Originally Posted by
mediator
Hands down, Hilton Aspire wins:
1. You get diamond status (publicly highest Hilton status).
2. Annual weekend cert without category restriction
3. $250 airline fee credit
4,$100 HILTON ON-PROPERTY CREDIT
1- Diamond status at Hilton is not comparable to Platinum at SPG. For example, you do not get guaranteed 4pm late checkout. You get the right to fight with a front desk clerk over your checkout and it will be somewhere around 2pm... more if you fight well.
2- The $100 on property credit must be booked via a unique Hilton link. Are the rates higher than booking without using that link?
One of the true perks of Aspire is the 7x on Air, Car, & Restaurant spend. Hilton points are valued at .006 cents per (I've personally found my redemptions to be ~5% higher... but we'll use .006). So that's 7x.006 or $4.20 per $100 spent on those categories. SPG Luxury Amex only provides 2x on those categories (since they are considered everyday spend). However, it's hard to calculate exactly the value of SPG points post Aug 1 since the reward chart isn't available yet. Still we can safely assume the new base is no greater than .009 (which is 1/3 of the previous 2.7 cents per SPG points were valued at). We know this since Marriott is converting all SPG points 1:3 on Aug 1. Now while a deval may occur (once might say it's darn likely), we simply don't know... so let's keep it where it is. That's .009*2 or $1.80 for every $100. That is some amazing difference on those categories making the Aspire card the CLEAR winner for Air, Car, and Restaurants (assuming of course you have need of Hilton points and can redeem for award stays). It's such a high level actually, that depending on how you redeem your airline miles, it may make sense to use over your direct airline cards when booking air (e.g., if you solely redeem for economy class).
As to everyday spend, the cards are equal assuming no Marriott deval come Aug 1. You earn 3x*.006 ($1.80) on Aspire and 2x*.009 ($1.80) on SPG Luxury.
For me the 1.8 level is darn close to 2% cashback cards. If you can get your Hilton redemptions up to .66, which is possible sometimes - you will just edge out 2% cashback. It is in the running for my everyday card (although I have yet to analyze Chase Ultimate rewards which may net more than 2%).
Another perk found on Aspire is that they offer premium roadside assistance. You get 4 tows free up to 10 miles annually. Plus, flat tire, lockout, etc. Could cancel AAA with that perk saving $50-$70 annually.