Whether the maneuvers some of us do to take advantage of the various credits for this card are “fudging” and/or “tricks” is semantics (and debatable). Regardless of where one is on that debate, those maneuvers are not unethical or amoral or illegal. Certainly those maneuvers are not nearly as questionable as some of the MS (manufactured spend) maneuvers posted here (covering the word “debit” or "gift" with a finger when asked to show the card, using someone else’s SSN, etc.). Certainly one is NOT a sap if one chooses to not do these maneuvers.

It's not been mentioned on this thread yet but Hilton Diamond status (and hence the Aspire card) had significantly greater value just a short while ago. Hilton in the past couple of years has replaced complimentary breakfast(s) for Diamonds with a breakfast credit (which usually pales in comparison to the actual cost of breakfast).

Even with that recent “devaluation”, consensus of opinions expressed on this and other threads is that the Aspire card, particularly in this age of (relative) unchurnability, is a keeper and well worth the annual fee even for infrequent and/or leisure and/or casual travelers.

Why not both?