topic Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire? in Credit Cards

Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

AyaMai — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 20:03:19 GMT

Which card would you apply knowing that Aspire annual fee will increase and change of benefits.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points

after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.† Offer expires 4/5/2023.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire® Card

Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points

after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 21:56:44 GMT

@AyaMai wrote:
Which card would you apply knowing that Aspire annual fee will increase and change of benefits.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points
after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.† Offer expires 4/5/2023.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire® Card
Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points
after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.

I've had all 3 of the Amex personal Hilton cards at one time or another, and found the Surpass to provide the most value. But if I did a lot of personal travel I might prefer the Aspire.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

trant3 — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 22:19:25 GMT

I would say the surpass. I recently downgraded my aspire, I found it real hard to trigger the $250 hilton property credit eveb I did everything right

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

okurosetta — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 13:56:39 GMT

It would be hard to say without having a better sense of what you're looking for. If I were to choose between either, I would go with the Surpass since that is a very high sign-up bonus for the card, quite possibly its highest in terms of return on spend, whereas the Aspire bonus seems to stay the same.

Generally speaking, Surpass is best used as a Hilton point / certificate earner. $15k annual spend unlocks a certificate, thus some people will use this towards non-category: if one sees .5 cents per point value for Hilton Points and is able to use the certificate for a $400 booking, the Surpass would earn ~1.5% on the 3X spend and an additional ~2% via the certificate ([$400 - $95 annual fee] / $15,000). Surpass can have some niche uses too: it gives 10 Priority Pass visits per year, which could be valuable to some people who do not have lounge access through other cards.

Aspire is more of a perks card. If you can see value from the $250 airline credits, $250 resort credits (properties are limited), and/or certificate, then it can be worth the annual fee even if you don't put much spend on it. There are indeed potential changes, but if what has been posted is true, it would still be a great card for many people.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

wasCB14 — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 18:53:44 GMT

@okurosetta wrote:
It would be hard to say without having a better sense of what you're looking for. If I were to choose between either, I would go with the Surpass since that is a very high sign-up bonus for the card, quite possibly its highest in terms of return on spend, whereas the Aspire bonus seems to stay the same.

Generally speaking, Surpass is best used as a Hilton point / certificate earner. $15k annual spend unlocks a certificate, thus some people will use this towards non-category: if one sees .5 cents per point value for Hilton Points and is able to use the certificate for a $400 booking, the Surpass would earn ~1.5% on the 3X spend and an additional ~2% via the certificate ([$400 - $95 annual fee] / $15,000). Surpass can have some niche uses too: it gives 10 Priority Pass visits per year, which could be valuable to some people who do not have lounge access through other cards.

Aspire is more of a perks card. If you can see value from the $250 airline credits, $250 resort credits (properties are limited), and/or certificate, then it can be worth the annual fee even if you don't put much spend on it. There are indeed potential changes, but if what has been posted is true, it would still be a great card for many people.

I'm not a Hilton expert by any means, but in general with Amex, SUBs can get bigger when AFs are hiked. So if the Aspire AF rises $100 (a guess not really based on anything) then the SUB might possibly rise $200 in value. So that might be a reason to wait to get Aspire.

OTOH, Amex will sometimes (YMMV) bill customers who got in at a lower AF the same AF for a few years (not forever) even after the AF has risen publicly. So that might be a reason to get Aspire sooner.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

Aim_High — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 21:41:53 GMT

I'll agree with the consensus so far, @AyaMai, that the Surpass may be the best overall value for the average cardholder. Meanwhile, Aspire might be a better card for Hilton loyalists with frequent stays.

The Surpass SUB has often been better, relatively speaking. It has easier to reach spend thresholds in particular, as your post illustrates. The Surpass gives you six months instead of three months to reach the SUB, and the 150K points are the same with $1K less spend required. I have a targeted offer right now that is good for not only the 150K points ($3K spend over six months) but also $100 in statement credits earned for Hilton spending in the first 12 months. I'm seriously considering an application since that credit automatically offsets my year one AF.

My main objection to Surpass is that there is no automatic free night award included with the $95 AF. Unlike some hotel cards that include a free night without strings, you can't just sock-drawer the card for a free night and to use periodically on trips where you stay at the property. If you're willing to use it regularly and to accumulate rewards for Hilton stays, it's much more lucrative. Spend $15K annually ($1,250 per month) and earn the free night. And it's designed to be a decent "daily driver" earning 6x points at US restaurants, grocery, and gas with no spending caps. HHonors points are often valued at about 0.005 to 0.006 cpp, so that makes the card's rewards worth an equivalent cash value of about 3.0% to 3.6% in those categories. For general spend like this, it works much better than the Aspire that does not include gas or groceries. (Aspire does earn 7x points at US restaurants.) Both cards earn 3x points "everywhere else" making them effectively a 1.5% to 1.8% return on general spend. Not great, but fairly competitive against mainstream general spend cards.

For the difference in elite levels, Surpass gets automatic Gold which is only one level below the automatic Diamond on Aspire. In terms of bonus points earned from status, the difference is 80% versus 100%. Diamond also gets a few more perks like executive lounge access. At Hilton properties, the earnings rate on the cards are very close at 14x (Aspire) versus 12x (Surpass.) So again, for infrequent Hilton guests, the difference in elite level is negligible.

Aspire's high $450 AF is easier to offset than Surpass for the right person. The automatic free night combined with the $250 airline fee credit and $100 property credit could more than reimburse the value of the AF. IMO, since Surpass doesn't have such credits against the AF, in order to justify it long term after the initial benefit of the SUB, it's probably best to either be using the Priority Pass Lounge benefits, AMEX offers, and/or the Free night after the $15K spend in order to offset the AF.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

AyaMai — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 04:58:49 GMT

Appreciate a lot your opinion and others to my post. All my trips are road trips across USA, my time are spend outside the hotels, all I care that hotel rates are reasonable, free parking, free breakfast (esstential starting on a new road trip at 7:00 AM) other wise I prefer to have my breakfast at a local cafe during a short period stay in the city. Deep inside me I am leaning to Surpass, though I have Gold Status through Amex Platinum. I do have Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, my spouse has IHG Premier Card (the great benefit is the late check out during our stay in Seattle & upgarde room with great view) plus we stay at Choice & Radisson Hotels. My annual Amex cards fees are already high without Aspire $450.

Another question

Know if you’re approved for this Card with no impact to your credit score.

The question is how many times or days you can apply again after you cancel the application due to no offer such as Hilton Surpass or Aspire.

Re: Amex Hilton Honors Surpass or Aspire?

red259 — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 05:17:21 GMT

For me the Aspire is the choice, although I have held all variations of the Hilton cards. However, I am able to use all the credits and my travel is predominately international where diamond status means a whole lot more than it does in the US. Given your travel patterns if you want a Hilton card I would go with surpass.