6 months.
- Only 2 AmEx credit cards can be approved within 90 days, but this limit does not apply to charge cards. Multiple cards approved on the same day will only result in one Hard Pull.
- You can keep a maximum of 5 AmEx credit cards, with no such limit on charge cards.
Summary
The welcome offer is very appealing, making it worth applying. If you have considerable spending, aiming for $15k on this card is a solid choice. You already earn 3x Hilton points on all spending, translating to ~1.2% in return. Additionally, you will earn a free night worth around $250, which adds ~1.7% in return. The total return then approximates ~2.9%.
Related Credit Cards
Recommended Downgrade Options
After Applying
- Click here to check AmEx application status.
- AmEx reconsideration backdoor number: 877-399-3083. Unlike Chase, AmEx representatives through this number can only submit requests, not directly approve reconsiderations.
Historical Offers Chart
Note: In 2019, there was a 130k+1FN welcome offer. The FN part is not shown in the chart. The latter part of the 150k+50k offer is also not shown because the spending requirement is too high.
