vincewy

Another data point. I've signed up for HH Ascend (ask for referral link to get 150K) rather than taking upgrade offer out of my no fee HH card, as of now my upgrade offer links of both Ascend and Aspire are still there. BTW, my Aspire upgrade offer comes on and off, I still plan to upgrade to Ascend first before upgrading to Aspire to maximize my bonus.

I wouldn't worry about upgrade links disappear, AmEx has upgrade offers continuously of all their products and just wait for the highest offers.

Blueskyheaven

I upgraded my no fee Hilton card to the Aspire card 2 days ago and have yet to get the new card but I see that online is showing my hilton card as Aspire with Diamond status.

The rep told me my card is already aspire card even though I don't have yet the new Aspire card.


When will I be charged the $450 AF? Can I now buy the SW GC to get the credit? Hard to spend the $4K. I hope I can meet this req within 90 days. I know it is PIA these days .

Happy

Agree. I have seen Ascend 150K upgrade at least 2 if not 3 times - all were for the 150K. We did not take the bait because we have no need to stay at any full service Hilton property in 2019 and first half of 2020 with our current concentration at Marriott / SPG. There is no reason to pay the AF when we would not need the benefit (Gold status) until another year.

I am fairly certain we will continue to see the upgrade offers above 100K to 150K in the future because of Hilton's revenue based award system. There is no reason to hoard those points if you still have a few hundred Ks in your accounts, after all you still need to have enough organic spend to meet the requirement, when the spend can be put to somewhere else.

Blueskyheaven

Does the Aspire come in regular mail/envelope via USPS? I did online upgrade few days ago. When do you get charged the AF? Does the $250 charge on airline for the fee credit count towards the $4K spend req?

Thanks

sdsearch

It's best of assume that it doesn't count. That's because one member was told they didn't qualify for the signup bonus because of that (in some other thread here in the Amex forum). We're not sure if that was true reason, but it's always better to "pad" some just in case when doing minimum spend for any signup bonus, and things that are in question like this are especially useful to "pad" around.

Caribgrl

I have a HH. And got an offer to upgrade to the Ascend. If I take that offer can I downgrade back to just the Hilton Honors again?

sdsearch

If you wait at least a full year after upgrading, yes. Keep in mind that these days Amex keeps track of (and frowns on) people who do something just for a bonus and then downgrade "too soon", so that's why you want to wait as long as possible. Otherwise it may hurt you in your future attempts to get other Amex cards.

Caribgrl

I thought I could. But Thanks for the confirmation. And yes will keep in mind about AMEX not being so happy with this.

acker

I have no fee HH Amex. Finally received the 150k Ascend offer, but conventional wisdom says I should apply for 150k Ascend, then down the line, when (150k) upgrade offer appears, I upgrade my no fee HH Amex, resulting in hopefully 150k + 150k . Correct? I should know this but I can't self refer if I don't have the Ascend card to start with, right? Spouse also has no fee HH Amex, and Aspire (via upgrade offer).

cxue88

I had no fee HH. I got the 150K Ascend offer email and took it on 3/25. I spent more than 3K before the statement close date 4/5. I haven't seen the bonus points yet (4/8). Amex chat told me that it will take 6-8 weeks to get 150K. Will it take that long?

I also see the 150K Aspire offer when I log in on mobile now. I want to get Aspire card so it looks good for me. Will I get the 150K Aspire after I just took the 150K Ascend offer?

asdfghjk

For those who upgraded to the Aspire, does the anniversary free weekend night come on the anniversary of the original card, or the anniversary of the date of upgrade? Thanks.

sdsearch

I didn't upgrade long enough ago to get to the first anniversary yet, but the initial free weekend night cert that was supposed to come at card upgrade took a couple months, and I get the impression that they're rather late for anniversary certs too. So whichever calendar date it's tied to, it's tied very loosely.

asdfghjk

I am planning for a vacation next year using points and free night. If if the cert comes at the original anniversary+2 months, that would be fine. If it is based on the upgrade anniversary, it would be too late.

zcdx

did you get your free night for upgrading to aspire card?

sdsearch

I did, though it took months after the upgrade to get it.