| Card Details and Application Link |
|---|
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card Limited Time Offer - 175K Points + free night certificate ⓘ Friend-Referral 175K after $6K spend in first 6 months. Free night certificate every year - first certificate is awarded 8-12 weeks after approval. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 4/17/2024)$550 Annual Fee Click Here to Apply This is a friend-referral offer. A member of the Frequent Miler community may earn a referral bonus if you are approved for this offer Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: This card is loaded with valuable perks that are more than worth the card's annual fee if you stay in Hilton resorts at least twice per year. Earning rate: ✦ 14X Hilton spend ✦ 7X US restaurants, flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, select car rental companies ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases ✦ Terms & Limitations Apply. Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Additional free night awards after $30K and $60K spend in calendar year Noteworthy perks: ✦Annual Free Night Reward every year upon renewal ✦ Free Diamond Status ✦ Up to $400 Hilton Resort Credit per membership year ($200 semi-annually) ✦ $200 Flight Credit ($50 per quarter for purchases directly with airlines or via Amex Travel) ✦ $100 on-property credit w/ Aspire Card package ✦ Terms Apply. See Rates & Fees See also: Amex Hilton Aspire In-Depth Review |
Hilton Honors Aspire Application Tips
Amex Application Tips
Check application status here. |
Should you apply?
The Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card offers a very impressive collection of benefits, including Diamond Elite Status, $400 in Hilton Resort Credits, $200 in airline credits and a free night certificate that can be used at almost any Hilton property in the world. If you can make use of all of that, the card’s benefits can easily outweigh the hefty $550 annual fee.
Are you eligible?
Amex is usually the safest bank for trying your luck at earning a new welcome offer. Most of the time, they won’t issue a hard pull when denying your application or when approving you if you already have at least one Amex card. Plus, they’ll warn you during the application process if you’re not eligible for the bonus.
If you’ve ever had a card before, you are most likely prohibited from earning a welcome offer for that same card if you apply now. Fortunately you’ll be warned during the application process if this is the case. Amex is known to “forget” that you’ve had a card after about 5-7 years. Note that there are frequently offers with no lifetime language (NLL) that aren’t bound by this restriction.
Amex normally only allows customers to have five credit cards and ten charge cards at one time. Both personal and business cards count towards the respective five and ten card limits. There are some instances where certain customers have been allowed to go above those limits.
Application status
After you apply, call (877) 239-3491 to check your application status or use this link.
Reconsideration
If your application is denied, we recommend calling for reconsideration (800) 567-1083. It’s surprising how often denials can be changed to approvals just by asking.
Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card Perks
Hilton Honors Diamond Elite Status
Automatic Diamond status is an awesome perk that comes with this card. You can find Hilton’s list of elite benefits here. To summarize:
- Silver: 5th night free awards; 2 free bottles of water per stay; 15% points bonus for stays
- Gold: Silver benefits, plus free room upgrade (depending on availability); free internet; free breakfast (food and beverage credit within the US) at most properties; 25% points bonus for stays
- Diamond: Gold benefits, plus 50% points bonus for stays, plus guaranteed Executive Floor Lounge access and a 48 hour room availability guarantee
As you can see above, Diamond status doesn’t offer a lot beyond Gold status, but both are valuable for the free breakfasts, room upgrades, and bonus points. And at some properties the Diamond guaranteed Executive Floor Lounge access can be great.
Travel Benefits
- Annual Free Night Certificate (cardmember year): Good for one night in a standard room at almost any Hilton property in the world (see list of exclusions here).
- Annual $400 Resort Credit ($200 semi-annually): Valid towards any room charges made at a Hilton resort property (full list here) as long as you pay with your Amex Hilton Aspire card upon checking out of a participating hotel.
- Annual $200 Airline Credit ($50 quarterly): Good towards any airline charges, including airfare when booked through an airline or amextravel.com. Must pay with your Hilton Honors Aspire Card.
- CLEAR Credit: Receive up to $189 in statements credits each year for CLEAR when you use your Hilton Aspire card.
- National Car Rental Executive Status: This lets you pick a nicer car from the Executive Aisle instead of the usual Emerald Aisle.
- $100 Luxury Property Credit: Book a 2 night minimum stay at hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com or by calling Hilton Honors at (855) 292-5757 and get up to $100 in hotel credits at participating Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties (rates are usually higher than booking the best available member rate),
Lounge Access (ends 2/1/24)
- Priority Pass: Cardholders currently have access to the same Priority Pass Select that Amex provides on other cards, but this will end on 2/1/24.
Travel Protections
- Auto Rental Coverage: The Aspire offers secondary auto rental CDW (collision damage waiver), which means that it applies after your personal car insurance. If you aren’t covered by personal car insurance, it acts as the primary policy.
- Trip Delay Insurance: If you pay for your round-trip airfare with your Aspire Card, you can get up to $500 in reimbursements for expenses if your travel is delayed by six or more hours. Maximum 2 claims per rolling 12 months.
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance: If you purchase a round trip entirely with your Aspire Card and a covered reason cancels or interrupts your trip, your non-refundable expenses can be reimbursed, up to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per 12 consecutive month period.
Cell Phone Insurance
- If you pay your cell phone bill with your Hilton Honors Aspire card, you’re insured if your cell phone is stolen or damaged.
- You must have paid with your card in the billing cycle before the month the incident occurs.
- Cell phone coverage applies to all lines listed on the account.
- There is a $50 deductible and maximum of $800 per claim.
Purchase Protection
- Return Protection: You may return eligible purchases to American Express if the seller won’t take them back, up to 90 days from the date of purchase. Max $300/item, $1000/year.
- Purchase Protection: Protects covered purchases made on your card when they’re accidentally damaged, stolen, or lost, for up to 90 days from the covered purchase date.
- Extended Warranty: Provides up to one extra year added to the original manufacturer’s warranty. Applies to warranties of 5 years or less. Coverage is up to a maximum of $10,000; not to exceed $50,000 per cardmember account per calendar year.
Earn Points with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card
Welcome Bonus
This card earns Hilton Honors Points. Here’s the current welcome offer:
| Card Offer |
|---|
Limited Time Offer - 175K Points + free night certificate ⓘ Friend-Referral 175K after $6K spend in first 6 months. Free night certificate every year - first certificate is awarded 8-12 weeks after approval. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 4/17/2024)$550 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. |
Refer Friends
American Express is probably the most generous card issuer when it comes to referral bonuses. Most Hilton Honors cards currently have a maximum of 140,000 Hilton Honors points (per card) that can be earned each calendar year from referrals.
Bonus Spend
| Card Info Name and Earning Rate (no offer) |
|---|
Earning rate: ✦ 14X Hilton spend ✦ 7X US restaurants, flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, select car rental companies ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases ✦ Terms & Limitations Apply. |
Redeeming Hilton Honors Points
Hilton eliminated award charts several years ago and pricing is now variable. Hilton instead offers the Hilton Points Explorer tool that purportedly shows the minimum price of a standard room at each hotel in the Hilton Honors program.
Unfortunately, when the tool launched we showed that it isn’t very reliable (See: Hilton’s junky new Points Explorer tool isn’t always accurate). The tool does not always accurately reflect the minimum price. For example, a recent search of the tool showed a minimum price of 67,000 points per night for a property, but clicking through to view dates showed dates in the coming months from 54,000 points.
Hilton Honors “5th Night Free” awards
Hilton offers the 5th night free on standard room points award stays for those with Silver status or higher. The Hilton Honors Terms & Conditions state that “After the 5th Night Free benefit is applied, eligible members will be charged 0 points for the 5th night, 10th night, 15th night, and 20th night of the stay, as applicable.” You can get a maximum of 4 free nights in a single stay (i.e. at a maximum, you would get 4 free nights on a 20-night stay). However, a member can utilize this benefit an unlimited number of times during the year.
Note that the way Hilton calculates and displays the price on 5th night free stays can be confusing. Essentially, Hilton prices each night at 4/5ths of the cost of an award night, though the average nightly cost of a 5-night stay may not be the same as the price of booking 5 nights separately. The best practice is to search nights both as a 5-night stay and individually to be sure you get the best deal. See: Hilton’s funny math: save points by extending a stay and Hilton stinks at math: book award nights separately for more on this topic.
Points & Money awards
Hilton offers members the chance to book an award using a mixture of points and money. Members can use points in increments of 1,000 points to offset the cost of a stay. When using points & money, points will offset the cash cost at a rate just below the ratio of the paid room rate to the award night cost.
In other words, if a $100 stay costs 20,000 points, the value of points in that instance is half a cent per point. If a member uses points to partially offset the cost of the stay, the points will reduce the cost by just under half a cent per point (i.e. using 10,000 points will reduce the cash cost by a little less than $50).
How to Manage Hilton Honors Points
How to share Hilton Honors points with others
Hilton Honors allows members to transfer points to other members or pool points with a group. You can find the options shown above by logging in to your account at Hilton.com and choosing the “Points” tab at the top.
Note that each Hilton Honors Member is limited to sending no more than five hundred thousand (500,000) Points and receiving two million (2,000,000) Points via Points Pooling or Transfers combined per calendar year. Also, each member is limited to making six transfers to other member accounts and six Hilton Points Pooling transactions per calendar year.
If you simply want to move points from one account to another (perhaps from one spouse to another), you can “transfer points” to another member. You’ll need to verify your account with a code sent to the email address on file and then enter the name, email address, and Hilton Honors account number of the recipient.
If you want to share points amongst a larger group (like a family), Hilton Honors also allows points pooling whereby you can share points with up to 10 other members. Each member can transfer up to 500,000 points into a pool in a calendar year and an individual member can receive up to 2,000,000 points in a calendar year. You must have been a member for at least 30 days and have at least 1,000 points in your account to join a pool. Note that while the original program announcement suggested that pooled points are available immediately but “may take up to 24 hours” to be reflected in your account, my experience has been that this really varies. Sometimes, pooled points move instantly. Sometimes, it can take several days for pooled points to transfer and other times transfers have sometimes failed without reason. It is advisable to initiate pooling or transfers in advance when possible.
How to keep Hilton Honors points alive
Points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Fortunately, almost all points activity will reset the clock. Points remain alive and available as long as you earn or use points at least once every 24 months.
Some examples of activity that would keep points alive:
- Earning from a stay
- Using a Hilton credit card
- Purchasing points
- Transferring from Amex Membership Rewards
- Earning from the Hilton Dining program
- Shopping with points at Amazon
- Earning points from a car rental
- Donating Hilton points to charity
Hilton Aspire: Keep, cancel, or product change?
Is this card worth keeping in the long run? The Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card offers a very impressive collection of benefits. If you stay in Hilton a Hilton resort even once a year, then I’d argue that the card’s benefits outweigh it’s $550 annual fee. That said, we don’t recommend using it for spend anywhere except at Hilton properties (where it earns 14X) and for airfare (in order to claim up to $200 in airline reimbursements each year). Other card combinations are much more rewarding for spend.
Hilton Aspire Downgrade Options
The Amex Hilton portfolio offers downgrade possibilities for those who don’t want to pay the annual fee, but also would prefer not to cancel the card. This can be especially useful if you won’t be travelling (or using the card’s benefits) for an extended period as you can downgrade to a lower or no-annual fee card, then upgrade back to the Aspire again when you need it.
There’s two different options listed below: the no-annual fee Hilton Honors card and the $150 Hilton Surpass card. The Surpass comes with Gold status, which still gets you breakfast and food & beverage credits, as well as $200 in annual Hilton credits. That would probably be our first choice if you wanted to downgrade, but were still planning on travelling. Otherwise, the no-annual fee card is your best bet.
Related Cards
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
Limited Time Offer - 175K Points + free night certificate ⓘ Friend-Referral 175K after $6K spend in first 6 months. Free night certificate every year - first certificate is awarded 8-12 weeks after approval. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 4/17/2024)$550 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: This card is loaded with valuable perks that are more than worth the card's annual fee if you stay in Hilton resorts at least twice per year. Earning rate: ✦ 14X Hilton spend ✦ 7X US restaurants, flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, select car rental companies ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases ✦ Terms & Limitations Apply. Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Additional free night awards after $30K and $60K spend in calendar year Noteworthy perks: ✦Annual Free Night Reward every year upon renewal ✦ Free Diamond Status ✦ Up to $400 Hilton Resort Credit per membership year ($200 semi-annually) ✦ $200 Flight Credit ($50 per quarter for purchases directly with airlines or via Amex Travel) ✦ $100 on-property credit w/ Aspire Card package ✦ Terms Apply. See Rates & Fees See also: Amex Hilton Aspire In-Depth Review |
Limited Time Offer - 155K points ⓘ Affiliate 155K after $3K spend in 6 months. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 4/17/2024)$150 Annual Fee Recent better offer: 130K + free night certificate after $2K spend in 3 months [Expired 7/19/23] FM Mini Review: Easy way to secure Hilton Gold status (which offers free breakfast among other perks). Those who want Diamond status may be better off with the Aspire card. Earning rate: ✦ 12X Hilton spend ✦ 6X U.S. restaurants, US Supermarkets, and US gas stations ✦ 4X U.S. Online Retail Purchases ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases Base: 3X (1.44%) Dine: 6X (2.88%) Gas: 6X (2.88%) Grocery: 6X (2.88%) Shop: 4X (1.92%) Brand: 12X (5.76%) Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: ✦ Free night award after $15K spend in calendar year ✦ Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend ✦ Terms apply Noteworthy perks: Free Gold status. Diamond status w/ $40K spend. ✦ Up to $200 in Hilton credits ($50 per quarter) ✦ Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) |
175K Points ⓘ Affiliate Limited-time offer: 175K after $8K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 6/5/2024)$195 Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Easy way to secure Hilton Gold status (which offers free breakfast among other perks). Amex business cards do not count towards 5/24 status so will not hurt chances of applying for Chase cards. Earning rate: ✦ 12X Hilton spend ✦ 5X on other eligible purchases (on the first $100K in purchases per calendar year, 3X thereafter). ✦ For eligible purchases made from March 28, 2024 through June 30, 2024: 6X on Select Business & Travel Purchases (flights booked directly with airlines or Amex Travel; car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; US restaurants; US gas stations; wireless telephone services purchased directly from US service provider; US shipping purchases) Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Eligible purchases made through June 30, 2024 will count toward a Free Night Award after $15K spend within a calendar year and another Free Night Award after $60K spend. This benefit will no longer be available after June 30, 2024. Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free Gold status. Diamond status w/ $40K spend. ✦ Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) |
Limited Time Offer - 100K points ⓘ Affiliate 100K after $2K spend in 6 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) (Offer Expires 4/17/2024)No Annual Fee Recent better offer: 70K + free night certificate after $2K spend in 3 months. [Expired 7/19/23] FM Mini Review: This card isn't particularly rewarding, but it's good to keep primarily for targeted Amex upgrade offers to the Surpass card. Earning rate: ✦ 7X Hilton spend ✦ 5X US restaurants, US Supermarkets, and US gas stations ✦ 3X on all other eligible purchases Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Gold elite status with $20K calendar year spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free Silver status; Gold status with $20K spend. ✦ Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) |
![](http://cdn.nextinsure.com/imaging/opt/0fb236dd-aecb-49ed-9f28-94aaf0efd9a2.png?w=300" alt="Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card" />)
![](http://cdn.nextinsure.com/imaging/opt/a5e33401-8d6f-4ae8-b471-5da085075406.jpg?w=300" alt="The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card" />)
Diamond status would be quite valuable for me over the next year or two. Unfortunately, both my husband and I were ineligible to receive the bonus on the current 175k bonus with the Aspire which also confers Diamond status. (If we applied anyway, I’d still get the diamond status but it would be a bitter pill to skip out on the 175k bonus.). Neither of us ever had the Aspire before so I’m curious what else would make us ineligible in case it is something I can clean up. Any thoughts?
Duh. It’s my first time in pop up jail!
Were you referring each other to the card from one of your other Amex cards or using the link above? If so, Amex seems to sometimes put people in “popup jail” (i.e. advises them they won’t be eligible for a welcome offer bonus) when using a referral link, so it might be worth trying to use a non-referral link to see if that helps. Just make sure the non-referral link shows the higher offer, although any bonus would be better than none.
This is misleading – it’s only 160k, no additional FNC as a sub.
That’s not correct. With the Aspire, you get a FNC within 8 weeks of signing up for the card, unlike all other hotel cards that only award the FNC at the first anniversary.
Ok, bit it’s not part of the sub (you’ll get it regardless of spend?)
It is part of the SUB (sign-up bonus). Like it says in the description, the sign-up bonus you get is a free night certificate (8-12 weeks afterwards, just for getting the card) and then 160K points if you complete $6k in spend within 6 months. Something doesn’t necessarily need to be based on minimum spend to be part of a sign-up bonus (which is what’s indicated here in the SUB explanation).
In this case, we want to make it abundantly clear to people that they get the free night certificate in the first year. It is very common for people to assume that it works like other cards where you don’t get a free night certificate until after you’ve paid the annual fee again for a second time at anniversary, so we want to highlight that for those who wouldn’t know it since that free night certificate in the first year is such a significant piece of the value proposition. For this card, we include the value of the first year’s free night certificate in the first year value calculation because you get that certificate in the first year, whereas on a card where the free night certificate isn’t issued until after your next anniversary, that isn’t part of the first year value. If we didn’t consider the value of the free night certificate in year one, it would disproportionately disadvantage the value proposition of this card against one where you have to pay two annual fees to get a free night certificate.
The link to sign up for the Hilton Aspire appears to be broken
It’s working for me…maybe try a different browser?
Looks like the Hilton Aspire Apply link is throwing an error:
Bad RequestYour browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Works fine for me. Might want to try another browser.
Seems to be working fine now too lol false alarm. Thanks!
I am only seeing 140K points offers for the Hilton Aspire Card when I click the link. Is the 160K Points + free night certificate offer dead?
Scroll way down until you see the Aspire card
Check reddit amex sub for a survey people received regarding Aspire card proposed changes.
it says 14x for on brand but shouldn’t this say 28x since you get double points since you get Diamond status with card?
no, you get 14x just for paying the stay with this card. the rest of points are awarded by hilton
I’ve had this card for several years now and it really isn’t serving me as well anymore. On my Hilton accountlanding page it says my Diamond has been extended for the rest of the year, and I’ve just been billed my annual fee. If I cancel now, when would I lose my Diamond status? I can keep Gold with my Amex Plat, and I’m having hard time trying to identify any tangible benefits of diamond over gold. Thanks!
[…] with an ocean view thanks to my Hilton Diamond status (you can get Diamond status by having the Hilton Aspire credit card). Judging by photos on their website, it looks like the King Grand Deluxe has a dining table and […]
Is the $250 resort credit per calendar year? I have an eligible stay in December and am on the fence about this card. If I can get 2 resort credits in the first year with the card, that might tip me over the edge into it.
Not from experience, but a fair amount of reading on various sites:
That was the consensus I found, but it did take multiple websites to compile the info.
My Hilton Aspire card AF is set to bill on 6/5/21. If I cancel/downgrade my card, will I lose my free night certificate? Some posts I read say that it’s tied into your HH account and not the card, so once it’s issued it’s yours. I would love to use it but the only travel I have coming up before my AF hits is a HGI which I can book for $87. Definitely not a good use of the Free night certificate, but I’d rather use it if I’ll lose it. someone suggested making a reservation using the certificate before canceling/downgrading my card. Not sure if that’ll keep it from disappearing?
I am aware I will lose my Diamond status once I cancel. Any advice on what to do? Thanks.
You will lose neither the free night certificate nor will you lose Diamond status right away (you should have that at least until next year). Things like points and free night certificates are with the loyalty program – canceling the credit card won’t have any effect on your free night certificate(s) or points. That’s true across all of the hotel programs.
Thanks Nick. Do you think there will be any Covid related bonuses this year like the $250 reimbursement for restaurants/food instead of using it for resorts? If so, it may be worth it to keep the card as the free night is worth $200 to me and if I got $250 worth of food reimbursement that would cover the $450 AF. My guess is not likely since Covid numbers are improving and the country is re-opening. Do people get offered retention offers or should I just downgrade to the No fee card? (which I already have)? or just close?
My $450 annual fee is due this month on Aspire. Anyone has any luck with retention offers ? Thanks.
[…] incidental credits, like those that come with the various flavors of Platinum cards or with the Hilton Aspire or Amex Gold card, are offered by the calendar year. These credits post based on the date that the […]
[…] to $100 per year in airline fee reimbursements to help offset that card’s annual fee. And the Hilton Aspire offers up to $250 per year in airline fee […]
[…] Hilton Honors American Express Aspire: Hilton Diamond status […]
[…] In this Hilton Aspire Card review, I share everything you need to know about the card. This includes credit card details, card benefits, and card perks. I also cover how to earn and redeem Hilton points. For additional details on the card, check out Hilton Aspire Card Review and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. […]
[…] want the Hilton Surpass card, but you’ve had it before. You could instead sign up for the Hilton Aspire or the fee-free Hilton card and then later product change to the Hilton Surpass. Amex will […]