Hilton and American Express have a suite of four co-branded credit cards. There are pros and cons to each of them. In this post I wanted to focus on the ability to earn free night certificates with spending on the two mid-range credit cards. Is it worth spending money on these cards to earn free night awards?
In this post:
Earn free night awards with Hilton credit cards
Three of Hilton’s four co-branded credit cards offer the ability to earn free night certificates:
- The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) has a $450 annual fee, and offers up to two free night rewards every year — receive one every year on your cardmember anniversary just for having the card (including the year you open the card), plus one when you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year
- The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) has a $95 annual fee, and offers a free night reward when you spend $15,000 on the card in calendar year
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) has a $95 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and offers up to two free night rewards every year — receive one when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year, and receive one when you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year
Note that the above cards aren’t mutually exclusive, so you could have all three of them if you wanted to. Personally I think the Hilton Aspire Card is a no-brainer, given the amazing perks it offers.
I also think there’s merit to having both the Hilton Surpass Card and Hilton Business Card (see here for a comparison of the two cards).
In this post, I wanted to specifically focus on one question — is it worth spending $15,000 per calendar year on the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or Hilton Honors Business Card to earn an annual free night reward?
Hilton Amex Card free night reward basics
Just to cover the very basics of the free night awards available on Hilton Amex cards:
- They’re issued within 8-12 weeks of when they’re earned
- They’re valid for stays up to a year from when the certificates are issued
- They can be redeemed for one night in standard accommodations
- There’s a small list of excluded properties
- While you can view your free night certificate online, you have to call 1-800-446-6677 to actually make your booking
Hilton Honors properties retail for up to 150,000 Hilton Honors points per night, so the value to be had is potentially huge. You could redeem these everywhere from the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, to the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos.
Factors to consider with spending $15,000
To decide if it’s worth spending $15,000 on the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or Hilton Honors Business Card, you have to decide how much you value the certificate, and also what the opportunity cost of that spending is. These cards both have bonus categories, but let’s assume that you’re just making purchases in non-bonused categories, in which case you’re earning 3x points per dollar spent.
If you spent $15,000 on either of these cards in non-bonused categories you’d receive:
- 45,000 Hilton Honors points
- A free night reward, valid at a hotel retailing for up to 150,000 points per night
That’s potentially a return worth up to the equivalent of 195,000 Honors points, or 14 Honors points per dollar spent. But that’s an unfair valuation. You shouldn’t be valuing the reward at 150,000 points because:
- There are only a couple of Hilton properties that cost 150,000 points per night, while other properties generally cost a lot less
- The reward has an expiration, so you have a limited window in which you can use it
- In order to maximize this certificate you’d have to redeem at the most expensive hotels, which greatly reduces the flexibility in terms of where you can redeem
At most you’re earning the equivalent of 195,000 Honors points worth of value for that $15,000 of spending. That’s not a fair objective valuation, though it is possible you’ll get that much value.
Perhaps more realistic would be to apply some sort of discount to that certificate, due to the restrictions. To keep things simple, maybe we should instead say that the certificate is worth 75,000 points, which I think is a fair and very conservative valuation for an “average” traveler. If your math is different, you can plug in those numbers.
This would mean your total return on that spending is the equivalent of 120,000 points, which is 8x Honors points per dollar spent. I value Honors points at ~0.5 cents each, so that’s the equivalent of a ~4% return. That’s excellent.
Allocating the annual fees of Hilton Amex cards
The Hilton Honors Surpass Card and Hilton Honors Business Card each have a $95 annual fee, and it’s of course important to consider the cost of that, and how you’re going to allocate it.
In other words, are you keeping one of these cards solely to be able to earn the free night reward, or are you getting value out of the Hilton Honors Gold status, 10 Priority Pass visits per year, and more? For example:
- Many people have the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review), which offers a Priority Pass membership with guesting privileges, so you may not value the 10 Priority Pass visits
- Many people are eligible for Hilton Honors Gold status through The Platinum Card® from American Express (review), which also offers Hilton Honors Gold status
In your situation, you have to decide how much of that fee you’re allocating toward that benefit.
Opportunity cost of spending
Looking at my post about the best credit cards for everyday spending:
- The best personal cards offer a return of ~3.4% on everyday spending, as you can earn 2x transferable points; this includes cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) and Citi® Double Cash Card (review)
- The best business cards offer a return of ~3.4% on everyday spending, as you can earn 2x transferable points; this includes cards like The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (review) and Capital One Spark Miles for Business Card (review)
Crunching the numbers
While I’d love to provide a direct answer of whether or not it’s worth spending money on the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or Hilton Honors Business Card to earn a free night reward, there’s no one size fits all answer.
I’d encourage everyone to do the math based on the following:
- What your valuation of Hilton Honors points is
- How much you value the free night reward, taking into account the restrictions
- Whether you’d otherwise have the card or not; if you’d have the card even without this, then you don’t have to factor in the $95 annual fee with the math, while otherwise, you’d have to subtract the annual fee from what you perceive the value to be
To provide some generalized advice:
- If you are just applying for this card and have to spend some amount on the card anyway to earn the bonus, then it’s definitely worth trying to spend $15,000
- If you have this card anyway then I do think it’s most definitely worth spending $15,000 on the card per year, assuming you spend at least that much in categories that aren’t otherwise bonused
- If you have the card just to be able to earn the free night reward, and don’t value any of the other benefits, then I think it’s fairly close to breakeven, depending on your valuation of various things
Bottom line
There are several ways to earn Hilton Honors free night awards using co-branded Amex cards. While I think having the Hilton Aspire Card is a no-brainer, it’s also possible to earn free night awards by spending $15,000 per calendar year on the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or Hilton Honors Business Card.
If you have either of these cards, I think the math checks out on spending $15,000 per calendar year on them, so that you’ll earn a minimum of 45,000 Hilton Honors points, plus a free night award, valid at a property costing up to 150,000 Hilton Honors points.
Do you think it’s worth spending $15K on the Hilton Honors Surpass Card or Hilton Honors Business Card to earn a free night reward?
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).
Greetings to fellow travelers ...
For anyone who rents a car...Amex offers zero dollar deductable rental car insurance for $18-$20 flat fee per rentals up to 30 days thru their premium amex assurian program, which is free to join, and saved me about $4,000 in collision repairs, and since this primary coverage, and supercedes any personal coverage, and you're only charged when you return the car, so it's possible to avoid the flat fee...
Greetings to fellow travelers ...
For anyone who rents a car...Amex offers zero dollar deductable rental car insurance for $18-$20 flat fee per rentals up to 30 days thru their premium amex assurian program, which is free to join, and saved me about $4,000 in collision repairs, and since this primary coverage, and supercedes any personal coverage, and you're only charged when you return the car, so it's possible to avoid the flat fee by using a different card when you return the vehicle, so this is huge free benefit available on my $95 Amex card...
And some other cards provide similar insurance for $0 flat fee.
And as a warning for using a different card when you return, it's not unheard of to get damage assessments after you returned your car.
It definitely is if you can plan around availability rather than relying on their availability.
For example, Conrad Osaka was readily available.
Waldorf Cavalieri is tougher
Wailea Resort is very tough.
Furrthermore, for most places, you don't just want a day or two.
Paying your taxes with it costs around $275 - so I took out a biz card for myself and my wife in December to get certs last year (via paying...
It definitely is if you can plan around availability rather than relying on their availability.
For example, Conrad Osaka was readily available.
Waldorf Cavalieri is tougher
Wailea Resort is very tough.
Furrthermore, for most places, you don't just want a day or two.
Paying your taxes with it costs around $275 - so I took out a biz card for myself and my wife in December to get certs last year (via paying estimated taxes) and then booked them at the Conrad Osaka (very high rates, big savings during Sakura), and can do the same this year to get two certs per one annual fee.
Another factor is that if you like to stay five nights, the cert is worthless vs. points. Where it is great is for the sixth night of a six night point stay.
Here's my general opinion on hotel cards. They are worthless.
Most travel destinations present many different hotel choices. Holding a hotel credit card may limit one's perspective and inadvertently drive one to pay more just to stay within a certain brand to reap its prepaid benefits (even though sunk costs should be ignored, per rational economic theory).
To expound -- an airline card is potentially worth holding because many of us are hub-captive. Far fewer of us are hotel brand-captive.
You aren't wrong. Granted, my stays are more or less the lower quality brands of the groups (several Hamptons of previous stays)- this is a mild example of, why am I staying here for $60 more to be with this Hilton franchise over chain B next door with the same quality? Does my Diamond points bonus really break even the price difference? (Rhetorical)
C. Weston - I have reliably been able to redeem Hilton points at high end city hotels (Waldorf DC, Beverly Hills) and occasional resorts.
To the point of Lucky's post = I am actually considering downgrading my $450 Aspire to the $95 Surpass. Aside from the free night, I put almost no value on the other benefits of the Aspire card (resort credit, airline credit, Hilton Diamond). As a Hilton Diamond, I have yet to...
C. Weston - I have reliably been able to redeem Hilton points at high end city hotels (Waldorf DC, Beverly Hills) and occasional resorts.
To the point of Lucky's post = I am actually considering downgrading my $450 Aspire to the $95 Surpass. Aside from the free night, I put almost no value on the other benefits of the Aspire card (resort credit, airline credit, Hilton Diamond). As a Hilton Diamond, I have yet to notice a difference in treatment outside of extra points on earnings, and I don't use the credits.
So is the Surpass, plus $15K in spending, a "cheaper" way to get an annual free night?
The cost is the opportunity cost on the 15K spending, plus the $95 fee. I value Hilton points at 0.7 cents. So $15K of unbounded spending gets you 45K points, or $315 in value. I could put that on a Double Cash / CapOne Venture and get 30K of transferrable points, which I value at 1.5 cents, or $450. So my "free night" costs $95 + ($450-$315), or $230, versus a $450 fee for the Aspire.
Maybe the math works better if I spend on the Surpass bonus categories? If I spend my first $15K of dining and grocery spend a year on a Surpass, I get 90K Hilton points, which I value at $630. I would otherwise put that spending on an Amex Gold - 60,000 points at 1.5 cents is $900. The opportunity cost is now higher - $95 + ($900-$630), or $365, versus a $450 fee for the Aspire. At that difference, the ancillary benefits of Aspire (Diamond status and such) start to matter more.
So the question is - do I have $15K of spend to commit to Surpass for a free night? MY first priority for unbounded spend is my Delta Reserve for $30K. Then it is a credit card sign up bonus here or there, some spending on Venture/Double Cash/Freedom Unlimited, etc. It starts to look crowded. Keeping the Aspire, at $450 fee, probably still makes sense - if and only if the free stays at $450...
First ask yourself -- would you be staying in these "high end" hotels if not for points? Put another way, if you could only pay cash, would you be content with a shudder cookie cutter DoubleTree or even a gasp Hampton Inn? If yes, then you're not really getting the retail cash value of a free night.
If I had to pay cash, no. Henec
But to pay $275 and get a Conrad or Waldorf - that's a deal
Waiting for @DCS opinion, calculation, and conclusions.
When it comes to hotel loyalty, there is normal math and there is @DCS math.
Can't go wrong if both ideology gives a same conclusion.
Hilton free night certificates can only be used for standard free nights worth 95000 or less. Using 150000 point per night is misleading.
Even at 95000 points per night, i have found huge value obtaining them. 5th night free booking with points. We just came back from Anguilla staying 10 nights and only using points to cover 8 nights.
Not true.The free night cert is good on any standard award, which costs 150K/night at WA Maldives and WA Cabos Pedregal (though the latter still offers standard awards at 120K/night as well).
Yup, 4th/5th award night free is, IMHO, the single most valuable elite benefit in hotel loyalty.
Currently gripping the seat of my pants in anticipation of DCS's incontrovertible mathematical proofs even though his PhD is in radiology!
@ Eskimo - there is only one kind of hotel loyalty math that's withstood scrutiny. Mine.
I have already put it out there and it's yet to be demonstrated to be faulty. I wager that it will never be because it's incontrovertibly spot on.
I can calculate analytically the "face" value of any major hotel program's points currency using a simple equation, and I did it in this very space. As a result,...
@ Eskimo - there is only one kind of hotel loyalty math that's withstood scrutiny. Mine.
I have already put it out there and it's yet to be demonstrated to be faulty. I wager that it will never be because it's incontrovertibly spot on.
I can calculate analytically the "face" value of any major hotel program's points currency using a simple equation, and I did it in this very space. As a result, I have managed, at long last, to get rid of claims about how the WoH point is the most "valuable" points currency, which is worth 3x more than a Hilton point or 4x more than a Radisson Rewards point -- a public service at no charge!
There is nothing entertaining or worth addressing here. The soapbox is yours; knock yourself out.
@DCS
I'm actually trying to ask your opinion if it's worth it to spend $15k for the extra free night.
Crickets go deaf when boxed in by their own Almighty math.
@Mo -- I envy you for being so completely free of the "ravages" of intelligence.
Why not just ask the question without the childish taunt!
No math is needed to figure this out. The opportunity cost of putting $15K on any Hilton Honors card to just earn one free night worth up to 150,000 points (+ 45,0000 points from spending the $15K) is way too high for a points currency that:
Why not just ask the question without the childish taunt!
No math is needed to figure this out. The opportunity cost of putting $15K on any Hilton Honors card to just earn one free night worth up to 150,000 points (+ 45,0000 points from spending the $15K) is way too high for a points currency that:
(a) one can earn tons of easily through revenue stays, especially in conjunction with the program's lucrative and nonstop promos, and
(b) one can just wait for the right 100% bonus offer to purchase up to 320,000 of for a tiny fraction (typically $1,600) of $15K.
The only time I put significant spending on the program's co-branded cards (just the Aspire, really) that was not associated with stays at Hilton hotels was in 2021 and 2022 when I was on the cusp on earning LT Diamond and all bonus points earned with the card counted as base points toward LT Diamond qualification. However, the beauty of that promo was that the same bonus points, earned at 14x. also counted as redeemable points, meaning that I earned so many points I could easily afford many free nights. Moreover, I already automatically earn an anniversary free night on the Aspire, and in 2021, when I was already putting a bunch non-hotel spend on the card in pursuit of LT Diamond, AMEX ran a promo that allowed me to earn another free night after spending $8K, which I easily met.
Like I said, there is no math needed. Just common sense and individual circumstances provide the answer. For me, it is a hard pass. I'd rather put the $15K on a card, like the CSR, AMEX Biz Gold, AMEX Plat that earn 3x-5x on travel and/or dining.
I'd rather put the $15K on cards, like the CSR, AMEX Biz Gold, AMEX Plat that earn 3x-5x in transferable points on travel and/or dining.
I guess if you go to places off season, Hilton cards are ok. I tend to travel when weather and other conditions are optimal for the destination. I have yet to be able to use a free night or any points. Essentially useless for me. Will cancel when comes up for renewal again.
Personal travel habits trump anything that can be evaluated in a one-size-fits-all analysis that's targeted to general audiences.