Having now discussed the Hilton Honors card and the Hilton Honors Surpass card, the next card is Hilton’s top tier card: the Hilton Honors Aspire card. With a $450 annual fee, the Aspire card does not come cheap but is packed with benefits to help justify the high fee. But is it worth getting and holding onto? There have been rumors that the card will be getting a refresh like the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card recently did.
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 Aspire credit card has a welcome offer of 150 000 Hilton points after you spend $4 000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. You’ll notice that this offer is actually harder than the current offer on the Surpass Card, which has the same offer but only requires $3 000 on purchases and gives you a full 6 months to do it. I believe the discrepancy is because the Surpass card has an elevated limited time welcome offer, whereas the Aspire card just has its standard welcome offer.
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 doesn’t really offset the extra annual fee for the first year ($250 of extra points compared to a $450 annual fee).
Earnings
The Hilton Aspire card has two bonus categories that are relatively standard for a co-branded travel card (and are the same as the $0 annual fee card). The first bonus category is on Hilton purchases; the card offers 14x points/$ at Hilton hotels, which is a return of around 7%, and these points are on top of the standard points earned at a Hilton hotel. The second bonus category covers dining in the US and select travel (flights, car rentals); the card offers 7x points/$ in this category, for a return of around 3.5%. All other purchases earn 3x points/$, for a return of around 1.5% (the same as the $0 and $95 annual fee cards). For a $450 annual fee card, the Hilton category is strong, but the other categories are mediocre at best. It’s additionally worth noting that you’d have to spend $35 500 at Hilton hotels in a year to earn enough extra points to offset the extra $355 annual fee on this card (if you don’t use any of the benefits), which is a lot.
Marriott really should take note of how much stronger Hilton’s credit card points game is; all Marriott cards with an annual fee earn the same 6x points/$.
Benefits
As one would expect with a premium, $450 annual fee travel credit card, the benefits this card offers are strong. The card offers substantial benefits with Hilton: complimentary Diamond (top-tier) Status, an annual free night award (plus the possibility of a second one after spending $60 000 on the card), and a $250 Hilton resort statement credit. The card also offers a $100 property credit at top-tier Waldorf Astoria and Conrad resorts and hotels, just like Marriott’s top tier The Ritz-Carlton Card and Bonvoy Brilliant.
Diamond status offers strong perks, including 100% bonus points, a free breakfast benefit, space-available upgrades, and Hotel lounge access. The annual free night award is arguably the strongest benefit of this card: it can be used at (virtually) any Hilton hotel on a weekend night, and can alone justify the annual fee in some cases. The $250 Hilton resort credit is a bit harder to use because it has to be used on incidentals at Hilton resorts (which does not really fit my hotel patterns, for example). The $100 property credit is similar but even harder to use, and so I don’t particularly value it on this card (or on the Marriott cards).
The card also offers two other air travel perks: a $250 airline fee credit and a Priority Pass Select membership. The $250 airline fee credit, like the resort credit, can be somewhat difficult to use. However, the option to use the credit to top up your United Travel Bank still exists, and so if you fly United with any frequency, the credit is easy to use. The Priority Pass Select membership is pretty standard on top tier credit cards, but like all Amex-sponsored memberships, it does not include restaurants, only lounges. If you already have a premium travel credit card, this perk does not offer much, if any, incremental value.
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 (3x) | $300 | 900 | $200 | 600 | $600 | 1 800 | $400 | 1 200 |
| Gas (3x) | $0 | 0 | $100 | 300 | $200 | 600 | $100 | 300 |
| Airfare (7x) | $700 | 4 900 | $200 | 1 400 | $0 | 0 | $400 | 2 800 |
| Hotels (14x) | $1 000 | 14 000 | $200 | 2 800 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 4 200 |
| Gen Travel (3x) | $400 | 1 200 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 900 | $100 | 300 |
| Dining (7x) | $600 | 4 200 | $300 | 2 100 | $300 | 2 100 | $0 | 0 |
| General (3x) | $1 000 | 3 000 | $500 | 1 500 | $500 | 1 500 | $400 | 1 200 |
| Total | $4 000 | 27 300 | $1 500 | 8 700 | $1 700 | 6 900 | $1 700 | 10 000 |
| Average points/$ | 6.83 | 5.80 | 4.06 | 5.88 |
The Hilton Honors card’s very specific but huge bonus category multipliers mean that the average points earned has an extremely large range of 4.06 – 6.83 points/$, which is worth 2.03 – 3.41 ¢/$, 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 substantially more in-line with what would be expected for a cobranded card.
Specific examples
These examples include the bonus points earned from getting Hilton Diamond 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 Aspire Card ($450) | 2 728 Avios + 5 250 HP (8.4%) | 7 620 HP (16.6%) | $63.35 / $38.10 |
Is this credit card right for you?
Like the other Hilton co-branded cards, this card can definitely make sense if you stay at Hiltons will any frequency. If the United Travel Bank option continues to work, the $250 airline fee credit is as good as cash, and getting at least $200 our of the annual free night certificate is not difficult. Past that, Hilton Diamond Status provides enough benefits to make the card worth holding onto if the former two perks are used effectively.
The bonus multiplier at Hilton hotels is strong, but aside from paying for Hilton stays, I wouldn’t personally use this card for most other purchases. If I ever make the switch from Marriott to Hilton, I’d pick up this card immediately.
Given the rumors that the card might get a refresh soon, this article might be outdated soon, so keep an eye out for an update version at some point.
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