Hilton Surpass American Express Card Review

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Bonus: 40,000 bonus points on your first purchase (worth $200 to $720 depending how you use it)

Earn:

Rewards equal to 1.5% to 5.5% cash back for normal purchases or 3% to 11% for supermarket, gas, etc., depending on your travel preferences.

• 9 Hilton points per dollar spent at Hiltons
• 6 Hilton points per dollar spent “Everyday” supermarkets, drug stores, gas and telecom (cell phone bill, etc.)
• 3 Hilton points per dollar spent everywhere else. There are no blackout dates.

Examples (amounts are per night including tax):

• This weekend at the Doubletree Times Square in New York City. 50,000 points per night or $830 AAA rate (1.7 cents per point or 5.1% on normal spend, 10.2% on “Everyday”). Note: this is an exceptionally high price for that hotel.
• The London Hilton on Park Lane in Mid-June. 50,000 points per night or $885 AAA (1.8 cents per point or 5.3% on normal spend, 10.6% on “Everyday)
• Christmas Week at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. 50,000 points per night or $321 AAA (0.6 cents per point or 1.9% on normal spend, 3.8% on “Everyday”)
• The Hilton Garden Inn in Oklahoma City in Mid-June. 25,000 points per night or $132 AAA (0.5 cents per point or 1.6% on normal spend, 3.2% on “Everyday) Now, you may need to adjust the value to you if you wouldn’t normally stay at such hotels.

Also, you get immediate Gold Status in the Hilton Honors program. You can maintain it by spending $20,000 or get upgraded to Diamond with $40,000 of spending each year. Diamond delivers serious benefits such as free internet, executive floor and suite upgrades and gold is not too bad either. I usually like Starwood hotels better (often have a more modern, younger feel), but being Hilton Diamond is great! </li>

Catches

• $75 Annual Fee In additional to the Hilton Surpass there is the Citi Hilton Visa Signature card. The major benefit of the Visa is no annual fee and wider acceptance. The downsides are: a $1k spending requirement before getting the 40k points, less points per dollar spent and no ability to earn diamond status.