Upgrade to Surpass Honors AmEx: Earn 50,000+ bonus points

Ok I've have a few questions recent points posted to my account and before I contact HH, I was hoping you experts can clue me in as to I should have received according to the T&Cs and what I've actually received.

In January, 2009 I signed up for the regular HH AMEX and earned 55K HH points (50K in purchase promos & 5K for 1 extra cardholder & 1 paid stay) with the promo listed at the end of this post.

This month, I upgraded to the Surpass card and so far have received:

• The full 40K 1st purchase bonus
  
• Nothing for 1st stay (fwiw, it was an award stay-with no incidentals charged)
  
• 2,500 points for 2nd stay (fwiw, HH Activity states this was my 1st stay -it was an award stay-with no incidentals charged)

So, my questions are:

1. Did I receive the 2500 points stay award in error (as it was an award stay?)

OR

2. Should I have received an additional 2500 points for the actual first award stay?

3. Was it HH's error to have given me the full 40K purchase bonus as I was an existing cardholder who had received a similar first purchase bonus at initial sign up?

My reading of the Surpass T&Cs led me to believe any new 1st purchase bonus would be net of earlier bonus received.

I would hate to contact HH asking about a possible missing 2,500 stay bonus and have them realize they gave me an extra (and larger) 1st purchase bonus in error.

So, did I luck out or does HH actually owe an additional 2,500 points?

TIA


Highlights of the 2009 regular card promo include:

* Earn 20,000 HHonors bonus points with your first purchase

* Earn 2,500 points for each of your first four stays at a Hilton hotel

* Earn 30,000 HHonors bonus points when you spend $1,500 in your first 3 months of Cardmembership

* Earn 2,500 Hilton HHonors bonus points when you add an Additional Cardmember to your account
and other extraneous possible points


Finally, apologies to Mods as I wasn't sure which of the many existing HH AMEX threads my question belongs

You got lucky with the extra 40K points. Consider it a gift, it should have been new offer - anything previously received.

2.5K goes for your 1st 8 stays, award or paid. You should have gotten one with your reward stay but sometimes it takes a while for the card to sync with your account. You should get 2.5K for your next 7 stays.

FWIW, I got first-purchase bonus way back when as I upgraded, also (it was 30K at that point). ^

What s/he said.


Bobette

i have the regular amex card....if i also got the surpass card (not an upgrade but another card altogether) then am i entitled to the 40k points????

When you upgrade you get the first purchase bonus less your previous first purchase bonus (but not less a previous spending bonus).

No, you get 40K-reg Amex sign-up bonus. For many, it has been about 20K.

I agree with mnredfox. You got really lucky. When I upgraded to Surpass, I was only awarded the difference (20K points).


alextktan

i guess something is better than nothing....

Check out the Surpass thread for more details, but some people were able to negotiate for more points too.

Thanks all for the reality check!

I'll appreciate my good fortune on the extra 1st purchase points and save myself a call to HH

Planning to upgrade my hilton credit card to Surpass. Would like to time this to maximize the number of months my Hilton account will be upgraded to Gold. How does the timing of gold status work post upgrade to Surpass credit card? What would be the optimal month(s) to do the upgrade to maximize time as a Gold Hilton member?

If you wait until January, you'd be guaranteed Gold status for the remainder of 2011 as well as all of 2012.

If you wait until January you should be gold through March of 2013. You would get it from the remainder of the year you quailify (2011) and all of the following year (2012) through march of the next year.

If you think you will have $20K in spending in 2011 or qualify the "traditional" way for gold in 2011 and have any hilton stays planned before year end, I would upgrade imediately so you can enjoy the gold benefits right away and get the bonus points on your hilton stays.

I upgraded before I left for my trip to Miami. Got free breakfast for the family (there was 3 of us) as a gold. 1 of the nights was a paid night (Sunday) so I'm rocking the extra 9 points per $.

I was thinking about doing the upgrade next year in Jan but decided that the benefits now would be better worth it.