In case you missed it, American Express have increased the sign up bonus on both of their Hilton cards:
- American Express Hilton HHonors (No Annual Fee): 75,000 Points After $1,000 Spend [New Highest Bonus]
- American Express Hilton Surpass 100,000 Point Bonus Offer [New Highest Bonus]
If you’re thinking about applying, why not use a Doctor of Credit readers referral link instead? You’ll get the same bonus and they’ll get a referral bonus. For people who have recently applied, it is possible to get matched to the new bonuses (data points: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Technically American Express doesn’t match, they instead give courtesy points. You’re better off doing this sooner rather than later since the representatives seem to have a limited number of points they can give out each month.
Here is what you need to do:
- Don’t message, online representatives do not have the ability to award courtesy points.
- Call and say you’re disappointed that a new higher bonus became available so recently after you applied.
- If you don’t get the full match then escalate. Ask politely to be escalated to a manager and repeat your disappointment in American Express due to the bonus change.
- If they say they’ll put in a request to get the bonus points, decline and hang up and call again. The requests are basically a blackhole and never get honored and removed your ability to try again.
Let me know if you were successful or not in the comments below.
Appreciate using my link 🙂
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/personal-card-application/hilton-hhonors-credit-card/100073-750-0?om_rid=NsgTk8&om_mid=_BXJX9AB9CkuipD&om_lid=axp11
Approved for the Surpass on 1/28 (80k offer) and got the 80k points on 3/28. Didn’t bother with matching the 85k offer but I wanted to try get something with a 20k difference now. First call was flat out denied (something about it being over 2 months since I applied), didn’t escalate. Second call was offered 10k and I took it, I’m sure that if I spent another 15 minutes I could have received the full match but I hate talking to people and I was really happy when I signed up at 80k so this is just icing on the cake. Thanks!
Also this was my wifes card but I’m an AU. They didn’t have a problem talking to me about the account signup bonus.
Matched. CSR escalated to supervisor who denied it, I asked to speak to a supervisor directly and then got the match 🙂
SO, I called in:
Transferred nearly 10 times before getting someone who ACTUALLY indicated that they were a supervisor. One of the persons prior tried to initiate an inquiry. I declined.
When talking to the supervisor, they indicated that they would give me the additional 25k points. I’m not sure what they meant given that I only needed 15k to match the offer. I didn’t correct them though. So far I haven’t seen the points in my account, so I guess we’ll see how it works out 😀
Nice score if it works
I’m not so sure how correct “If they say they’ll put in a request to get the bonus points, decline and hang up and call again. [B]The requests are basically a blackhole and never get honored and removed your ability to try again.[/B]” I’ve had that and the next rep did it for me
They don’t always remove your ability to try again, but they often do. Not worth the risk IMO.
about matching hilton pts to the new 75k pts bonus, spent more than 1/2 hrs together waiting on the phone & conversing with 2 supervisors & 1 manager but got nil, nothing! the present offer & mine is a considerable difference of 25K pts.; the 1st supervisor refused to transfer my call/ request to a manager, insisting that the answer will be the same. then, i hung up & called again; speaking with another supervisor who said no but okayed to trasnfer my call to a manager. this manager said that 25K pts would cost amex about $1k (funny). i didn’t care to argue or correct him; instead suggesting to him that i’ll an upcoming purchase of $500-600 which i could use the amex hilton cc. his reply was still that the cost for additional 25K pts is about $1k, more than my planned purchase (darn it, these outsourced CSRs from philippines have no clue of what the correct value or know of talking about). but, he said could issue a statement credit to my account? i asked how much? $20. what a joke, i told him don’t bother as i don’t want it.
regardless, i may try again next week but during day time or regular business hrs. when amx may have much better customer service, more friendly & diplomatic that the outcome would be somewhat better.
success in getting goodwill pts earlier today during business hr… also found that CSRs in India call center are considerably more flexible & accommodating than those in Philippines
Thanks again, Doc! Just called in about my new HHonors card. The CSR tried to make me happy by saying she would put in a request to get the extra 5,000 points, but I took your advice and asked if a supervisor could just approve giving them to me. She hesitated, but then put me on hold to go check, and when she got back she said that they would give me the 5,000 extra points. She said that they should appear on my next statement.
5,000 HHonors points for a 5 minute phone call is a pretty good deal!
Called in, went through the steps, but they insisted that since it was a different offer, they could not match it. They gave me 3k as a courtesy.
Just out of curiosity. If I do a product change to this card, is it possible to ask for the sign up bonus?
That’s what I did and was able to get 6000 points but still trying for more.
Just remind them they only offer bonuses once per lifetime. Worked like a charm for me on that SPG match, and call during the day when the A-team is on.