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The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is one of the best hotel credit cards you can get for mid-tier elite status in the world. Whether you pledge loyalty to Hilton or just want the best perks for the lowest cost regardless of brand name, this card offers you perks that you cannot sleep on.
As always, you’ll want to be as strategic as possible when applying for cards. One of the biggest considerations that you’ll want to take into account when applying for a certain card is its welcome offer.
Contrary to popular belief, a welcome offers fluctuates extremely often. It even fluctuates as a function of the avenue through which you apply. It’s just like buying your favorite electronics — you’ll probably get a different price at Best Buy, depending on when you shop. You might also get a different price for the same product when shopping on Amazon, for example.
The most basic tenet is that you want to get the biggest bonus you can, so let’s dive into how you can find better offers on the Hilton Surpass card.
Targeted offers are discussed in the article below. Please note that these offers are not available to all applicants. Any information related to targeted offers has been collected independently and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Benefits of the Amex Hilton Surpass Card
As we mentioned above, the benefits of the Hilton Surpass are some of the most underrated of all the hotel cards. The Hilton Surpass card offers the best mid-tier hotel status for the lowest price, which is one reason it’s one of the best choices for Hilton loyalists. Also, the Hilton Surpass card rewards you heavily for larger spending, which we’ll get into later.
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
An excellent high-earning Hilton credit card that comes with perks like Hilton Honors Gold status and up to $200 in Hilton credits every year.
Learn More(at Amex's secure site)All information about The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points.
Apply With Confidence
Know if you're approved with no credit score impact
If you're approved and accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
An excellent high-earning Hilton credit card that comes with perks like Hilton Honors Gold status and up to $200 in Hilton credits every year.
Earn 170,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/17/2024.
170,000 points
$2,550
$150
20.99% - 29.99% Variable
Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.
Good to Excellent (670-850)
If you’re someone who loves traveling and loves staying in Hilton hotels, adding a co-branded Hilton hotel card to your wallet is almost a no-brainer. From automatic Hilton elite status to up to $200 in Hilton credits every year, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card can be a great fit for Hilton loyalists looking to up their travel game.
Pros
12x points per $1 at Hilton hotels
6x points per $1 U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. restaurants
4x points per $1 at U.S. online retail purchases
3x points per $1 on all other purchases
Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
Annual fee of $150.
Limited Time Offer: Earn 170,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/17/2024.
Earn a Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
Earn 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on U.S. online retail purchases.
Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status, which gets you free breakfast for up to 2 guests per room — plus, you’ll get your fifth night free for award bookings and access to preferred room upgrades (suites excluded)
How to Find the 150,000 (Or 130,000 & 1 Free Night) Welcome Offer
The average public welcome offer hovers around 125,000 Hilton Honors points. While this is worth around $500 at 0.4 cents per point, according to our travel points and miles valuations, you can do a bit better if you apply at the right time.
Generally, there are 2 types of enhanced welcome offers you’ll find:
150,000 Hilton Honors points
130,000 Hilton Honors points + 1 Free Night Reward
If you take 120,000 points from the free night certificate and add it to 130,000 points, you’ll arrive at a maximum value of 250,000 Hilton Honors points, worth $1,000 according to our valuations.
Increased Public Welcome Offer
The easiest way to get access to these higher offers is to apply when American Express increases the welcome offer on this card. These offers last for a short period before reverting to the “normal” offer.
American Express chooses when to provide and rescind these increases. Here’s the current welcome offer:
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
An excellent high-earning Hilton credit card that comes with perks like Hilton Honors Gold status and up to $200 in Hilton credits every year.
Learn More(at Amex's secure site)All information about The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points.
Apply With Confidence
Know if you're approved with no credit score impact
If you're approved and accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
An excellent high-earning Hilton credit card that comes with perks like Hilton Honors Gold status and up to $200 in Hilton credits every year.
Earn 170,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/17/2024.
170,000 points
$2,550
$150
20.99% - 29.99% Variable
Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.
Good to Excellent (670-850)
If you’re someone who loves traveling and loves staying in Hilton hotels, adding a co-branded Hilton hotel card to your wallet is almost a no-brainer. From automatic Hilton elite status to up to $200 in Hilton credits every year, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card can be a great fit for Hilton loyalists looking to up their travel game.
Pros
12x points per $1 at Hilton hotels
6x points per $1 U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. restaurants
4x points per $1 at U.S. online retail purchases
3x points per $1 on all other purchases
Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
Annual fee of $150.
Limited Time Offer: Earn 170,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/17/2024.
Earn a Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
Earn 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on U.S. online retail purchases.
Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
Now, if the pubic offer is elevated, you’re in luck – you can stop there. But if the above offer isn, let’s take a look at some of the more nuanced ways to apply for a better welcome offers.
Utilizing CardMatch (Fastest Method)
CardMatch partners with various banks to distribute these enhanced offers. Usually, larger banks, such as American Express, Chase, and Capital One, publish offers to a smaller, more limited group of people.
The easiest way to find out if you’re within this exclusive group of people with access to better welcome offers is to check for pre-qualified offers.
Because these banks are more selective with who they “target,” you’re more likely to be approved if you find yourself targeted.
When you check for pre-qualified offers through CardMatch, you won’t receive a hard inquiry on your credit report. You’ll simply get a soft inquiry, which uses your personal information to match your identity to any offers meant for you.
To see if you’re targeted, you’ll need to submit information including:
Your name
Your address
Last 4 digits of your Social Security number
Targeted Mailings From American Express
One of the most traditional ways to get increased welcome offers is to receive a good, old-fashioned letter in the mail. To get targeted, you need to opt-in and enable mail correspondence.
This method only works if you’re an existing American Express cardholder. To get started, visit the Communication and Privacy Preferences section in the Account Services section of your Amex online account.
From there, you can choose your preferences. To maximize your chances of getting targeted through this method, you can even opt-in for email marketing in addition to postal mail.
Check for Pre-Qualified Offers With American Express
Lastly, you can fill in an online form directly with Amex and instantly see what your pre-qualified credit card offers are.
Simply follow these steps, and you’ll be ready to pull up any targeted card offers directly from Amex:
Hover over the button that says Cards on the top ribbon of the page, and click Check for Pre-qualified Credit Card Offers under the Personal Cards section.
You may be asked to enter your personal information or log into your Amex account if you’re an existing customer.
Then, you’ll see the pre-qualified credit card offers that you can immediately access.
You can easily check for pre-qualified offers directly on Amex’s website. Image Credit: American Express
Reasons You May Not Be Able to Get a Higher Welcome Offer
1. The Current Public Offer Is Not an Increased Offer
If all of the methods don’t yield any positive results with better offers, there could be one simple explanation: Amex isn’t running any offers for that particular card publicly.
To try to get around this, you can use CardMatch, which can show highly targeted offers. If nothing helps, then the best thing to do would be to wait for the higher offer to return in the future.
2. Amex’s Credit Card Maximum Rule
American Express limits the maximum credit cards you can hold at any particular time. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but most report that you can only hold a maximum of 5 or 6 Amex credit cards at any given time.
3. Low Credit
If your credit score is not sufficiently high, it’s unlikely that card issuers like American Express will target you as an ideal customer. In this case, the best move is probably to improve your credit score.
4. You’ve Opted out of Marketing Offers
Sometimes you’ve unintentionally opted out of marketing offers, and many times these decisions were made many years ago. However, this is one of the easiest things to fix.
Make sure to follow the instructions above to opt into both postal and email communications to maximize your odds of getting targeted.
Final Thoughts
The Hilton Surpass card is an absolute keeper for those looking for lots of hotel perks and a small price tag. The benefits are plentiful, and you’ll get even more value if you stay with Hilton.
As always, you want to apply when you have the best welcome offer available. The techniques mentioned above will give you the best shot at getting a hefty offer.
Of course, earning Hilton Honors points is just one part of the equation. Start dreaming about all the amazing ways you can redeem Hilton Honors points!
The information regarding The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
Featured Image Credit: Hilton
Frequently Asked Questions
How much are Hilton Honors points worth?
Hilton Honors points are worth 0.4 cents per point, according to our travel points and miles valuations. This is simply an approximate value. It is possible to get upwards of 1-2 cents per point in value if you stay at aspirational hotels such as the Conrad Maldives, Waldorf Astoria Maldives, and more.
How many Hilton Honors points are needed for a free night?
Hilton categorizes its properties, and the lowest category only requires 5,000 points per night. If you also throw in a free fifth award night, you’ll reduce your minimum points cost to 4,000 points per night for a 5-night stay in a Category 1 Hilton hotel.
Rooms can get as pricey as 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
Do Hilton Honors points expire?
Hilton Honors points expire after 24 months of inactivity. You can extend with qualifying activity, such as earning points through hotel stays or credit card spending.
Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
This bonus value is an estimated valuation calculated by UP after analyzing redemption options, transfer partners, award availability and how much UP would pay to buy these points.