The Offer
No direct link (there is but it’s tied to the last four digits of your card. E-mail’s were sent out with the subject line “<first name>, You Could Earn 100,000 Honors™ Bonus Points”
- Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors™ Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first three months of Card Membership when you upgrade to the American Express Hilton Surpass.
Card Details
- Offer ends 10/31/2017
- 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 (still have to pay $27 per visit). Read more about the different versions of Priority Pass here.
Our Verdict
If you have any questions regarding upgrade offers, I’d strongly recommend you read this post first. Keep in mind there is a better offer of 100,000 points + free night after anniversary when you apply for the Surpass directly at the moment. It might still make sense to do the upgrade offer as no hard pull is done and you should still be able to get the sign up bonus again at a later date.
Hat tip to readers Linda, Shashi & Miles to Memories
Anyone having issues with bonus posting? I followed the link in September and did everything. Now AMEX has said I never got the offer even though it is sitting in my inbox.
Hello, I applied for this card ast year, got 100k points, but the free night has not posted yet………..who do i contact for the same?
Isn’t this an automatic process? Or has AMEX cheated others too?
How do i get my free night per promotion?
Also my card anniversary date is passed, and the $75 annual fee is due in October 2nd week, 2017. Should i pay it or cancel the card? Best Options?
The free night posts on card anniversary doesn’t it?
Mine has not posted. Maybe people who had this can chime in. Also offer terms says “The free weekend night award will be sent as an email from Hilton to the email address listed on your Hilton Honors account within [6-8 weeks] after the first anniversary date of the Card account”
Meaning one has to Pay $75 annual fee twice, once in 1st year when applying for card, and then again during card anniversary date, before free night posts.
Which means $150 (75 x 2) right? Makes it less lucrative than what it appears in paper and can FOOL people who are applying.
And whom to contact if it does not post on anniversary date, like in my case? And how do i get my rightfully earned night as per this promotion for which i had applied last year with same offer terms and deal?
Yours will post after the AF is paid. It’s not really $150 for the free night as you’re paying $75 in the first year and getting the 100k bonus.
When i applied for surpass card via referral link, it said i was pre-approved for this card. Instant approval and got the card.
Does this ‘Pre-approved” means it will not show up on my credit report counting towards the Chase dreaded 5/24?
Any DP’s for the same?
I just took the upgrade offer. I already had two authorized users on my no-fee AMEX Hilton that I am upgrading from.
Was it a mistake to not remove those AUs before upgrading in order to try for the additional 10,000 points offer for adding AUs? I just removed them via chat, but wondering now if I should re-add with the link to the 10,000 points offer now, or wait a few days, or don’t even try because AMEX will not be pleased? (Note: I did receive the 5,000 point offer on the lower card a month ago. Did not add users at that time; they have always been on the card.)
Can someone also clarify that the $1000 spend for each added AU can be part of the $3000 main spend? (Concurrent doesn’t seem to be clear enough – I want to spend $1000 each for all three of us on the account and reach both goals at the same time.)
Note to others: I got the upgrade offer and new card offer on the same date: a month prior to my anniversary date. Per chat, the card change happened immediately and you can use the same card number you had for the card you are upgrading from (online or not) and it will apply toward spend. Was also told my three months starts immediately as well.
Has anyone had any luck calling in asking for this offer? My annual fee for my reserve is due and I want to cancel. I have the no fee Amex Hilton card and have been offered the upgrade bonus in the past but didn’t take it since I had the reserve, of course I don’t get it now that I want it.
My email upgrade offer ends 10/4. Working on other cards so will have to skip this one since won’t be able to meet spending reqs
Hi Doc,
I am seeing targeted shop small offer on my Amex platinum card. offer says Spend $20+, get 1,000 Membership Rewards® Points by 10/31/2017.
looks like it is highly targetted. I found it only 1 card out of 20 cards( mine and my spouse cards)
here is more details of offer
Get 1,000 additional Membership Rewards® points one-time by using your enrolled Card to spend a minimum of $20+ in one or more transactions at any business on the Shop Small Map (or Online Directory) by 10/31/17. See terms for exclusions.
Thanks for the reminder Charles. My offer appeared w/in the last week or so. I did the PC from Surpass to no-fee Hilton back in May. Didn’t think the offer would appear so fast. No “once in a lifetime” language either.
I just accepted an upgrade for 75k 🙁
Neither I nor my husband have the offer. He and I both have had an original Surpass as well as a regular Hilton that we upgraded to a Surpass. We each still hold both cards; mine have both been downgraded to the no AF version and he has one Surpass and one downgraded. The fact that neither of us have this offer makes me think the days of downgrading and upgrading multiple times are over.