AMEX - Three additional points vs two at selected merchants
I noticed the following change to my agreement in my last statement.
Effective Jan. 1, 2009.
"Points Accumulation Agreement
We are replacing the first two paragraphs of the Points Accumulation Agreement with the following:
"You will receive three Hilton HHonors bonus points for each U.S. dollar of "Eligible Spending" (as defined below) on your Hilton HHonors
Card from American Express (the "Card"). You will receive three additional Hilton HHonors bonus points (for a total of six Hilton HHonors bonus points) for each U.S. dollar of Eligible
Spending at the following categories of merchants, excluding warehouse clubs and superstores: supermarkets; drug stores; stand-alone
gas stations; and home telephone, wireless, cable, satellite TV, and Internet service providers.
You will receive three additional Hilton HHonors bonus points (for a total of six Hilton HHonors bonus points) for each U.S. dollar of Eligible
Spending on the Card at any Hilton Family hotel worldwide (excluding Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare purchases and package sales).All points are accumulated subject to the terms set forth below and to Hilton HHonors Terms and Conditions.
Hilton HHonors membership, earning of Points & Milesę, and redemption of points are subject to Hilton HHonors Terms and Conditions."
Programs: UA 1K, MR Plat, HH Diamond, SPG Plat, AGR Select Plus
Posts: 430
Quote:
Originally Posted by VA1379
Yes, restaurants are currently part of the list. I guess that is the main tradeoff for having an extra point for the other categories.
Shoot.. I guess that might work out better for some, but I have traditionally earned a lot of bonus points on restaurant spending through meals on the road with co-workers. This is disappointing news.
I did not realize that restaurants were not in the new list anymore. That's not good. They're the most of my 5x spending. It was also easy to get plenty of points when going out to lunch with co-workers, taking the cash off the table and putting the whole tab on the card.
Programs: IC Platinum Ambassador, UA Mileage Premier Executive, SPG Platinum, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 413
I noticed on the American Express Website I currently cannot find any additional information on the Hilton Card or even see it listed in card side by side comparisons--possibly to update the listed changes in the thread and possibly more changes???
This is going to encourage more HH spending for me in the new 6 HH point category for sure.
The Costco Amex (Business Card) gives 3% cashback on restaurants. Worth roughly what 5 HH points are, I'd say, and almost certainly better than 3.
It also give 5% cashback on gasoline and 2% at hotels/rental cars/airfares and a variety of other useful ~3-5% discounts for Hertz, FedEx, DL, Marriott, etc.
I specifically got the HH AMEX for the restaurant, grocery store and gas station bonus points so this really is a negative development for my spending patern. Now the card will only be used for the other two categories getting 6 pts. per $. Will now have to decide if my restaurant spending will go back to my SPG AMEX or which card I want to use moving forward. The one additional point for the other categories will definitely not make up for the loss of the restaurant bonus!
Is the Hilton card worth getting to use for just one large expense at a Hilton property verus using a starwood card? An expense large enough that would put you imediately over bonus point threshold?
