Why I’m Excited About One of the New Hilton Credit Cards

While I’m probably too easily excited over new credit cards and travel deals, I’m pretty stoked about the new Hilton Aspire American Express card that launches in January of next year. While the card does come with a $450 annual fee, the rewards are off the charts and more than make up for it (in my opinion).

Before I tell you what I like about the card, I also want to share a disclaimer. Part of the reason I’m excited for this offer is the fact my husband and I already have around 250,000 Hilton Honors points. Because of this, I think the new Aspire card will help us use those points more effectively and get more bang for our buck. If we didn’t have a stash of Hilton points already, I’m not sure I would be so excited.

 

What Will the New Hilton Aspire Credit Card from American Express Be Like?

I already mentioned that the new card will come with a $450 annual fee, but it’s also worth noting this fee is not waived the first year. Fortunately, the benefits are very generous, including:

• Hilton Honors Diamond Status for as long as you have the card
• Priority Pass lounge membership
• One Weekend Night Reward every year
• A second Weekend Night Reward for spending $60,000 in a calendar year
• No foreign transaction fees
• $250 annual airline incidental fee (a la Platinum Card from American Express)
• $250 annual credit in Hilton resorts

On top of these benefits, you also earn 14x points on Hilton purchases, 7x points on airfare purchased with airlines or AmexTravel.com, at U.S. restaurants and select car rentals, and 3 Hilton Honors points per $1 spent on all other purchases. Unfortunately, we don’t know the signup bonus card for this card yet. The good news is, most experts speculate it will be at least 100K points. So, we’ll see.

What I Like About This Card

For full disclosure, I think I am going to sign myself and my husband up for this card and the Capital One Venture 50K offer as soon as the Hilton Aspire card comes out. Here’s why I’m into this card despite it’s large annual fee.

• The fact that we already have 250,000 Hilton points makes this offer more valuable to me. If the signup bonus is truly 100K, we should have close to 500,000 Hilton Honors points to burn once all is said and done. I have my eye on quite a few Hilton properties where we could book a week-long stay with these points.
• I wouldn’t mind having Hilton Diamond status for said week-long stay, although the perks will vary depending on the property we choose. I wouldn’t mind lounge access or a room upgrade, for example.
• It would be easy to use up two $250 Hilton resort credits if we spent a week or longer at a Hilton property, and the airline incidental fee should be easy to use up too. These two credits are worth more than the annual fee on their own.
• It sounds like you also get a free weekend night when you open the card, and I could use our two to extend our Hilton vacation even further.

 

The Bottom Line

I’m not a huge Hilton Honors fan, but I am certainly coming around. This card’s perks seem to outweigh the fee and then some, making it an easy pick for me. Now I just have to decide where in the world to use these points.

 

Are you excited about the Hilton Aspire Credit Card from American Express? Why or why not?