Hilton Honors Surpass Amex

If you stay often at Hilton hotels, and the Hilton Honors card was potentially of interest, but you’re looking to get more out of your relationship with Amex and Hilton, then allow me to introduce to you an alternative: the Hilton Honors Surpass card.  Hilton and Amex offer three credit card options at three annual fee price points: $0, $95, and $450.  The Surpass is Hilton’s mid-tier credit card and comes in at a $95 price tag. 

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 150 000 Hilton points after you spend $3 000 on purchases within the first 6 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.  150 000 Hilton points have a value of around $750.  Compared to the $0 annual fee card, the extra 50 000 Hilton points easily offset the extra annual fee for the first year ($250 of points compared to a $95 annual fee).

Earnings

The Hilton Honors Surpass card has two bonus categories that are relatively standard for a co-branded travel card (and are the same as the $0 annual fee card).  The first bonus category is on Hilton purchases; the card offers 12x points/$ at Hilton hotels (5x more than the $0 annual fee card), which is a return of around 6%, and these points are on top of the standard points earned at a Hilton hotel.  The second bonus category covers dining, groceries, and gas (but only in the US); the card offers 6x points/$ in this category (1x more than the $0 annual fee card), for a return of around 3%.  All other purchases earn 3x points/$, for a return of around 1.5% (the same as the $0 annual fee card).  For a $95 annual fee card, these bonus categories are strong, especially the Hilton category.  However, it’s worth noting that you’d have to spend $3 800 at Hilton hotels in a year to earn enough extra points to offset the $95 annual fee on this card (if you don’t use any of the benefits).  Like with most co-branded cards, for the non-Hilton categories, there are potentially better cards to use, however.

Benefits

The two direct benefits with this card are Hilton Gold Status (which also comes with the Amex Platinum card) and 10 complimentary visits to Priority Pass Lounges.  Hilton Gold Status is definitely more valuable than Marriott Silver Status (from the $95 annual fee Bonvoy Boundless).  It’s also arguably superior to Marriott Gold Status (from the $250 annual fee Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful) or Hyatt Discoverist Status (from the $95 annual fee World of Hyatt card).  The card’s complimentary Hilton Gold Status can even be upgraded to Diamond status after you spend $40 000 on the card in a year (but I would not recommend this).

The 10 complimentary visits to Priority Pass lounges is a relatively unique offering; it’s the equivalent of buying a Priority Pass Standard Plus membership.  Although it’s a bit weaker than simply getting a full Priority Pass membership, for a lot of people, 10 visits per year will cover all their trips and so is worth paying attention to.

Unlike this card’s direct competitors from Chase—the Bonvoy Boundless and World of Hyatt cards, for example—this card does not offer a free night award each year just for holding the card.  Instead, the card offers a free night award after spending $15 000 in a calendar year.  While this benefit seems weaker, the Hilton free night award works at (nearly) any hotel, unlike the Marriott and Hyatt free night awards whose point value is capped relatively low.

Hilton Gold status offers somewhat some solid perks for a mid-tier status, such as 80% bonus points, space-available upgrades, the fifth night free on award stays, and a daily food and beverage or breakfast credit.  I’d also like to note that Hilton Gold status is much more comparable to Marriott Platinum status than Marriott Gold Status.

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 (6x)	$300	1 800	$200	1 200	$600	3 600	$400	2 400
Gas (6x)	$0	0	$100	600	$200	1 200	$100	600
Airfare (3x)	$700	2 100	$200	600	$0	0	$400	1 200
Hotels (12x)	$1 000	12 000	$200	2 400	$0	0	$300	3 600
Gen Travel (3x)	$400	1 200	$0	0	$300	900	$100	300
Dining (6x)	$600	3 600	$300	1 800	$300	1 800	$0	0
General (3x)	$1 000	3 000	$500	1 500	$500	1 500	$400	1 200
Total	$4 000	23 700	$1 500	8 100	$1 700	9 000	$1 700	9 300
Average points/$		5.93		5.40		5.29		5.47

The Hilton Honors card’s great bonus category multipliers mean that the average points earned is 5.29 – 5.93 points/$, which is worth 2.65 – 2.97 ¢/$, 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) $95 annual fee cards. 

Specific examples

These examples include the bonus points earned from getting Hilton Gold 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 Surpass Card ($95)	2 728 Avios + 2 250 HP (6.4%)	6 720 HP (14.6%)	$48.35 / $33.60

Is this credit card right for you?

If you stay at Hilton hotels often, yes this card could definitely make sense for you.  If you wouldn’t otherwise managed to get Gold Status, having the higher status can definitely enhance your stays (substantially more than lower tier Silver status could with the no annual fee card). 

The spending targets of $15 000 and $40 000 are relatively high for the additional perks, which may not be worth it depending on your spending and travel habits.  That being said, this card is great for earning lots of points very quickly in categories that are common and often make up large sources of spend for a lot of people.