Hilton Surpass Vs. Hilton Business Card Comparison

American Express and Hilton have a suite of four co-branded credit cards. As you’d expect, each card targets a different market segment.

In this post, I wanted to compare the mid-range personal and business products, because you really should consider one of these cards if you don’t have them already. The cards even have limited time offers at the moment for new cardmembers.

Comparing Hilton Surpass & Hilton Business

Amex and Hilton have two credit cards with identical annual fees:

• The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card (review) has a $95 annual fee
• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) has a $95 annual fee (Rates & Fees)

Since one is a personal card and the other is a business card, in this post I wanted to look at how the two cards compare, given their identical annual fees.

Comparing Hilton Amex welcome bonuses

The limited time welcome offers on the two Hilton Amex cards are similar, and both are available for applications through July 6, 2022:

• The Hilton Surpass Card has a welcome offer of 130,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $2,000 within the first three months, plus up to $130 in statement credits to be used at Hilton properties within the first 12 months
• The Hilton Business Card has a welcome offer of 130,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3,000 within the first three months, plus up to $130 in statement credits to be used at Hilton properties within the first 12 months

As you can see, these bonuses are nearly identical, as there’s only a slight difference between the spending requirements.

Comparing Hilton Amex return on spending

Both Hilton Amex cards feature some useful bonus categories, and offer either 12x points, 9x points, or 3x points. The exact bonus categories differ, though.

The Hilton Surpass Amex offers:

• 12x points per dollar spent with Hilton
• 6x points per dollar spent at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
• 3x points per dollar spent on everything else

The Hilton Business Amex offers:

• 12x points per dollar spent with Hilton
• 6x points per dollar spent at U.S. gas stations, on wireless phone services with U.S. service providers, on U.S. shipping purchases, at U.S. restaurants, on flights booked directly with airlines or with amextravel.com, and on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies
• 3x points per dollar spent on everything else

The personal card exclusively offers 6x points at U.S. supermarkets, while the business card exclusively offers 6x points on wireless phone services, shipping purchases, flights booked directly with airlines, and rental car spending.

For what it’s worth, I value Hilton Honors points at ~0.5 cents each, if you’re trying to do the math on the return on spending you get with these cards.

Comparing Hilton Honors status perks

Both the Hilton Surpass Card and Hilton Business Card are identical in terms of the opportunities to earn status:

• You receive Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as you have the card
• When you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year you receive Hilton Honors Diamond status

Comparing free night certificates

Both the Hilton Surpass Card and Hilton Business Card offer a free night reward when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year. However, the business version of the card exclusively offers a second weekend night reward if you spend a total of $60,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year.

This creates some nice spending thresholds on the business version of the card, since:

• You get a free weekend night after $15,000 of spending
• You get Diamond status after $40,000 of spending
• You get another weekend night after $60,000 of spending

This free night reward is even more valuable than in the past. While it can historically only be used on weekends, certificates issued in 2022 are valid for any day of the week. There’s just a small list of excluded properties.

Comparing Hilton Amex Priority Pass perks

While this may be of limited value to many people at the moment, long-term this is a perk to consider. Both Hilton Amex cards offer 10 free visits to Priority Pass lounges per year. Additional passes are $27 per person per visit.

This is a nice entry-level Priority Pass benefit, though keep in mind that there are other great cards offering Priority Pass memberships with unlimited visits, including The Platinum Card® from American Express (review), the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review), so I don’t personally value this benefit all that much.

Hilton Amex no foreign transaction fees

Both the personal and business (Rates & Fees) versions of the Hilton Amex card have no foreign transaction fees.

Hilton Amex approval odds

For those with excellent credit, I find both of these cards to be pretty easy to be approved for. The major restriction is that Amex limits you to five credit cards per person, though this excludes charge cards and hybrid cards.

Assuming you’re within that limit, you have good odds of approval. One advantage of the Hilton Business Card is that applying for an Amex small business card generally won’t count toward your total as far as the Chase 5/24 rule is concerned, in the event that’s something you’re trying to stay under.

Bottom line

The Hilton Surpass Card and Hilton Business Card are very similar, despite being branded differently — both cards have the same annual fee, excellent welcome bonuses, and comparable perks.

There are some minor differences between the cards, and I’d say for the most part they swing in favor of the business version of the card. This is a great time to apply, given the limited time offers available at the moment.

Do you have either of these Hilton Amex cards, and if so, which do you prefer?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Rates & Fees).