The Offer
- Receive a sign up bonus of 85,000 Hilton points on the American Express Surpass card when you spend $3,000 or more within the first three months of account opening
The Fine Print
- Annual fee of $75 is not waived
- American Express personal cards are not churnable. Welcome bonus is not available to those who have or who have had this card in the past.
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 12x points per dollar on purchases with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio
- 6x points per dollar U.S restaurants [read: best credit cards for restaurant purchases]
- 6x points per dollar at U.S supermarkets [read: best credit cards for grocery store spend]
- 6x points per dollar at U.S gas stations [read: best credit cards for gas station purchases]
- 3x points per dollar on all other purchases [read: best credit cards for every day spend]
- Card comes with complimentary gold status, if you spend $40,000 or more in a calendar year you will receive HHonors Diamond status through the end of next year
- Free priority pass membership
- Valid until July 31st, 2015
Our Verdict
This is the highest this bonus has ever been, they’ve run bonuses of 80,000 points in the past but never as high as 85,000 points. The standard sign up bonus on this card is only 60,000 points. Keep in mind you can only get the sign up bonus on each American Express personal card once, so you want to make sure you wait for the best possible offer before signing up.
Personally I don’t really value/need Hilton points, so I’m going to give this offer a miss. I think this offer makes sense for people in two situations:
- You want gold status with Hilton
- You have a lot of paid stays with Hilton (12x points is the highest you can get)
Otherwise I’d prefer the Citi Hilton card which comes with two free nights at any Hilton property.
Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles
View Comments (14)
Thanks for the alert. I've been looking at the various Hilton cards, and this one is potentially appealing (to me anyway) in part for the Gold status, and even for the points, (and the 6x categories). I may be traveling during upcoming year to areas with many nice cat 1&2 Hilton props. (e.g. Mideast) Yet in reading the AMEX terms fine print, and the specification of eligible spending to earn opening bonus, I come across wording a bit different than standard boilerplate I've encountered on Chase travel cards, etc: It reads:
"Purchases to meet the spend requirement of this offer do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchase of travelers checks, purchase or reloading of prepaid cards, or other cash equivalents"
Any experience on what constitutes "prepaid cards"...? Would this bar the inclusion of things like Simon Mall debit (gift) cards as part of my purchasing?
Thanks for any insights.
No, you're good. I had this question months ago when I was purchasing American Express Gift cards. You'll get your points for buying cash equivalents as long as the purchase shows up as a Purchase, which Simons Mall does.
Figured I'd post a data point. Got the Surpass at few weeks ago at 60k. Just called Amex, they would not match the offer. The supervisor offered me 5k, but I turned it down so as to HUCA. I've been an Amex customer for 10 years. Not thrilled about their disinterest in matching the offer.
But still, the best way to get this card isn't to apply for it, the best way is to apply for a no fee version AmEx Hilton and upgrade it with upgrade offer, because you can't get both bonus for no fee version and surpass version...
I know this was posted a while back, can't seem to find it searching though... does Amex ever match higher sign up bonuses per chance? I'm not quite at the 90 day mark and I signed up for 80k.
Typically no, but never hurts to try.
This seems like a great offer as I already have the reserve card and I'm banking Hilton points (I know dumb idea) for a future trip to the Maldives or somewhere like that. I stupidly thought the reserve card gave two free nights EACH year so I have to use them before September without the ability to really maximize their value.
"Otherwise I’d prefer the Citi Hilton card which comes with two free nights at any Hilton property" Can't you just get both?
Sure, if you do not mind the hard inquiry and the annual fee. If this card had no annual fee it would be a no brainer (at least for me), but I am not going to pay for the points unless I know I will be using them within the next 12 months.
Pass.
@William Charles
isnt it possible to convert another amex product (ie. SPG personal) to the Surpass without a credit inquiry?
thanks
Don't think so, you wouldn't get the bonus even if you could.
Wait so you're on allowed to get the bonuses on all Amex Personal cards once? Sorry if I'm repeating. Just wanted to clarify. Thank goodness because the only 2 Amex cards I have are Fidelity+Delta Gold with highest bonuses. Phew!
This rule is only for credit cards issued by American Express, credit cards that run on the American Express payment network (e.g the Fidelity card) are not included and the rule depends on the card issuing financial institution. Hope that clarifies.
Fidelity is frim BoA and not from AMEX.