Amex Hilton HHonors any good?

[Anonymous]

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@CreditCuriousity wrote:

Ya fidelity cash back is on my hit list this year... They solict me weekly and just hit me with a targeted signup offer of spend 500 get $50, not bad.. Have a Cash Management account and retirement with fidelity although it is issured through FIA/BofA... My TU inquires are dropping off like flies once it hits 1 or 2 I will apply for it.

I still want a hotel card though as you can get a free night with just AF alone which is worth more than the AF on the marriott/IHG/Ritz card..  Hilton HHonors is just the signup bonus, but eat out a TON so that is why I considered that as putting 12-18k through that a year would be no problem in food alone eating out so that would be 100k points there.

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If you eat out that much and like luxury, you might as well get a Hyatt card. $75 AF more than makes up for annual free night at category 1-4 hotel, not to mention a great signup bonus. They give you 2x on dining and a category level 6 redemption is like 25k pts (versus 70k for Hilton/Marriot lol so laughable). 

Whats the point of attaining a whole bunch of worthless points? Marriot is ok altho the annual free night expires after 6 mo and no one mentions that Hilton pts expire also. Mine expired last year. No expiration with Hyatt as long as you make one purchase a yr with the card. Hilton pgm is the worst imo but they have alot of properties so thats one good thing.

[mitchblue]

Depends on what kind of hotels you like to stay at. I'm a big fan of the Hampton Inn. So to me it was a no-brainer. I just stayed a couple days last week at a Hampton Inn and I got double the normal points, so 2x7 or whatever it is. On general, Marriot and Hyatt are a bit more expensive so it was easy for me..

Btw, my Hilton points don't expire. In fact when I got my crad earlier this year I told them I had an old HHonors account from the late 90's and after a few questions they combined the points from then, only 25k, to my new HHonors account. 

[jamesdwi]

Got the surpass card a couple years ago, and ended up staying over 120 nights the first year, and 60+ nights the second year in Hilton properties, earning me diamond status.  Hampton Inn will do but Double tree,  Hilton Garden Inn, and Embassy suites are my favorites haven't stayed in a full Hilton Hotel yet wasn't woth the points. This year they gave me 100,000k Hilton point bonus. Love the redeem 4 nights points stay 5, Found a couple of decent properties that are only 20k pts a night or 80k pts for 5 days for weekend getaways. Free breakfast, wifi... always book the cheapest room using corp discount rate, usually upgraded to larger rooms, a couple times got upgraded to jr. suites, and once the bridal suite. Being diamond you can ask for almost anything and its usually granted, extra free drink coupons. extra Bottled water, extra cookies... Free Shuttle back and forth to work site, nice not having to worry about cleaning the snow off the car in the winter. Makes living out of a suitcase bearable. 

Will most likely downgrade to the no AF version this year, won't be staying in hotels as much this year. Losing diamond status in January, but will still be Gold thanks to Citi HHonors card. 

[NRB525]

Another update, now that I got my first statement and reconcile the measly points, I'm getting a bad feeling about this, although it is turning out to be a good learning experience.

With my Chase Freedom card, Fred Meyer (where I shop for most groceries) had no issues registering as Grocery. Where I work, there is a cafeteria in the building that has no issues registering as Restaurant. Same with Discover and other cards that are VISA / MC.

With the AMEX Hilton card, however, I only got the bonus 2 points on spend at a Haggen, a true grocery store. The Fred Meyer, a Kroger grocery store, gets a category the same as WalMart. The cafeteria at work got a category as "Business Services - Other" and no bonus points.

On the bright side, I now know that the PRG is completely out of the question for my spend profile, and that this Hilton card will indeed be getting only minimal usage going forward. I have the $1k bonus spend lined up with insurance payments the next two months to complete it.

[CreditCuriosity]

Hmmm limited merchant codes?  Sounded like it was easy to make points with it intially.. I just held off due to most of the small CL's I saw ppl getting on CP's db...  Plus holding off on what the TE and Citi deal is about to get my foot in door with citi as well.

[NRB525]

It will depend on the merchant of course, and if you squint at a Fred Meyer, it has everything including kitchen sinks, so could be pulled away from grocery, but only with AMEX so far. And the cafeteria is definitely a restaurant type establishment. I am presuming these merchant codes are a general AMEX thing.

Maybe I'll use my 1% WorldPoints BofA AMEX for a while to see how it gets coded.

[BarryNTexas]

Great thread CC... thanks for posting.  I'm exploring what hotel card to grab as well.

I already have status with Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, and Hyatt.  This year alone I have really booked points with Hyatt and have most status with them.  I travel regularly to Denver and my usual Sheraton seems over booked most of the time so started using the Hyatt and really like the hotel and service. Originally planned on SPG and also thought about Ritz, but now leaning on Hyatt.  I just received an email off from them (Chase).  I'm about to accept a new job with a new company and all of my travel will be paid through my own cards so I want to be ready for the heavy spend coming my way!  I don't want a bunch of cards but one main and does everyone think the Hyatt is the best choice?

[astrangerwcandy]

I'd suggest the Wyndham Barclays Visa since they just redid Wyndham rewards. Currently they are offering 30k points plus 15k after 1000 spend and 15k every anniversary. With the way they have redone their rewards structure 15k points gets you a night at ANY Wyndham hotel including the expensive resorts. After a year with very little spending you could have 5-6 nights at a Wyndham Grand Resort. AF is only $69

[CreditCuriosity]

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@BarryNTexas wrote:

Great thread CC... thanks for posting.  I'm exploring what hotel card to grab as well.

I already have status with Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, and Hyatt.  This year alone I have really booked points with Hyatt and have most status with them.  I travel regularly to Denver and my usual Sheraton seems over booked most of the time so started using the Hyatt and really like the hotel and service. Originally planned on SPG and also thought about Ritz, but now leaning on Hyatt.  I just received an email off from them (Chase).  I'm about to accept a new job with a new company and all of my travel will be paid through my own cards so I want to be ready for the heavy spend coming my way!  I don't want a bunch of cards but one main and does everyone think the Hyatt is the best choice?

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Thanks for your insight..  Have heard nothing but good about Hyatt properties... Also Obviously the Ritz is the sniz if your company is willing to pay for it and at the location you are traveling

[CreditCuriosity]

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@astrangerwcandy wrote:

I'd suggest the Wyndham Barclays Visa since they just redid Wyndham rewards. Currently they are offering 30k points plus 15k after 1000 spend and 15k every anniversary. With the way they have redone their rewards structure 15k points gets you a night at ANY Wyndham hotel including the expensive resorts. After a year with very little spending you could have 5-6 nights at a Wyndham Grand Resort. AF is only $69

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I have thought about this card as well, but have 2 cards with Barclay already and might have to reallocate some of my limits to make it a useful card.. Also not sure they are accepted worldwide as persay the marriott/hyatt card.. Although I could be wrong