Amex Revamps Its Hilton Honors Cards

Last updated on May 21st, 2024 at 01:18 pm

Not long after the gut-punch that was Delta’s SkyMiles announcement – which impacted its co-brand credit cards – Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards with new benefits and, of course, new, higher annual fees. Are they still worth it? 

Ever since losing its Costco portfolio, American Express has been trying to find new ways to bolster its cardholder base and its transaction volume. So far, that’s included changes to its flagship cards that encourage more frequent use – such as making it harder to use credits – and new card products. But, now, Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards too, to, well, encourage more frequent use. At least, that’s my opinion on what’s going on here.

Amex Revamps Its Hilton Honors Cards

So, not all cards are seeing major changes. As such, we’ll briefly touch on the free Hilton Honors card as we discuss the changes to Amex’s portfolio. Being a free product, there wasn’t much here to change. In fact, the largest change holders of the free Hilton Honors card will see is in the design. It’s white now with some light gray words scrolled all across it. Yippie? 

Hilton Honors Surpass

To me, the largest change occurring as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards, is the ones the made to the Surpass. But before we get into what’s changed, let’s talk about what’s staying the same:

• Hilton Honors Gold Status for as long as you have the card
• Earn Hilton Honors Diamond Status when you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year
• Earn a free night reward when you spend $15,000 
• 12x points on Hilton purchases
• 6x points at U.S. restaurants, supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations 
• 3x points on all other spend
• Baggage Insurance – up to $1,250 for carry-on bags and $500 for checked bags that are lost, damaged, or stolen, up to an aggregate limit of $10,000 per covered trip
• Secondary Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
• Extended Warranties – add one year of coverage to your manufacturer’s original warranty, with a maximum of five years, covering the amount charged to your card, up to $10,000 per item, and up to $50,000 per year
• Complimentary ShopRunner membership for 2-day free shipping from participating merchants
• Global Assist Hotline to help connect you with experts (such as legal help) no matter where you are
• No foreign transaction fee

That’s a lot of stuff that’s not changing. So, what is changing? 

• Priority Pass membership goes buh-bye
• $200 annual Hilton on-property purchase statement credits, split up as $50 quarterly credits 
• 4x points on U.S. online retail purchases
• National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive Status (mid-tier status)
• $150 annual fee

That online retail purchase is the most interesting change from an everyday spend standpoint, though it’s just one additional point over the base earning rate. The on-property credit is nice, but, as Amex has been doing with all of these things, you’d have to stay four times a year to maximize the credit. That’s great for people that travel somewhat often, but is kind of worthless to casual travelers like me. 

The Executive status, while not as great as the CSR’s Executive Elite status, still grants you access to the Emerald Aisle and gives you free upgrades, so it’s nice to have. Though, I rarely rent from National because they’re so damn expensive. And the Priority Pass membership is not a loss, really. It was a “lite” version that gave you a specific number of visits per year. 

Oh, and yeah, these enhancements will cost you an extra $55 per year.

Hilton Honors Aspire

Unsurprisingly, as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards, it focused on travel-focused changes for its flagship Aspire card. But before we get into those changes, as I did with the Surpass card, lets go over what’s staying the same:

• Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status
• $100 on-property credit when you book at least two nights at Waldorf-Astoria and Conrad Hilton properties at  hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com
• Annual free night award, with the ability to earn two more after you spend $30,000 and $60,000 per year
• 14x points at Hilton properties
• 7x points on air travel booked with airlines/Amex Travel and with select car rental agencies
• 7x points for U.S. dining
• 3x points an all other spend
• Baggage insurance covers a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on Baggage, which includes up to $2,000 for checked Baggage and up to $1,000 for any High-Risk Items such as jewelry and electronics in excess of coverage provided by the Common Carrier when your bag is lost, damaged, or stolen. However, you must purchase your entire fare on this card
• Trip Delay Insurance of up to $500 for a delay of six hours or more, with a limit of two claims per rolling 12-month period
• Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance of up to $10,000 per trip, with a $20,000 maximum per rolling 12-month period
• Premium Global Assist Hotline to help connect you with experts (such as legal help) no matter where you are
• Secondary car rental damage collision waiver (CDW)
• Amex Concierge
• Purchase Protection of up to $10,000 per item, a maximum of $50,000 per year for items you purchased with your card that are lost, stolen, or damaged within 90 days of purchase
• Extended Warranties – add one year of coverage to your manufacturer’s original warranty, with a maximum of five years, covering the amount charged to your card, up to $10,000 per item, and up to $50,000 per year
• Return protection of up to $300 per item, a maximum of $1,000 per year
• Resy Global Dining Access
• No foreign transaction fee

That’s a lot of great benefits that are remaining the same. But there are more changes coming to the Aspire than the Surpass:

• $250 annual airline fee credit is going away
• Priority Pass membership is being eliminated 
• $400 annual Hilton on-property purchase statement credits awarded semi-annually in $200 increments 
• In place of the airline fee credit, you now get a $200 annual airline flight purchase credit awarded as a $50 credit per quarter
• Annual $189 CLEAR Plus statement credit, which is the exact cost of an annual membership 
• National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive Status (mid-tier status)

Good riddance to Amex’s airline fee credit! But that new airline purchase credit is, well, mediocre at best. $50 per quarter? Yeah, you can wipe out the purchase of a cheap ticket, but it really does nothing for larger purchases. And, if you have an airline card that gives you free checked bags, you’re more likely to use that card instead. That said, I suppose you could use this to purchase seat upgrades, though it won’t cover much of that. 

The Hilton statement credit is a nice upgrade over what you get on the Surpass, as it should be, but is more useful for less frequent travelers, which is odd. It’s also strange that it comes with the same Emerald Club status as the Surpass. 

Theoretically, Amex is throwing a bunch more money at you now, with up to $789 in annual statement credits. But that’s coming at a cost of the annual fee increasing by $100. Is it worth it? It depends if you can maximize the annual credits. 

Sign-Up Bonus

To celebrate as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards, they’re offing enhanced sign-up bonuses. All bonuses require you to meet a minimum spend requirement within six months of opening your card, and requires that you apply by January 17, 2024. 

• Hilton Honors: 100,000 points after hitting $2,000 in spend
• Surpass: 170,000 points after hitting $3,000 in spend
• Aspire: 180,000 points after hitting $6,000 in spend

The best sign-up bonus is the Surpass card, as you get 70,000 more points than the base card for spending just $1,000 more. The Aspire bonus is a straight-up ripoff, and I’d avoid at all costs. The base card’s bonus is pretty good, too, but I’d definitely go for the Surpass if you can.

Just remember, Amex has a once in a lifetime rule for sign-up bonuses, so choose widely. That said, remember that Amex also lets you product change, though you’ll have to keep the card you originally applied for for a year. 

Amex Revamps Its Hilton Honors Cards, Final Thoughts

So… what do you think? Do the changes as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards appeal to you? Are you looking to apply or upgrade a card, or are you wanting to downgrade or cancel now? Let me know!

For me, personally, I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. I have the base Honors card and the Surpass, which is seeing a annual fee bump as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards, and I’m not sure that the new annual fee is worth it for me. But, as with everything, we’ll have to see. I’ll need to run my calculations to see if the value works out, and see if it’ll fit into my budget. 

That said, as Amex revamps its Hilton Honors cards, I think they could’ve done a better job with the designs. Honestly, I think these are awful, uninspired designs. And why the heck do the Surpass and Aspire look so similar? By looking at it, though, it looks like the Aspire might switch to being a metal card? If you have one, let me know when you get your new card!