Should You Apply for The Hilton Surpass for 100K HHonors Points?

[Offers contained within this article may no longer be available]

American Express is once again offering its best offer for the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card. You can get 100,000 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases within your first 3 months of Card Membership. This sounds like a whole lot of points but if you’re familiar with the value of HHonors points, you may still question if it’s worth it to jump on this offer. Here are some things to consider. 

Annual fee 

The annual fee for the Hilton HHonorsTMSurpass® Card is $75 and is not waived the first year. This is a pretty reasonable annual fee and considering the value of the sign-up bonus, I think it’s worth it. If you ever didn’t want to pay the annual fee down the line you could always inquire about downgrading it to the no annual fee version later (although some people have had issues with getting the downgrade in the past). 

100,000 Hilton HHonors sign-up bonus

Many people value Hilton HHonors points at around .5 cent per point. In my experience, this valuation is more or less accurate, which means that you would value the sign-up bonus at around $500. However, I know of others who have found better redemptions closer to 1 cent per point, so this bonus could definitely be more valuable than $500. 

Below is a chart of the different hotel categories and their redemption rates. When I try  to book rooms in major cities like San Francisco or Chicago, I usually am required to spend close to 50,000 points for a nice Hilton property. However, you can definitely make the points stretch further if you are flexible with your planning and find some sweet spots at different locations.

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Hilton HHonors Reward Chart

For more on redemptions, check out the following article from one of my favorite blogs, Travel is Free, to get a sense of the locations of different Hilton hotels around the world and their corresponding categories. (Click the box on the left of the map to toggle which categories you’d like to view.)

After checking out that map also check out another Travel is Free article that gives the low-down on the best use of Hilton HHonors bonus points. That article lists a number of different Hilton hotels in different categories all around the world. It shows you that you can get great great value out of the lower categories and easily be able to spend a couple of weeks in Hilton hotels with the amount of points earned from these cards.

Also, if you take advantage of the 5th night free benefit (given to Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold, and Diamond Members), you can get more value out of your points. (More on that below.) 

Bonus categories 

The Hilton HHonorsTMSurpass® Card earns bonus points for purchases other than just purchases on Hilton properties. It earns the following rates: 

  • Earn 12 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio.
  • Earn 6 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card:
    • at U.S. restaurants
    • at U.S supermarkets
    • at U.S. gas stations
  • Earn 3 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.

These are great earning rates for Hilton HHonors points and compared to other Hilton cards offered by American Express and Citi, this is your best bet for earning Hilton HHonors points. 

Hilton Gold Status

The Hilton HHonorsTMSurpass® Card offers you HHonors Gold Status. Gold status is a pretty decent benefit — you can read more about the benefits of Gold Status here but the benefits most related to this card are the following:

  • 5th night free
  • Complimentary breakfasts
  • Potential for upgrades

The 5th night free benefit is a great way to maximize the value of your sign-up bonus. So long as you book 5 nights consecutively, you’re given that 5th night for free. Thus, you can often increase the value of your points by taking advantage of this benefit.

Also, once you have Gold Status, you can always look into status matches with different hotels and try to gain status with other hotel chains or you can inquire about status challenges to earn Hilton Diamond Status. 

Priority PassTM Select

The Surpass offers you a Priority Pass membership that grants you access to over 700 airport lounges around the world. However, this is the membership that is valued at $99, which means that all lounge visits are subject to a fee of U.S. $27 per person per visit. If you really are attracted to lounge access, you should consider other cards like the Platinum Card from American Express or the Citi Prestige to take advantage of that benefit. 

Final Word 

This offer is a good deal if you plan on having stays at Hilton properties in the near future, especially if you can stretch the value of your points by getting the 5th night free. Personally, I’d look into applying for an additional Hilton card, perhaps one from Citi, so that I could potentially come out with 150,000+ Hilton HHonors points and quickly accumulate a pretty decent stash of their points. However, even if you only go with the Surpass and come out with 100,000 Hilton HHonors points, I still think it’s a deal worth jumping on for a lot of travelers.  

How to Get Hilton Diamond Status with A One Night Stay

Right now, it’s very easy to obtain Hilton HHonors Diamond status. In fact, if you follow two easy steps you could have Hilton HHonors Diamond status within a couple of weeks.

The first step

The first step is is to apply for the IHG® Rewards Club Select credit card. This card comes with a low annual fee of $49 (waived the first year) and offers some great benefits like a free anniversary night. The benefit that we’re concerned with right is the IHG Platinum status that you’re given with this card. Just for being approved for this card you’ll be given Platinum status, which is the first step of this process.

The second step

Once you have IHG Platinum status, it’s time for the second step. all you have left to do is book and pay for one night at any IHG property. With proof of one stay, you can then apply for the status match with Hilton HHonors. As soon as you’ve completed your stay (as in, the very next day), you’re ready to apply for the status match.
To apply, you’ll need to click here to apply for a status match. You’ll upload evidence of your status with IHG (we used a screenshot of our rewards card) and then show proof of your stay (make sure to redact any personal information like credit numbers, address, or anything other bit of personal information that might be visible).
Then you submit your application and you should hear back from Hilton fairly quickly. We heard back in less that 24 hours and received verification that Brad was Diamond. However, sometimes I think Hilton get’s hit with a lot of apps at once so give them some time to respond. If you don’t hear anything back after a week, I’d inquire with them via telephone or chat. They appear to be pretty responsive so don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear anything at first.
What’s really great about this match is that they are granting many people like Brad Diamond status until March 2018. You might not get lucky as some reports on FT suggest that they are only getting status granted until March 2017 but either way, it’s still a quick and easy way to earn this benefit.
If you’re not familiar with the benefits of being a Hilton Diamond member be sure to check out my article here. In addition to those benefits, one of the other bonuses of obtaining Diamond is that you might have luck with getting matched at other hotel programs, such as Hyatt.
I’m gearing up for hotel status match requests and will report on my success or failures in the near-future.

Hilton HHonors Citi and Amex Credit Card Offers

[Offers contained within this article may no longer be available]

Right now, there’s a great opportunity to earn over 150,000 Hilton HHonors points for just spending $3,000 in 3 months after being approved for two credit cards. And what is even better is that both of these cards do not have any annual fees! This article will look at the two cards and how much value they can offer you.

The Hilton HHonorsTM Credit Card from American Express

AMEX HILTON
  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn 70,000 Hilton HHonors™Bonus Points after you spend $1,000 on purchases on your card in your first 3 months.
  • Silver HHonors status and get HHonors Gold status when you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year.

This card also offers bonus category earning in the following ways:

  • Earn 7X Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio.
  • Earn 5X Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card: at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations
  • Earn 3X Hilton HHonors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card

This offer for the  Hilton HHonorsTM Credit Card from American Express is to my knowledge the highest bonus ever offered by American Express for this card. If you’re interested in the card, make sure you go through the link above because the standard public offer is only 40K. What is really great about this offer is that it only requires a minimum spend of $1,000 so that really gives you a break in terms of energy and time required for meeting the minimum spend requirement.

The Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card

hilton-hhonors-visa-signature-card
  • No annual fee
  • Earn 75,000 HHonors bonus points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months.
  • Silver HHonors status and fast track to HHonors Gold status after four stays within your first 90 days of account opening or when you make $20,000 or more in purchases each calendar year
  • Earn an annual loyalty bonus of 10,000 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points at the end of each calendar year in which you spend $1,000 or more on stays within the Hilton Portfolio

This card also offers bonus category earning in the following ways:

  • Earn 6 HHonors bonus points for every dollar spent within the Hilton Portfolio
  • Earn 3 HHonors bonus points for every $1 spent at supermarkets, drugstores andgas stations
  • Earn 2 HHonors bonus points for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

The Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card is a solid option for building up an HHonors balance and only requires  a minimum spend of $2,000, so if you got both cards you’d be done with the minimum spend at $3,000. Like the Amex version, the 75K bonus is the best that this card offers.

HILTON HONORS CITI 75K OFFER

If you get both of these cards then you will end up with 152,000 Hilton HHonors Bonus Points after you meet the minimum spends on both cards!

Silver Status

ELITE STATUS PHOTO

Both of these cards offer you Hilton HHonor silver status. Personally, this didn’t factor too much into my decision to get these cards as I already had Gold Status through the American Express Platinum. However, silver status is still nice and offers you the following benefits:

  • Automatically receive a 15% bonus on all the HHonors Base Points you earn.
  • Guaranteed Discount: A discounted, changeable & refundable rate is exclusively available for Hilton HHonors members
  • Silver, Gold and Diamond elite members will receive every 5th night free on Standard Room Reward stays of 5 nights or more.
  • Complimentary internet
  • Quick reservations and check-ins
  • Late Check-out
  • Complimentary access to fitness centers and health clubs
  • Two complimentary bottles of water per stay at certain Hilton properties.

How much value can you get from these points?

Hilton HHonors bonus points are a bit inflated so unfortunately you’re not likely to get the same value per point as you would with pretty much any other hotel currency. However, 152,000 points is still a lot of points and they can be stretched for some serious value if you redeem them the right way.

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The chart taken from the Hilton website shows that 152,000 could get you 30 nights at a category 1 hotel (not factoring in any 5th night free benefits). Of course you could also splurge all your points on a couple of nights at a high-end luxury hotel. Personally, I’d probably stay around the 20,000 to 40,000/night range to get the most value out of these cards and snag at least 5 to 6 free nights in a decent hotel.

Check out the following article from Travel is Free to get a sense of the locations of different Hilton hotels around the world and their corresponding categories. (Click the box on the left of the map to toggle which categories you’d like to view.)

After checking out that map also check out another Travel is Free article that gives the low-down on the best use of Hilton HHonors bonus points. That article lists a number of different Hilton hotels in different categories all around the world. It shows you that you can get great great value out of the lower categories and easily be able to spend a couple of weeks in Hilton hotels with the amount of points earned from these cards.

Getting more Hilton HHonors bonus points

One of the great things about Hilton HHonors is that you can rack up the points for this program from a bunch of different cards. There is the Hilton HHonorsTM Surpass® Card
from American Express currently offering 60K bonus points and the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card, which you can earn two free nights to use at almost any Hilton property (here are the exclusions). And don’t forget about the  Virgin Atlantic World Elite MasterCard® Credit Card, which can transfer miles at a 2:3 ratio to Hilton HHonors and bump your points up quickly (you can earn 37,500 HHonors Bonus Points just by making a single purchase). And lastly, Hilton HHonors is a transfer partner of both Citi Thankyou Points and American Express Membership Rewards.

These two sign-up offers from Citi and Amex are definitely worth considering. While Hilton HHonors Bonus Points aren’t as valuable per point as other hotels, there are numerous ways to quickly accumulate them and some great redemptions out there for you to find. If you want a jump start on your HHonors points, then you might want to apply for these two cards before the promotions end.

Review of The Oxford Hotel in Oxford, England

Location: B

Here’s the thing, if you’re wanting to be within walking distance of City Centre in Oxford this is not the hotel for you. It will take about 10 minutes to drive into the City Centre from the hotel depending on the traffic. The Oxford Hotel is very close to one of the park and ride busses, however. And if it’s your first time coming to Oxford, I highly recommend the park and ride because parking is ridiculous to find in the city! One good thing about the hotel is that parking is free and there were plenty of open spaces for all of the cars while we were there.

Oxford
Oxford City Centre

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Service: A+

The front desk was excellent and we were treated very well. Also, at the bar and restaurant the staff was very courteous as well. Some of the servers seemed to not have a very good grasp on English but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be overcome with a little bit of gesturing.

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Some of the rooms require navigating an unusual number of turning hallways to get to your room.

Cleanliness: A-

The room, bathroom, sheets, etc. were clean but not in great condition. There were some small but noticeable cracks  along the counter where the sink connected and so while the room was clean, it didn’t feel quite as pristine because of that condition. Other than that everything was just fine.

Rooms: A-

The double room was a bit small but for UK standards it was definitely acceptable. There was no refrigerator or microwave in the room which was a bit of a bummer but there was a desk and a small tv in there. The window shades did a great job of blacking out the sun, which was nice and there was also a heater which came in handy. The bed was a bit firm but still pretty comfortable and as stated the sheets and blankets were clean.

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Internet: C

The free internet was very slow and there was pretty much no point in even attempting to use it because I couldn’t get anything done on it. We luckily were upgraded to the faster internet for free but even that internet connection was pretty bad. So if you’re in need of a good wifi connection, make sure you upgrade and hopefully your connection will be a little better than ours was.

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Bang for buck: A-

2 nights: $280

Overall, the room didn’t blow me away but for the price it was a good deal. I enjoyed the drinks at the bar and the food at the cafe wasn’t bad either. My only real complaint would be the internet speed – hopefully that was just a one time thing. Other than that, I can’t complain too much and for about $140/night I think we got pretty good worth for the money we spent.

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