Hilton and American Express offer a suite of co-branded credit cards ranging from the no-annual-fee *Hilton Honors* (see rates & fees) to the priciest (but still well worth it, if you ask us) *Hilton Aspire*. And each and every one of them just got a lot more appealing with new limited-time welcome offers!

Here's what you can currently earn with each Hilton Amex card:

Let's be perfectly clear: More points are always welcome, but Hilton Honors don't go nearly as far as they used to after a series of recent devaluations. What makes these offers especially exciting is that Hilton is throwing in free night award certificates, too! 

Considering these certificates can be used at any property with standard award availability, Hilton's entire portfolio of hotels is fair game – including ultra-luxe properties that cost up to 250,000 points per night as well as the 400-plus Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) that Hilton has added over the past few years. It's hard to overstate just how valuable these free nights can be, and being able to earn one on the no-annual fee (see rates & fees) Hilton Honors Card and the $150 per year (see rates & fees) Surpass card is pretty incredible.

With sometimes shockingly high award rates that have soared even higher just in the last year, many travelers have soured on Hilton lately … while others are scared off altogether. Between these big bonuses and plenty of additional ways to earn points, we'd argue Hilton is still a solid option for racking up (and redeeming) hotel points.

These cards also come with other perks, such as automatic elite status, annual resort credits, and the ability to earn insanely valuable free-night certificates. Combined with the points and free nights, you can piece together a great trip with any one of these bonuses.

Just remember: Credit cards are serious business. All the Hilton points in the world aren't worth digging yourself into debt if you can't afford to pay off every dime you charge to your new card.

Read on for full details on each of these cards and their exciting welcome offers.

 

The Suite of Hilton Honors Credit Cards

Hilton Honors American Express Card

  • Welcome Offer: bonus_miles_full
  • Earn Hilton Honors™ Silver Status for as long as you have the card.
  • Get Hilton Honors™ Gold Status if you spend $20,000 or more in a calendar year.
  • 7x Hilton Honors Bonus Points: For each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • 5x Hilton Honors Bonus Points: At U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
  • 3x Hilton Honors Bonus Points: on all other eligible purchases.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • No Annual Fee (see rates & fees)

 

*Hilton Honors*

 

Learn more about the *Hilton Honors*.

 

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

  • Welcome Offer: bonus_miles_full 
  • Earn a free night certificate after you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year, valid at almost any Hilton property.
  • Get up to $200 back each year for purchases made directly with Hilton. You'll get $50 in statement credits to use at Hilton properties each quarter, up to $200 per calendar year.
  • Get Hilton Honors™ Gold Status for as long as you have the card. This will get you free breakfast at almost any Hilton hotel abroad or a daily food and beverage credit at U.S. properties.
  • Earn Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status if you spend $40,000 or more in a calendar year.
  • Earn 12x Hilton Honors Bonus Points on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
  • Earn 6x Hilton Honors Bonus Points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
  • Earn 4x Hilton Honors Bonus Points on U.S. online retail purchases.
  • Earn 3x Hilton Honors Bonus Points on all other eligible purchases.
  • Get complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive Status – easily our favorite car rental elite status.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • $150 annual fee (see rates & fees)

 

*Hilton Surpass*

 

Learn more about the *Hilton Surpass*.

 

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

  • Welcome Offer: bonus_miles_full
  • Get top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond™ Status for as long as you have the card.
  • Get up to $400 in Hilton Resorts statement credits: Each calendar year, you’ll receive up to $400 in statement credits for incidentals charged to your card at participating Hilton resorts – a category that includes many Hilton properties. Cardholders get one $200 credit from January through June and another credit from July through December.
  • Free night certificate: After opening your account and again each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive a certificate for a free night for any property in Hilton's portfolio.
  • Additional free night certificates: You can earn a second free night certificate by making $30,000 in purchases in a calendar year, plus another after spending $60,000 in the same year (for up to three free nights total).
  • Get up to $200 in annual airline credit: Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter on purchases made directly with an airline (including airfare) or through amextravel.com.
  • Earn 14x Hilton Honors points per dollar for each eligible purchase on your Card made directly with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.
  • Earn 7x Hilton Honors points per dollar for eligible purchases on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants.
  • Earn 3x Hilton Honors points bonus points on all other purchases.
  • Get complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive Status – easily our favorite status with a rental car chain.
  • $209 CLEAR+Credit: Get up to $209 per calendar year in statement credits when you pay for a CLEAR+ Membership with the Aspire Card.
  • $550 annual fee (see rates & fees)

We consider the Hilton Aspire Card the best hotel credit card, period – read our guide to see why!

 

*Hilton Aspire*

 

Learn more about the *Hilton Aspire*

 

Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

  • Welcome Offer: bonus_miles_full
  • $240 a Year in Hilton Credits: Get a $60 statement credit per quarter for eligible purchases at any Hilton property worldwide.
  • Get Hilton Honors™ Gold Status for as long as you have the card. This will get you free breakfast at almost any Hilton hotel abroad, or a daily food and beverage credit at U.S. properties.
  • Instant National Car Emerald Club Executive Status
  • Get Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status if you spend $40,000 or more in a calendar year. You will earn Hilton's top-tier Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
  • 12x Hilton Honors points: At participating hotels in the Hilton portfolio.
  • 5x Hilton Honors points: On all other eligible purchases made on the first $100,000 in purchases each calendar year (then 3x points per dollar thereafter). 
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • $195 Annual Fee (see rates & fees)

Not sure if you're eligible for a small business credit card? You might be surprised!

 

*hilton honors business*

 

Learn more about the *Hilton Honors Business*.

 

Best Use for a Hilton Free Night Award

How much time do you have? This list could get long … in a hurry.

With a Hilton free night reward, the world is your oyster: We've used these certificates to book properties that cost $800 to $2,000 a night (or more). The value is truly incredible.

Like many other hotel programs, Hilton uses a dynamic pricing model … with a twist. While the points rate is typically tied to the cash price, they also have “standard awards” at a set rate for every property. From brand-new luxury hotels to boutique properties to all-inclusive resorts, nothing is off-limits with these free night rewards, so long as there is standard award availability.

If you want to maximize the value of the certificates, certain Hilton brands will get you far more bang for your buck than others: Generally speaking, Waldorf Astoria, SLH, Conrad, LXR, or even Hilton's Curio collection properties will be your best bet. Then again, you'd want to stay much longer than just one night at many of these top-tier properties. So a combination of a free night certificate with a newfound stash of Hilton points – or even transferring Amex Membership Rewards points to top off your Hilton account – could be the ticket.

In no particular order, here are a handful of our favorites.

 

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal (México)

The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal is easily one of the best ways to put these free nights to use – and one of our favorite hotels, period.

But consider yourself warned: It's not cheap. Cash rates typically range between $1,500 to as much as $3,000 per night – especially over the peak winter. However, as long as you find award availability at 250,000 points per night, you can put a free night certificate to use instead.

 

waldorf astoria los cabos pedregal

 

Read our full review of the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal!

 

Calala Island (Nicaragua)

With just a half dozen villas, Calala Island – a near-private island all-inclusive resort experience off the coast of Nicaragua – has historically been hard to book with points … and otherwise charges $4,000-plus per night. But our Thrifty Traveler Premium hotel alerts team has unearthed a few instances of wide-open award availability at a whopping 240,000 points a night.

The good news? That's the standard award pricing, which means you could use a free-night certificate to stay here for nothing out of pocket. And you'll be hard-pressed to find a better value for a free night certificate in Hilton's entire portfolio.

 

pool at calala island with palm trees, umbrellas, and the sun setting over the ocean in the background.
Photo courtesy of Hilton

 

Book your flights into Managua (MGA), and the Calala team will take you on the long trek to the resort by short flight, car, and then a 90-minute boat ride. Yes, your Hilton points or certificates cover everything except the flight to Managua!

 

Hermitage Bay (Antigua)

Also new to Hilton through the SLH partnership is Hermitage Bay, a Caribbean all-inclusive resort in Antigua that you can book for 230,000 points a night after another recent increase.

With cash rates often hovering around $3,000 or more, it's a solid way to use points or free night certificates. Our editor, Kyle, recently stayed here and said it might just be one of the best all-inclusive resorts in the world. It was also his best-ever Hilton redemption.

 

hermitage bay beach bar and ocean

 

Read more: A Full Review of Hermitage Bay Resort in Antigua

 

Grand Hotel Victoria (Italy)

Lake Como in Italy is one of the dreamiest places on the planet. If you have Hilton points or free night certificates, why not use them at one of the best hotels in the area?

The Grand Hotel Victoria is new to the Hilton portfolio, again through the SLH partnership. It's located on the western shores of Lake Como in the town of Menaggio, far away from the touristy areas of the lake, and while we haven't stayed ourselves, it gets rave reviews.

Standard room award availability is bookable for 170,000 points per night, but paying cash can cost as much as $1,400 here during the peak season, making it an easy entry on this list.

 

Grand Hotel Victoria on Lake Como in Italy

 

 

Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique

Newer is (almost) always better when it comes to hotels … but that isn't an issue at the Waldorf Costa Rica Punta Cacique. After opening last April, this hotel is about as new as it gets, having shaken off most of the early-opening jitters we often see at brand-new properties.

Our executive editor, Kyle, stayed here earlier this month and had (mostly) glowing things to say about it. The grounds are stunning, the pools are fabulous, and the rooms are modern, spacious, and well-designed. 

 

Waldorf Astoria Cost Rica Punta Cacique pool with a cabana, lounge chairs and hotel in the background

 

The property is about a 40-minute ride from the Liberia (LIR) airport, and cash rates start at around $1,500 a night, so using a free night certificate or even 120,000 Hilton points is an excellent value.

 

What You Can Get With Hilton Points

From the no-annual-fee *Hilton Honors* to the top-tier Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, there are a lot of points (and free nights!) at stake with the welcome offers on Hilton's suite of Amex cards.

But what can you really get with 175,000 Hilton Honors points?

Like many other hotel programs, Hilton uses a dynamic pricing model … with a twist. While the points rate is typically tied to the cash price, they also have “standard awards” at a set rate for every property. This means award rates can be all over the map at many Hilton properties – sometimes as high as 1 million points a night – but there’s still a lowest-and-best base rate when redeeming Hilton Honors points. 

Then there's also Hilton's recent addition of nearly 400 Small Luxury Hotel (SLH) properties, which has been a massive win for travelers with Hilton Honors points, opening the door to book some truly impressive properties around the globe. With many of these new SLH properties, you can get some serious bang for your buck. 

Pair all those points with the free night reward that comes with these cards, and you can book some really incredible Hilton stays with these bonuses.

 

Are You Eligible?

American Express welcome offer bonuses can only be earned once per lifetime. That means you generally can't earn another bonus on a card you've already held … but you can earn a new bonus on other versions you haven't yet opened – at least for now.

Amex has been adding new restrictions to some of its other families of credit cards, making it much harder for travelers to stack welcome bonuses on different Amex cards. For now, though, Hilton's portfolio of cards has been spared.

Plus, there's a quick way to check whether you'll be eligible for one of these welcome bonuses on the Hilton credit cards. Read about Amex's handy Apply with Confidence tool – and make sure to check out our post breaking down all the bank application rules you need to know.

 

Hilton Credit Cards

 

Even though Hilton Honors points may not go as far toward a free night as other hotel chains like Hyatt, or even as far as they did with Hilton itself just a few months ago, there's still tons of value to be had with a stash of Hilton points. Plus, you'd be picking up valuable benefits like automatic Hilton status, too.

Just for holding the Hilton Honors Surpass Card (or the Hilton Honors Business card), you get automatic Hilton Gold Status. That was one of our favorite hotel credit card perks for years, as it offered free breakfast for two guests at every stay. Unfortunately, that took a bit of a hit as Hilton replaced it with a less valuable food and beverage credit at U.S. properties. Still, it can take some expense out of your next hotel stay, especially with complimentary breakfast when traveling abroad.

 

Bottom Line

American Express is out with limited-time welcome offers on the full suite of Hilton co-branded credit cards, with as much as 175,000 points – and, more importantly, an uncapped free night reward – up for grabs, depending on which card you choose.

These big welcome offers, combined with other valuable benefits like elite status and free night certificates, make now the perfect time to add a Hilton card to your wallet!