A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,575
There are a lot of strings attached in the Aspire card.
- The $250 airline credit is very limited - mainly to fees that Flyertalkers don't pay. And you have to pick one airline. While some report hacks like buying low-value gift cards that look like baggage fees to Amex, who knows if that's reliable or will last?
- The $250 resort credit is limited to a very small subset of HHonors properties worldwide - about 200 of them. I looked at the list and I go years without visiting one of those particular hotels, and I've been Diamond for years and stay at lots of different Hiltons in different parts of the world.
- The $100 property credit is through a special link only. I'm guessing that "perk" will cost you money if you have access to any kind of HH rates better than standard rates.
For me, the HH card would be a $200 card only if I went out of my way to stay at one of the qualifying hotels for the resort credit. Otherwise, it's a $450 card. The 14 points per dollar is nice. (The OP's math isn't quite right - it's the 14 pts HH vs. 6 pts MR that should be compared. The 29 HH includes other base and bonus points unrelated to the card.)
HH Diamond has become a rather weak status over the years - not as good as SPG Platinum and likely not as good as Marriott Platinum Premier post-8/1. I had a recent stay where Diamond status did enable me to haggle with a front desk clerk and have her go in the back to "speak with her manager" to get me a 2PM checkout. I felt like I had to pull a total DYKWIA move to get what should be a simple, easy request for any hotel chain frequent guest. Made me miss SPG/Marriott.
I look at SPG Luxury Amex as an easy $150 card that generates a nice room-night. We all stay in the hotels, so the $300 credit is always going to be easy to collect. I probably put CSR, Citi Prestige, and Amex Plat as better values if you want to carry only one super-premium card and already have your MR/SPG status the regular way. But I've got SPG Luxury Amex above HH Aspire, mainly because of the nearly-unattainable airline credit (unless you can trick it) and the rather limited hotel credits.