The BEST Hilton Credit Card Setup (for Hilton Loyalists)
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
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In this video, I'll be going over the best Hilton credit cards for Hilton travelers as it stands in 2024, and to do this, I’m going to first identify the two Hilton credit cards you need for this setup, and then discuss the third card that’s also necessary to improve the setup so you can use it both for everyday expenses and while traveling.
The first card is the Amex Hilton Aspire card. The benefits are really what makes this card shine, with complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status and an annual free night reward every cardmember anniversary. There are also statement credits including a $400 Hilton Resort credit, split into two $200 semi-annual credits, a $200 flight credit split into four $50 quarterly credits, an annual $189 CLEAR credit, and a $100 Hilton on-property credit when you book 2 nights or more at a participating Waldorf Astoria or Conrad Hotel.
The second card is the Amex Hilton Surpass card. This card comes with a $200 Hilton credit, divided into 4 $50 quarterly statement credits for eligible purchases made directly with Hilton, complimentary Hilton Gold status, and you can earn a free night reward after spending $15,000 on purchases in a calendar year.
As there's the $15,000 in spend to complete, the Hilton Surpass can act as your catch-all credit card so what should the third card be? Well since most categories are U.S. based on the Hilton Aspire and Surpass cards, it’s very important to have a backup VISA or Mastercard to round out this setup so you’re not stuck with only American Express cards overseas.
So really any card with no foreign transaction fees would work, and of course, you would target the categories you'd spend the most in. The transit category is also uncovered so cards that fit that description are the Wells Fargo Autograph card, the Bank of America Premium Rewards card, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
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📚 Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:40 Amex Family Language
02:43 Hilton Aspire and Surpass
05:25 Hilton Card Analysis
10:14 Third Card
12:42 Outro
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Note: while the new Hilton Business card may be a great catch-all credit card at 5X points back on everything, if you’re catch all category is around $15k, in expenses, the Surpass is likely the better option due to its $15k FNC benefit. Higher expenses may be better served on the Hilton Business - if this is better in your situation than a welcome offer on another card.
Amex cards also can’t ever be true catch-all cards since they aren’t reliably accepted (mostly international, but even some domestic placed too)!
Great points... I'm hanging on to my Hilton Business for that very reason & for the flexibility
Agreed about the business. If the business still had a FNC after $15k spend I’d go all in and do the Hilton business + 3xAspire cards.
@@MasonsTurtle Yeah, the business has a nice catch-all multiplier, but with the loss of the $15k FNC, the Surpass has become a more powerful card for spend $15k or less, IMO. Having multiple Aspires is a popular choice too!
@@MasonsTurtle yes, that would be a great setup. x2.
I have the Hilton Business as I got it for SUB and lounge access. The 5X on catch all if catch all is low is worth 2.5% and only 1% more than just putting the spend on Surpass. On $15K spend, that’s $150, barely offsetting the annual fee. Yes, you can buy gift cards, but the marginal value of the Business isn’t much. The third card for transit works if you have a Citi Costco Visa, Amazon Prime, or many other no annual fee cards, possibly already in your wallet.
Prefect video for me, I'm looking to get a Hilton card ASAP!
Very nice Eric! I know you've been in the market for one so it's probably long overdue for you to get started on the ladder!
Just landed my last Free Night Certificate via the Hilton Business card this week. Glad I could get it before the upcoming change. Thanks for all the useful content.
Congrats on the $15k FNC!! Yeah, it’s too bad it’s going away, but nice work on completing the MSR and earning it before it’s gone!!
Great Video Stan The Credit
Thank you so much!
Great point about the Hilton Family Language, as I do think it's coming soon.. Makes sense to build from the bottom to not lock-out of bonuses. I definitely do think there's some validity on operating a "Hilton Trifecta" and plan to make that video soon haha- since the Hilton Honors of course is a zero downside Card, and maximizing the Credits or going for the FNC on the Surpass could make having all 3 Hilton Cards open at the same time worth it. Love your thought process when coming up with a good 3rd Card option as well (obviously Amex isn't taken that much internationally & the multipliers being U.S focused, definitely mean another non-Amex card is necessary). I really like the Wells Fargo Autograph acting as the 3rd Card and obviously if you were ok with a High AF Setup, the CSR has validity too. Great video as always Stan!
Thanks so much Matt! Yeah, I'm just waiting to see when the Hilton family language appears, because it's definitely coming. I think the upgrade paths are also pretty important when considering this strategy too for those extra upgrade offers. The third card is always the big question. Of course, I'd love to have it be the new Hilton Business card, but as long as Amex is not accepted everywhere - it's kind of never going to be a true catch all card - which, you know, defeats the purpose of it being called a catch-all card 🤣!
Great breakdown Stan. I know people who only have a Hilton set up, and while i would want to diversify much more, it works well for them. The Hilton program is a good one.
Thanks JP! Yeah, I've also heard that running a Hilton-only setup can be pretty good if that's your end goal! I think the new Hilton business throws an interesting dynamic into the trifecta, but it's hard to use that card as a true catch-all since it's an Amex card. Also all the categories are US only so it's not as good to use internationally.
Never thought much of the multipliers on the Hilton cards (except on Hilton properties), but your video makes it clear that for a Hilton loyalist who maybe also doesn't want an overly complicated CC setup, the multipliers can be very valuable. Though yes because the Hilton cards are from Amex, it's good to have a 3rd non-Amex card, and I love all of your picks there. Awesome stuff Stan!
Thanks so much Monty! Yeah, I think having both the Aspire and Surpass can cover a lot of categories at the elevated level (US-only), but the catch-all category should always be covered by that non-Amex card. It's interesting with the new Hilton Business card, but sadly, Amex cards can never be true catch-all credit cards, which I'm sure you know as someone who travels a lot internationally!
The best Hilton setup is - as many as possible Aspire cards.
Hah! Yes, I’ve heard that multiple Aspires can be quite good!
Hey Stan, do you happen to know if the BofA Premium Rewards Elite still has primary car rental insurance? You’re the only channel worth watching that talks about BofA and I was not able to find this info. Greatly appreciate your insight 😊
Hey! So yes, the BofA PR Elite has primary auto rental CDW! It also still has a PP that can access PP restaurants 😀
I just got back from two weeks in Scandinavia using your favorite Altitude Reserve as my main card. All transit coded as travel, including trains, subways and buses. Almost everything took Apple Pay! So that’s my main travel card hereon. Mobile wallet is especially helpful since European merchants seem to be really sloppy about category coding. I had a charge at Burger King in Oslo code at 1% as lodging on my Savor card…
Awesome Robert! Hope you had a great trip! It sounds like the USBAR and its mobile wallet category really made things simple! Yeah, it's definitely the best single card to use (provided MWs are your thing), and thanks for leaving your data point so that we know that it works quite well internationally too! That's weird that a Burger King counted as lodging 🤣😳
i love my Aspire card and want to work towards owning multiple of them eventually. I would probably only get the other Hilton cards for the SUBS since I'd prefer my spend on other cards.
The Aspire card is great! Yeah, the Hilton cards are pretty much good for welcome offers, and I’m definitely doing the same. Hopefully the family language doesn’t show up on the Hilton cards, but it may be worthwhile to get the Surpass card before it shows up!
By spending $15,000 on the Surpass card, you'll receive a free night certificate worth $500 and accumulate between 60,000 to 90,000 Hilton Honors points, valued at $300 to $540. This translates to a return ranging from $800 to $1040, or about 5.33% to 6.93%, which is a reasonable return for frequent Hilton guests.
This does not include the $200 resort credits - the $150 annual fee. Nor does it factor the 12x on Hilton spend.
Hilton Aspire $550 per year
- One free night per year on anniversary day
- $200 Jan-June Hilton Resort Credit
- $200 July-Dec Hilton Resort Credit
- $189 Clear Plus Credit PCY
- $50 Jan-March in Flight Credit
- $50 April-June in Flight Credit
- $50 July-Sept in Flight Credit
- $50 October-Dec in Flight Credit
You have to value that FNC at 100k HH.
That's a great breakdown of all the statement credits! There's definitely a lot of opportunity to get positive value on both the Surpass and Aspire. I'm not sure what you were getting at in terms of the FNC value, can you elaborate further?
@@TheCreditFrog just that everyone shows a tentitive value of Free Night. They should actually be valued at the 100k HH value in my opinion. So if you are factoring a years spending on Surpass/Aspire you should in theory use 200k HH for the two free nights you would obtain between the Surpass and Aspire plus the HH on spending on them.
Oh I see what you mean. Yeah, I agree. It's super important to redeem those Hilton FNCs for as high as you can - certainly 100k is the best, and fortunately is not too hard to find!
Amex Plat Gold status at Hilton is good enough for me. While I'm currently not in pop-up jail, I need to plan a Hilton-heavy trip before I'd consider their cards. My latest philosophy is all about planning the trip a year or two in advance and then picking cards with the SUBs to make it happen.
Great strategy Chad! It's a lot easier to figure out which card to get based on welcome offers when you already have that trip in mind! I agree that Hilton Gold is good enough - I feel the same way!
For the coming year, mine will be the Hilton Business and the Aspire. That's until i cancel the Hilton business next year.
I doubt ill ever get the surpass again but you never know
Interesting Sledge! I know from your previous videos you are keeping the Business until the next anniversary, and of course, that Aspire is pretty nice for the the annual FNC. For me, I think I'd prefer the Surpass card. I like having the flexibility of the $15k FNC if I have some big spend coming up, but of course, we'll have to see because after I cancel my current Hilton business, I don't have any immediate plans to start getting Hilton cards in the near future!
Hilton is the only major hotel brand I haven’t jumped into, but when the time comes I’ll be snagging all those SUBs lmao
Nice Cody! I guess for those times when IHG doesn't work out. Lots of welcome offers to get on the Hilton ladder!
My wife and I were going to cancel our Hilton Business cards because of the $95 AF. But now we buy $50 Hilton gift cards every quarter, which more than covers the $195 AF, and we keep Gold status.
Yeah, those Hilton gift cards make it a net positive value if you're able to keep up with it every quarter! And then you get 5X on everything, which is also nice too!
Surpass card is currently a nice sweet spot in the lineup! Hate that they took the $15k free room off of the business card. Still want an Aspire but have to consider best month to get it so not in same or adjacent month to my Amex Platinum annual fee hitting
Agreed! Surpass card is still a great option! Also hate that the business card lost that $15k FNC. Great strategy to time your annual fees so they don’t hit at the same time!
A suggestion, I'd love to see the multipliers "normalized" based on accepted average CPP. 3x on everything else, for example, is just roughly 1.5% returned value if we use 0.5 CPP. Hilton's low CPP makes everything look so good in terms of multipliers and SUB, which may mislead some.
Definitely a great suggestion! Not all points are created equal, and the Hilton system is a perfect example of that. Getting 34X Hilton points on the Aspire card sounds pretty awesome, but it should definitely be taken in the context of the cent per point. I'll try to make that more clear in future videos. Thanks!
As of today, I officially own all 4 hilton cards. I picked up all 3 personal cards during the recent revamp and just got the new business card today. I'm looking forward to having a pile of points!
That’s great! Congrats on all the new cards (including the recent business card)!! That’s going to be a lot of points so you’re going to be able to get a nice trip(s) out of it!
Hey Joe, did you get any of the card when the intro bonus included a FNA?
@ericknguyen0617 Sadly no, but I did get 100k on the basic card, 170k on the surpass, 150k on the aspire and 175k on the business card...all in the span of 8 months and getting around pop up jail each time!
@@joephillips5594 I also got the Surpass 170k and currently working on the new Business 175k. I feel bad for being impatient and not waiting for the FNA offers, but at the same time, I didn't want my daily spend to just go towards multipliers. I noticed that I could reapply to the Surpass, but I highly doubt they would let me get the card again with the new offer. I just want to maximize everything with these offers, but I feel like I'm doing it wrong.
@joephillips5594 Wow solid offers! So far for me just 130k + FNC on the Hilton business. May jump on these new offers since I’ve never had a Hilton personal card yet!
If I ever go all in on Hilton the Surpass/Aspire is a solid set up. I do wish they hadn’t broken the airline credit on the Aspire, but, coulda been worse.
Definitely Matt! Yeah, I think we just have to get used to having broken down statement credits from Amex moving forward. We'll see if they ever dare to go more frequently than a monthly credit!
When sadly. These almost callous credits are awful. I’m willing to make trade offs for certain credits, AmEx though is pushing it to the extremes.
Is there a way to use the Aspire airline credit for jet blue in a gift card-esque way, similar to United travel bank? I am considering making jet blue my primary airline (as they have a major hub at my local airport FLL), but I can’t figure out how to store the value for the future like with the United travel bank. Any ideas?
@@jarete.1491 I personally haven't heard of any way to do this with JetBlue so sorry I can't be of much help with this!
@@jarete.1491 I’m not aware of a direct way to burn the $50 via JetBlue. There is a way to do a Travel Credit but it’s booking a flight, and cancelling and I’m not sure that’s the best way to use that credit.
If you’re going to go All In on Hilton you also need the Business. It’s 5X on everything up to 100k
Like I said in my pinned comment, yes, the new Hilton business card has a nice multiplier, and if you have higher spend, then it's a great choice for sure!
Are we still doing the Hilton Honors business card + honors card strategy to begin our journey? Then upgrade to these cards?
I think so. Regardless of the new changes, the Hilton business still has a welcome offer that you can get independent of the Hilton personal cards! I just wouldn’t keep it long term unless you are spending a lot of money on it.
Doc, first, congrats on the wedding. Now, a question about Amex 2/90 rule: let’s say I get a Hilton Honors card on day 1. On day 8, I get a Hilton Surpass card. On day 64, I get a Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard. Then on day 92, I apply for a Hilton Aspire card. Am I okay? Or will they count that Citi card and determine I violated the 2/90 rule?
Thanks Chris! Yeah, so the Citi card will not count towards 2/90 since that rule only counts Amex cards. You should be ok to apply for the Aspire card at day 92!
Stan - you never forget the fine points😊 The Amex no FTF may be something of a marketing gimmick😎 Dubious int'l acceptance, along with no "meaningful" categories, imo makes them more of a domestic Issuer. They're the bomb for int'l luxury travel however. Not a fan of Hiltons or the Aspire (Diamond status), but if I were that Surpass would be a no brainer. Btw, you mentioned the C1 SavorOne, how about the Savor (?) It's a tempting card. Thanks Man!
Thanks so much Nkosi! Yeah, it's annoying how all their multipliers are only US based so really - using their cards internationally is not really a good idea when it comes to those categories. The Surpass still has a value prop because of the at $15k FNC (Aspire too with the auto FNC), but the Surpass is the card with better spending multipliers for sure.
As for the C1S1, I think that card is much better than the Savor One because it has no annual fee with a marginally lower category of 3X vs. 4X. Now, if you spent on the card a lot and were able to recoup the $95 annual fee on the Savor, then it would make sense, but there's something to be said about the simplicity about not having to worry about having to get value on the card year-over-year since the SavorOne already has no annual fee!
@@TheCreditFrog perfect 💯
Or just get Amex plat, HH gold status and skip the bs. Great setup for international stays.
@newagain9964 Hilton Gold is key! But yeah you’ll probably need to use VISA/MC overseas instead of the Platinum.
@@TheCreditFrog right. Def not trying to pay with plat overseas(unless on Amex portal). But still get HH gold benefits regardless of card.
Bilt is my 3rd card
Bilt is a great card! Not sure if I'd use it for a catch-all card though..
Hi, please explain to me like I’m 6 but which Hilton card should I get if I am not a member nor do I have any of these cards however, I just recently got a travel job and im stuck between the Hilton American Express card and the Hilton surpass card. Would really appreciate your input!
Hi Emily! Congrats on the travel job! If you are not a Hilton member and will be staying at Hiltons often, I HIGHLY recommend the Hilton Surpass card. It has a $150 annual fee, but you get $50 per quarter to use on your stays. But even if work pays for your hotel stays from their account, the Surpass gives you Hilton Gold status so you get a $25 food & beverage credit (for up to 2 people) every day of your stay!! This card will get value many times over with just Hilton Gold status alone! Not sure about your line of work, but if you spend $15k on the card in a calendar year, you earn a free night certificate too!
Probably most already know.. as shown the Aspire has x14 in hiltons.
Hilton honor members also get x10. And the Aspire gives Diamond Status. Diamond gives a 100% points bonus.. so x10 more. Adding up 10+10+14 for x34. If a Hilton point was only a half cent that's a 17% return using the Aspire at a Hilton..
If you use the Saphire it's x30. 10 +8(gold)+ 12 = x30.
Thanks for doing the math out for us Bill! Yeah, it's definitely important to factor in the bonus points when you have Hilton status, which can lead to more points than what is advertised on the card!
so i have the amex plat and CSP, was thinking about getting into a hotel chain next the debate is Hilton vs Marriott with my current setup what would you personally recommend?
It's a good question Zach! I would just take a look at your previous trips (maybe future trips?) and see if you're more likely to stay at Marriotts or at Hiltons. You already have Hilton Gold with the Platinum so adding Hilton cards is really just for welcome offers (or FNCs/Diamond). Marriott would be the way to go if you want the biggest footprint and (perhaps) you have some interest in getting the RC card in the future. Bonvoy Platinum is ok, but I think Hilton Gold is better, if valued purely on the daily breakfast credit!
@@TheCreditFrogyes. Sure $15-30 F&B credit is better than fighting with Marriott mgt for $10 breakfast credit or alternative under their confusing scheme…or u may get nothing and have to cry to HQ.
@@TheCreditFrog I was leaning towards Marriott because of the biggest footprint. As far as past stays goes I always prefer Hilton or Marriott when booking hotels this year alone I stayed at a hilton but for my Bahamas trip it's a Marriott property so it really could go either way as past trips and future trips. ideally Id like to max out both as far dream setup. It seems as far variety of cards to get SUBS for Marriott has more options than hilton so again it might be best for me to start there since its a longer journey as far going in order than it would be to start with hilton. Thanks for your advice. Keep up the great content
If you have dinner at one of the resorts, does it trigger the $200 semiannual credit?
I think it depends. If the restaurant codes under the Hilton resort brand then I think it would! Otherwise, maybe not.
Best hilton setup is 5 aspires. I’m working on number 3. Doubt I’ll get 5 though since i still love my Marriott brilliant and delta reserve.
Might eventually get rid of the reserve for a 4th aspire but i still don’t know
The man with the Hilton Aspires!! Yeah, that Amex 5-card limit is brutal.. can you imagine 5+ Aspires?! 🤯. I think the Delta Reserve is the weakest link so I would also probably drop that before the Brilliant!
@@TheCreditFrog “creditnoble” has maybe 6 and 4 brilliants (him and his player 2)
I need to get on his level. He has the best setup on youtube. Hes military so all of his and his wifes cards are waived. He even has 10 amex platinums. I thought me having 4 was alot😓
That's kind of crazy that he has that many hotel cards AND Amex Platinums?! I think the only way that makes sense is if the annual fees are waived - otherwise that's so many statement credits to deal with and to keep track of!
@@TheCreditFrog the hotel cards are mostly for the FNC and status but the Marriott $25 credit isnt that hard to remember
Damn 5 Aspires? Will Hilton also give you your very own hotel after your 5th one?
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CJ coming in hot today at number 1!! 🥇
@@TheCreditFrog I’m always number 1 😃