Hilton Amex or MileagePlus Explorer?
 

Opinions welcome.

I normally stay in Hilton.
I usually fly in UA but haven't done any in two years.
50K CC spend per year.

I have Explorer, considering Amex.

Which Hilton American Express card are you considering? There are four: https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-honors/credit-cards/

Why not keep both? Split 30k organic spending to Hilton surpass and receive 2 weekend night award per year.(Hilton temporarily allows awards to be used on any night)

I do not like credit cards with high upfront fees (Hilton aspire) where you always have to find a use case for credits of free night certs. Difference between Hilton gold and diamond status is minimal , especially at overseas properties.

Probably no annual fee.

Ok then , you can get Hilton Gold status on this card with $20.000 annual spend. There is no need to spend more on this card per year.

In what categories does that fall into?

I can’t compare, but we are Hilton diamond through the personal Amex and we have been pleased with the program.

Diamond status is bundled with Aspire ($450), not the free card.

We don’t have aspire. My Amex bill that we pay off every month is about 7-8k a month. We started at I think gold and have spent our way up to diamond. We are lucky if the bill is only about 2k a month.

ETA: we have had this card for about a decade or more. Maybe we started as silver… I can’t remember.

The no-fee Hilton AmEx card offers a maximum Hilton Honors Gold status upon attaining $20K annual spend.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...#benefit-terms

The $95-annual-fee Hilton AmEx Surpass card offers Diamond status with a higher annual spend of $40K.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...#benefit-terms

The respective "complimentary" (no spend) status associated with these two personal cards are Silver and Gold, respectively.

It sounds as if the Hilton AmEx Surpass card is what whitewave currently has, perhaps upgraded at some point in the past from the no-fee version.

It is likely the Amex platinum Hilton gold status benefit.

Conversely, I don’t see the point of a modest annual fee card that I have to put spend into to realize value if I am not committed to at least occasional stays with the chain.

I find it trivially easy to liquidate the $250 Aspire airfare credit on Delta and Southwest flights. A weekend in Vegas or Phoenix soaking up sunshine at a resort for $200? Plus up to $250 of airfare? Sold. Then I don’t have to worry about spending on the card unless it’s to my advantage to.

Just following up: DH says we don’t pay a yearly fee for the Amex. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Great, there’s apparently a Mystery AMEX that’s not one of these and that nobody has ever heard of.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...ompare/hilton/

Yes, I thought I shouldn’t say anything because maybe the no fee card bumped us into diamond through purchases and I should shut up about it.

Remember that this year, the points from the Hilton cards are base points (viz. redeemable and count for status). $28k on any of the cards will get Diamond (less if spend is in bonus categories or if you're also doing some paid stays at Hilton not on your card).

​​​​​​Last year was similar, only with lower thresholds ($20k for Diamond).

$2k a month last year on the NAF card would've got Diamond, and is in shooting distance to retain into 2024.

$2k a month comes with an opportunity cost. The No-AF card earns 3X n unbonused spend, which is worth maybe $0.012 per dollar spend. So $0.008 less than a 2% cash back card or $16 a month or $192 a year. Might be worth considering getting the Aspire card and have Diamond status outright. Presumably not everything will be unbonused, but the Aspire card also earns more at Hilton stays and US restaurants, US grocery stores and US gas stations.

I'm not at all saying that trying to get Diamond from spending on the NAF card is worth it, just that it seems the most likely explanation for the mystery upthread.

I don't think you can earn 2 free nights by spending $30k, the benefits guide only mentions 1 free night after spending $15k.