Hilton Honors Card (no annual fee!)

Having now covered the personal Marriott cards and personal Hyatt card, the next hotel chain of interest is Hilton.  Hilton partners with American Express to issue its co-branded cards.  They have three credit card options at three annual fee price points: $0, $95, and $450.  The first credit card we’ll cover is the no annual fee card, which is simply dubbed the Hilton Honors card.

I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  All information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

At the time of posting, the Hilton Honors credit card has a limited time welcome offer of 100 000 Hilton points after you spend a very reasonable $2 000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.  Hilton points are not a particularly valuable currency, however, and have a value of around 0.5 ¢/pt, which is lower than another other rewards currency we’ve discussed on this blog.  100 000 Hilton points have a value of around $500.

Earnings

The Hilton Honors card has two bonus categories that are relatively standard for a co-branded travel card.  The first bonus category is on Hilton purchases; the card offers 7x points/$ at Hilton hotels, which is a return of around 3.5%, and these points are on top of the standard points earned at a Hilton hotel.  The second bonus category covers dining, groceries, and gas (but only in the US); the card offers 5x points/$ in this category, for a return of around 2.5%.  All other purchases earn 3x points/$, for a return of around 1.5%.  Given that this is a no-annual co-branded fee card, these multipliers are pretty good and are way better than the Bonvoy Bold.

Like with most co-branded cards, for all these categories, there are better cards, however.

Benefits

Most hotel credit cards offer both free nights and status perks, but since this card has no annual fee, it only offers complimentary status.  The card provides complimentary entry-level silver status with Hilton just for holding the card (which can be upgraded to Gold after spending $20 000 on the card in a calendar year). 

Hilton silver status, like most entry-level statuses, offers somewhat limited perks, such as 20% bonus points and the fifth night free on award stays.

How to use the points

The main use for Hilton points is to redeem them for stays at Hilton hotels.  Hilton has a substantial global footprint and some great aspirational properties.  Hilton, like Marriott, uses dynamic pricing for award stays, so availability is great, but the nights often require 100k+ points.

Examples of using the card

These examples assume you spend all your hotel budget at Hilton.

Spend per month

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (5x)	$300	1 500	$200	1 000	$600	3 000	$400	2 000
Gas (5x)	$0	0	$100	500	$200	1 000	$100	500
Airfare (3x)	$700	2 100	$200	600	$0	0	$400	1 200
Hotels (7x)	$1 000	7 000	$200	1 400	$0	0	$300	2 100
Gen Travel (3x)	$400	1 200	$0	0	$300	900	$100	300
Dining (5x)	$600	3 000	$300	1 500	$300	1 500	$0	0
General (3x)	$1 000	3 000	$500	1 500	$500	1 500	$400	1 200
Total	$4 000	17 800	$1 500	6 500	$1 700	7 900	$1 700	6 800
Average points/$		4.45		4.33		4.64		4.00

The Hilton Honors card’s bonus categories means that the average points earned is 4.00 – 4.64 points/$, which is worth 2 – 2.32 ¢/$, with the valuation of 0.5 ¢/point. The low value of Hilton points means that although this card offers a high number of points/$, the overall return is largely in-line with other (good) no annual fee cards. 

Specific examples

These examples include the bonus points earned from getting Hilton silver status from the card.

Card	World Traveller ($750)  (% return)	Hilton Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 200 HP (4.8%)	$37.10 / $11.00
General 1% cashback card ($0)	2 728 + $7.50 (5.9%)	2 200 HP + $2.30 (5.8%)	$44.60 / $13.30
Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95)	2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%)	2 200 HP + 460 UR (7.8%)	$59.60 / $17.90
Amex Green Card ($150)	2 728 Avios + 2 250 MR (9.1%)	2 200 HP + 690 MR (9.3%)	$68.60 / $21.35
Hilton Honors Card ($0)	2 728 Avios + 2 250 HP (6.4%)	4 250 HP (9.2%)	$48.35 / $21.25

Is this credit card right for you?

Like a lot of hotel credit cards, if you stay at Hiltons frequently, this card could make sense. If you never stay at Hiltonhotels, then this card has little use for you.  However, I do not personally recommend this card over other travel cards.  Hilton status is easy to come by (especially silver status). The lack of free night certificate on this card really limits the long-term value of it for me, since there are better ways to earn points on hotel stays and get free nights at Hilton hotels.