The welcome offer on the Aspire has increased to 200,000 points, an all-time high! This card already comes with a ton of benefits, including one unrestricted Hilton free night certificate every year (including the first year), which can be used at any Hilton hotel. It also offers airline and hotel credits every year, adding up to $600, enough to directly offset the annual fee, and they are easy to use. The biggest highlight is that it comes with Hilton’s top-tier Diamond status, which includes benefits such as room upgrades, lounge access, and free breakfast. Overall, this is a card well worth keeping long term.

This is my most recommended premium credit card. It is worth keeping long term, and it offers the best overall value!

This card’s welcome offer is excellent, so I have added it to the welcome offer ranking.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card overview

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Full review

AMEX Hilton Aspire Credit Card

Complimentary top-tier Hilton Diamond status! Up to $600 in annual airline and hotel credits, plus a free night reward every year!

  • Welcome bonus: 200,000 Hilton points (spend $6,000 in six months)
  • Rewards: 14x on Hilton hotel purchases, 7x on flights, dining, and car rentals, and 3x on all other purchases
  • Redemption: Redeemable at Hilton properties worldwide
  • Annual fee: $550
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Benefits

  • Annual $400 Hilton Resort Credit (replaces the previous $250 resort credit benefit): $200 every half year; presumably, the first-half credit expires after 6/30. Eligible purchases are broadly defined, including room rates, in-room dining, hotel restaurants, and various activities. Note that eligibility is based on when the charge ultimately posts to the card, so try not to make purchases right up against the 6/30 deadline. Hilton now has a dedicated resort list on its website, so be sure to check it before booking in the future (eligible resort link).
  • $200 airline credit (replaces the previous $200 airline incidental fee credit): $50 per quarter. Tickets booked on airline websites or through AMEX Travel can be reimbursed, including airfare, baggage fees, seat selection fees, and similar charges. Other activities, change fees, and gift cards are not included. (If you are not sure how to use it, UA Travel Bank still works.)
  • Clear credit: A $189 credit, which roughly covers the membership fee. See details: Clear expedited security lane overview (Green/Plat/BizPlat/Aspire eligible for reimbursement)
  • Complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status
  • Complimentary cell phone protection: Up to $800 per claim, up to two claims every 12 months. You need to pay with this card.
  • High bonus earning rates: The 14x on hotel purchases is among the highest among hotel cards. In addition, dining, gas, and airfare purchases all earn 7x, so HH points accumulate very quickly.
  • Complimentary Hilton Diamond status: Hilton’s highest elite status, with benefits such as free breakfast, more points and additional perks on stays, and the possibility of being upgraded to a suite (Hilton membership benefits overview).
  • Annual free night reward: Automatically receive one free night certificate every year (usable at Hilton hotels and resorts). You get one in the first year too!
  • Big-spending reward: Spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year to earn another free night certificate.

AMEX card benefits

  • AMEX offer: Spend 20 at Amazon, get 20 back? Walmart 15-5? Pay your phone bill 75-10? Generous AMEX often sends cardholders good offers that let you earn cash rewards while spending. See AMEX Offer guide for details.
  • High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives much higher credit limits than other banks.
  • Triple credit limit increase: After holding an AMEX card for 61 days, you can request a credit limit increase on the website up to three times the original limit.
  • Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free two-day shipping at many online stores. For details, see: official link
  • Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card receive an automatic one-year extension to the manufacturer’s warranty.
  • Free credit score: Cardholders can check their Experian credit score for free every month.

Introduction to the Hilton Honors Loyalty Program

Hilton currently has about 5,000 hotels and resorts worldwide across 13 hotel and resort brands. Gold and Diamond members can enjoy free breakfast, along with possible room upgrades.

  • Points value: The average value is 0.4 c/p, 100 Hilton = $0.4 (Points Valuation & Analysis). In other words, a hotel stay worth $40 would require about 10k Hilton points to redeem.
  • How to redeem: You can search and book directly on hilton.com. Hilton has now completely eliminated hotel award categories, and the number of points required is based on the current cash price. Most redemptions fall in the 0.3–0.5 c/p range. If you redeem points for four consecutive nights, you can get the fifth night free, meaning five nights cost only 80% of the usual points.
  • Points features: If there is no activity in your account for 24 months, your points will expire. Hilton supports family point pooling, allowing multiple accounts to combine points for use together. In addition, each person can transfer 50k points to others per year and receive up to 200k Hilton points (excluding family pooling).
  • My take: To get outsized value from Hilton points, it often makes sense to target lower-priced hotels that still have reasonable award rates. For example, many Hilton properties in China have consistently offered good redemption value. You can also use points for hotels near major attractions or during special periods, such as New Year’s Eve in Times Square or trips to Hawaii. Also, it is best to aim for “stay four, get one free” or “stay five for the price of four” style redemptions whenever possible. Hilton has a very broad footprint and a large number of properties in the U.S., making the points easy to use. Combined with family pooling and point transfer features, it is also relatively easy to top off your balance.

Credit Cards

My take:

Based on the new card benefits, if you are not a frequent Hilton guest, Diamond status may not be that useful. So whether the card is worth keeping long term depends on how easily you can use the airline credits and resort credits combined. The airline credit is fairly flexible, since airfare can be reimbursed as long as you travel. If nothing else works, you can buy airline credit, such as UA TravelBank, for reimbursement. As for the hotel resort credit, it still depends on whether there are properties you actually want to stay at. If you can use the $200 credit in each half of the year, it will easily offset the annual fee.

If you only hold the card for one year, in the first year you can get the welcome offer + 1 free night + $250 airline credit (usually one extra quarter before closing the card) + $600 resort credit (one extra half-year credit before closing the card). After that, if you no longer need it, downgrading to the no-annual-fee version of the Hilton credit card is also a good option.

In short, if you can fully use the credits, this is an extremely valuable card. For long-term holding, if you can max out the credits, they basically cover the annual fee, and the included Hilton Diamond status is still quite valuable. If you only want the welcome offer, then I do not recommend applying for this premium card with a $450 first-year annual fee that is not waived. It is better to choose the Hilton Surpass card with a $95 annual fee, then downgrade in the second year to the no-annual-fee Hilton credit card. This is my most recommended premium credit card. It is worth keeping long term, and it offers the best overall value!

Application

The application threshold for this card is average. I recommend applying after you have more than six months of credit history. Since this is a co-branded credit card, it is best to first register for a Hilton membership, then enter your membership number when applying. Otherwise, a new one will be automatically assigned to you.

  • AMEX official application status check link
  • For the same AMEX credit card, the public welcome bonus is generally available only once (once-per-lifetime restriction)
  • You can call the reconsideration line (800-528-4800, 877-399-3083, 866-314-0237) to speed up credit card approval or request a review of a denied application.
  • AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards total.
  • You can apply for a total of two AMEX credit cards every 90 days, excluding charge cards.
  • After you submit your application, a pop-up may appear telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome bonus. In that case, it is usually best not to continue with the application (detailed analysis)
  • More about applying for AMEX credit cards

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