amex hilton aspire questions
 

Planning to do my upgrade with AMEX for a soft pull to the Amex Hilton Aspire card. Hope someone will be able to answer my questions:

1. What is the typical waiting time to receive the free one weekend night certificate after upgrading from Surpass to Aspire?
2. When do I receive my $250 airline credit? Thinking of using Delta airlines as I have a flight in mind. Can I buy an E gift card delta.com website ? If so, can it be any amount of E gift card on delta.com website?
3. For the $250 resort fee, I have a complimentary stay at the Embassy Scottsdale Resort ( won at a charitable organization auction) at a resort on participation list. Can I buy anything with it and charge in room to receive the credit? Such as gift shop items, gift card, if any at checkout desk, and activities I book?
4. Soft pull or hard pull?

1. don't know
2. immediately, no.
3. If it is charged by the hotel and it is on the participating resort list then yes.

1, Had miNe right after statement closed but was new application.
2. No. That is one benefit that I hate because it’s so hard to use for frequent travelers since I don’t check bags and even if I did I have three free bags and if I’m not upgraded to first then I’m automatically in c+ which has free drinks and I get club access with my delta card. If you aren’t a frequent flyer you can use it for checked bags and skyclub access
3. Yes. As long as you give the card to the front desk for incidentals and the hotel is on the list then Amy room charges will apply to the credit.

I know Amex automatically extended the Free Night Certificate, but has anyone called to have the Resort Fee extended?

Is number 3 true, if the stay was part of a gift or raffle, as the OP states? I thought the resort fee had to be part of two PAID nights, and would be happy if I am wrong!

1. Roughly a couple months.
2. No gift cards any more. What works varies by airline, and there are separate threads you have to read for each airline to see what works for that airline.
3. As long as it's charged to your room, it should count toward the $250 resort fee.
4. No pull required, since in an upgrade you aren't changing the amount of credit or the terms of the credit on the card. You're only changing the annual fee and the benefits. But in any case, for existing Amex customers, Amex most often does soft pulls periodically when you can't even see them.

If I upgrade a surpass to an Aspire card now, will I be able to use the resort credits with restaurant purchases this summer? I can't figure out if that temporary benefit will apply to new Aspire cardholders.

Unless otherwise stated, yes it applies to all Aspire cardholders.

Hijacking this thread... with the Aspire card, is there a way on the Amex site to see how many Honors points you've earned and have pending in the current billing cycle? I've only had the card a couple of weeks, so not sure if this just isn't available yet, or if it's not a thing at all. I can look at individual transactions, but I'm wondering if Amex kindly adds them up for me somewhere.

I'm thinking of something like with the MR cards, where you can see how many MR points you have pending, and will be available upon payment...

No. AMEX doesn’t do that for Hilton cards. You can see multipliers on transactions though. The math is up to you.

Got it - thanks!

Any idea how long it takes for the diamond status?

My status switched to diamond within a day of card approval. IIRC, I think it was only a few hours, but definitely within a day.

Tons of Aspire threads, not sure where to put this, but...

Just got a "thank you on your anniversary" e-mail and noticed it mentions "7x for airfare booked through Amex Travel" - is this a change for the worse? I haven't purchased any new tickets recently, but I know for sure in the past I got 7x when I booked directly with any airline, never through Amex Travel.

Website still says: Hilton Honors Bonus Points 7X for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants.‡