With Hilton recently announcing four brand new cards to their portfolio, I decided to apply for the lesser American Express Hilton Ascend card. To my excitement, I was approved on spot!
For further context, my fiance and I decided to upgrade her engagement ring a bit. When we found the cost to be about $1,000, she turned to me and said, “We need to sign up for a new card for an initial spend bonus.” Yep, she’s a special one – haha!
In This Post
American Express Hilton Ascend Credit Card Review
We both looked around and found the American Express Hilton Ascend. I just received my card in the mail and couldn’t be more excited. Here are all the great benefits of the Hilton Ascend to the AmEx family.
Related posts:
- My favorite lounges accessible with the Amex Platinum Card
- Amex or Citi? Which is the best Hilton Credit Card?
- Hilton Grand Vacations Club $149 for 4 days in Orlando
The Hilton Ascend Card Perks & Benefits
Initial spend bonus
Spend $2,000 in the first 3 months for 75,000 Hilton Honors Points. Spend another $1,000 in the first 6 months for an extra 25,000 Hilton Honors Points.
Many value this bonus to be worth about $500 (point valuations are currently saying 1 Hilton Point is worth 0.5 cents or $0.005). If one were to spend that $3,000 on a 3x multiplier, that would add another 9,000 points, at a $45 value.
Point multipliers
12x points per dollar spent directly with Hilton properties. 6x points per dollar on Gas, Restaurants, and Supermarkets. 3x points on all other eligible purchases.
Complimentary Gold Status
Yay for upgrades! If you spend $40,000 in a calendar year, you will be upgraded to Hilton Diamond through the following year.
Weekend Night Reward
Spend $15,000 and you will receive a free weekend night. This certificate is good at almost ANY Hilton property anywhere in the world. There are a handful of exclusions, but don’t worry about them.
No foreign transaction fees!
Vacations can be expensive enough. The last you want is to be charged an additional 3% for the “convenience” of using your credit card while traveling internationally. This should be a standard benefit of any credit card you are considering applying for.
Check out these tips to save on airport parking, dining while traveling, and during holiday travel.
Priority Pass Select Membership
This one is my absolute favorite! You get 10 complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits. I just verified with AmEx that if the primary cardholder is present, up to 2 guests are free! Anything past that is $27/person.
The Bald Thoughts
At a $95 annual fee, this is a great card for the average spending traveler. The older brother of this card, the Hilton Honors Aspire is a great card as well but has a $450 annual fee. A great card for a heavy spender.
With over $800 in signup value, I highly recommend this card!
However, my largest gripe with the Hilton Honors Points is lack of value. This 100,000 points for average hotel spending will probably get me 2 free nights, 3 at max.
Check out our credit card marketplace for the latest credit card offers.
so if you were to go with your wife to a PP lounge, that only counts as 1 out of 10 visits? I always thought it counts per person per visit
Correct! She and I visited the aspire lounge and I was only billed for 1 visit.
“point valuations are currently saying 1 Hilton Point is worth .005 cents.”
By that, you probably meant each Hilton point is worth .005 dollars or .5 cents?
That means 1 point is worth 1/2 of a cent. so 200 points is worth $1 US dollar.
Rp Charles was right. You are correct to say “.5 cent” or “.005 dollar” or “$.005”. Not “.005 cents”. Congrats on the sharp fiancee – well played!
She’s a keeper definitely!
And yes, I was never the best at math haha!
Can you still get this card if you’ve had the Amex Hilton Surpass?
Yes you can!
Do you have a DP indicating those who had the Surpass are eligible for Ascend signup bonus? I haven’t seen any yet.
If you could clarify what “DP” means, I’d be happy to help!
DP = datapoint. Not sure you’re eligible for this sign-up bonus if you’ve had the Hilton Surpass card in the past. This according to the “once-per-lifetime limitation” Amex rule that’s in effect.
3x spend * $0.005= $0.015 or 1.5%
6x spend *$0.005 = $0.03 or 3%
If you spend an additional $12,000 spend after earning the bonus, you would get at least 36,000 points (non bonus spend) and a free weekend night. If your spend was split 50/50 between bonus (gas, restaurants & supermarkets) and non-bonus, you would earn 54,000 points and a free weekend night.