mareh

When my husband applied for the Surpass card lasy year, his offer included a one time anniversary weeekend night when he pays the annual fee in the second year. (No spending requirement.) Will he still receive this night next spring when he pays the fee?

HawkeyeFlyer

It is not "like" that, it is EXACTLY that. Airlines know you have less options depending on where you live and you are less likely to jump around because the status is harder to get. I fly out of ORD on United and rarely have an empty seat on a plane. They don't need to hand out more status when 3/4 the people boarding are already in groups 1 and 2

jws5527

I've been a no-annual fee Hilton cardholder for many years, but with the recently announced changes, I plan on upgrading to the Surpass/Ascend card.

Currently, AMEX is offering a 75,000 point bonus (with $3k spending) upon upgrade to what is still the Surpass and the annual fee will be $75 (for the first year) as long as I upgrade by January 17; if I upgrade afterwards, the annual fee will be $95.

I'm considering delaying upgrading until after January 17. Have any other NAF cardholders who are considering upgrading to Ascend thought about waiting until after January 17 to upgrade?

I value Hilton points at $.005 each, so essentially what I'd be doing is "betting" that in the future the upgrade bonus will be greater than 79,000 points (75,000 + $20 / .005). Of course, I'm running the risk that the upgrade offer won't change and then I didn't save $20 that I could have.

I never hit $40,000 in spending in a year so the upgrade to Diamond won't happen, and I'm still confident that I could hit $15,000 in spending to get the free weekend night as long as I upgrade my card by about April or so.

azepine00

Would cancelling the card likely provide an option of getting another bonus for a new version plus an upgrade a year later?

IsleOfMan

Are there and LDW and/or Comprehensive/Collision benefits for car rentals with the Aspire card?

needtoescape

I am in a similar situation to you, but I value Hilton points slightly lower, do not usually put spend on my HH Amex unless there are Amex offers or other bonuses, and am considering the Aspire card as an upgrade option as well, since it could end up being a lower net cost than the Ascend with the additional benefits. I also had a couple of opportunities to upgrade to Surpass with a 100K bonus within the last year, so I am not that excited about the current 75K offer. I have a Hilton stay coming up in March where gold/diamond status would be a slight benefit to me, but it is at a Doubletree, so it is basically just free breakfast for one person. Upgrading now to save $20 is a consideration, but I am tempted to wait and hope that Ascend/Aspire offer better sign up bonuses. Also, although I don't do a lot of manufactured spending, I do buy some gift cards to meet new card spending requirements rather than diverting a lot of spending from current cards, so Amex's "war on gaming" makes me somewhat hesitant to try to get signup bonuses from them. I still might change my mind though and upgrade to Surplus before January 18.

yerffej201

nailed it

sdsearch

I'm not sure if Aspire is worth getting if you're only going to stay at most once at a HH property a year. That's because the $450 free is hard to whittle down below $200ish without HH stays of certain kinds. And is a $200ish effective AF for HH Diamond really worth it over a $95 AF for HH Gold if you're only going to stay at HH once a year? (And that $200ish estimate is based on being able to use most or of the airline "incidentals" credit; if you can't, it's even worse! But until the card arrives, we can't be sure what exactly will work for that, since on other Amex cards what actually works does not match T&Cs about what's supported to work and not work.)

I'm not saying you need to stay a lot at HH to make the card work, but the value of the card is maximized if you stay a night or two at an HH resort (the card paying $200 of that), plus if you make good use of the free weekend night cert (which might need to be at a different property on a different stay).

If you're not going use HH enough to do that, the effective AF of the Aspire card may not make sense over the full AF of the Surpass->Ascend card.

acarney

I suspect this will attract less hardcore Hilton travelers and more casual travelers. This is a great perk for someone that just hits the Hiltons for personal travel because one, they probably don't already have status, and two, provides perks for both an airline and hotel. Business travelers aren't paying for most their flights, so the credit isn't huge for them and they already have status. The interesting point here would be this, the influx of diamonds may tend to show up more around holidays and weekends compared to standard weekdays. This might not affect current diamonds much at all except for if they have business near the holidays or when they extend a trip into the weekend for some personal time or a personal trip. This may just actually let Hilton maximize their diamond offerings without incurring real (regular) capacity issues and degraded quality, except for the occasional holiday peak time, etc.

I travel mainly for personal reasons and don't have status. I would like status. I tend to hit a Hilton maybe four or five times a year, usually for just overnight or two night stays and maybe one longer 4 to 5 night stay every other year. Most the travel is checking in on a Saturday and checking out on a Sunday. The longer stay usually is checking in midweek and checking out Sunday or Monday. Most of that is probably not going to affect the business traveler but would be away for me to gain diamond and let me utilize my free night on one of those quick stays and the resort credit on another quick stay. (Since the resort credit will apply to nightly rate; I would actually shift from a non-resort stay to trying to find one that counted as a resort to utilize that credit for a night). If I can utilize the resort stay for a night or heavily discounted night, the free night stay, and the airline credit every year, then I'm basically break even or better AND I have diamond and much higher point earnings at Hiltons. The big wildcard will be if eGift card work arounds and stuff keep working with Amex for the travel credits. Otherwise they become much less useful for the casual personal traveler.

Really wish this offered Amex lounge access, even if it was like limited to 10 visits a year or something. Then it would almost be a no brainer on ditching the platinum and getting this instead. As it stands now though it's a hard pick between the two... I do like Amex lounge access, I only am missing out on $50/year airline credits, BUT MR points are MUCH more valuable and easier to use then Hilton points...

Jenn0625

Questions I have about this whole transfer of accounts:

1. Currently a Surpass cardholder since May 2017. If I want to upgrade to the Aspire instead of the Ascend can I do so on 1/18/18 or do I have to wait until my one year Surpass anniversary in May 2018? If I can upgrade this month (mid Jan) when would the $450 AF hit?
2. Planning on staying at Grand Wailea this summer (5 nights all reward /no cash stay) so would we be able to charge things like food/restaurant, bar drinks, parking, etc to our room and pay for all of that with the Aspire card and that charge count toward the resort credit reimbursement? Also can the resort credit be used towards booking cash stays at the included resorts?
3. For the $100 resort credit could that be awarded for an all points stay at one of the included resorts or does it only apply to cash reservations (min 2 nights)?
4. if I stay with the ascend or upgrade to the aspire, would my anniversary now be Jan or would it stay in May?

Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to decide in my situation if it would be worth wile to upgrade or stick with the ascend. Husband and I both got the Surpass last May with the 100,000 bonus pts and free weekend night on 1 yr anniversary in hopes of using all of those benefits for trips this year, just trying to get a new game plan for both accounts now!

jamesteroh

In my case as a business traveller though it makes it easier to just have a credit card and put $40K on it (or this year just get a $450 credit card and literally have get paid to be diamond) and use the benefits when I have to stay at Hilton for business and personal trips and give stays to Hyatt or SPG when their hotels are cheaper or more convenient. If it wasn't for the credit card I would probably give almost all my stays to Hilton to keep the status. It's rumored SPG is also going to have a credit that gives out plat status with a high annual fee next year (I'm praying that happens since I get some great benefits with the Delta partnership and that will give SPG more stays from me if I am Plat) and I haven't stayed at a best western in probably five years and am diamond every year due to a status match and will be able to keep pretty high status with Hyatt if I use my visa enough. IHG gives plat status by just having a low fee credit card that gives a free night.

While Airlines are unfortunately changing to a revenue based system hotels seem to be turning to a credit card based system, at least in the US. It does make it nice for business travellers like me who want to spread out their stays among various chains and get benefits but sucks for people who stay at a chain over 100 nights a year to compete against someone with only 10 nights a year with a credit card but the chains could get around ticking off their loyal travellers by prioritizing upgrades to people who stay a lot of nights (which I am fine with and think is fair, someone who spends 60 nights a year at Hilton should get upgraded over me).

In your case I would just keep the Am Ex Platinum if your travel is in the US. Diamond is only really valuable outside the US. In the US the only benefits you really get are more points (and if you don't stay at hiltons much anyway those won't be worth much) and guaranteed lounge access and most lounges in the US aren't that impressive and in fact a couple hotels have closed their lounges in the past year (chicago Hilton and New Orleans Hilton for two) and some aren't open weekends and don't offer things like free alcohol in the US.

You'll be gold with HIlton with the platinum Am Ex and you'll also have gold with SPG. You also have the same priority pass with the Platinum you do with the Hilton card.

I agree that having Am Ex lounge access would be a great deal with this card but I don't see that happening since you unfortunately can't use a Delta Reserve Am Ex to access the Am Ex lounges and Am Ex is a lot closer to Delta in bed than Hilton is.

acarney

Ya, I'll probably skip the card. It's just that between the airline credits and free night/resort credits, I can basically wash away that annual fee. The perks might not be super great for someone like me (almost totally US personal travel), but the extra points would be nice and diamond couldn't hurt. However, that still is $450 out of pocket, even if I get the "value" back or not via airline/hotel credits. While I like Hilton, I tend to switch back and forth between Hilton and Starwood properties because Hilton points are worth so little and for someone like me take forever to build up enough for a reward night and because I kept hitting Starwood properties that were either sold out on my planned dates or undergoing huge refurbishments (to the point where lounges were closed, etc) and offered no discounts because of that. This card would be nice to have in the sense that I might start actually being able to build up some Hilton points via airfare and hotel stays and cash them in every other year or something for a couple free nights. Again though, probably not worth locking up my $450 into Hilton value when I could continue to shop around for whichever offers the better rates or better room on my vacations.

A SPG premium card might be interesting though, between Starwood and Marriot hotels there is usually something well priced anywhere I go and having top status with them and massive point earning potential (I assume it'll be competitive with this card and I assume you'll earn Marriott points, not the higher valued SPG points) might be worth "pre-paying" some vacations into another credit card fee and then making use of travel credits and/or free night. (depending what it offers).

Eujeanie

We're also going to skip the Aspire for at least a year. We're Hilton Diamond through March, 2019, and we're MVPGold with our airline of choice (Alaska) during the same period, so will get no benefit there (all change fees, etc. waived). So while the resort credit would be nice, and the extra 2 pts at Hiltons (14 vs 12) would be nice, not enough to justify the $450 out of pocket. In 2019, however, since we'll lose status with both H and AS, then we'll reconsider. We will definitely hit $15,000 again with the Ascend, so will get our free night anyway.

jamesteroh

Have you thought about getting the Alaska credit card if you'll still be flying them a lot? You can get checked bags free at least. Not sure if you get lounge access or not or can earn elite miles with their credit card like you can the Delta credit card.

unfortunately the boardrooms have become stingy with allowing priority pass swipes lately. I prefer them over the Delta clubs and the last coupe times at Seattle they weren't allowing any priority pass swipes

For people who travel a lot for leisure but not enough for status the Chase Sapphire card is great since you get 4.5 percent back on dining and travel charges if you use the points for travel regardless of what hotel or airline you use. I normally use that card over my Delta card for Delta purchases since I value 4.5 chase poitns at more than 2 delta skypesos and I get trip protection. You also get a priority pass with unlimited guests

sdsearch

The Alaska Airlines credit card (from BofA) benefits are completely different than Delta credit card (from Amex) benefits. And there's only one "level" of AS cards, while there are multiple "levels" of DL cards (and the "normal" DL cards with $95 or so AF don't lounge access either, do they?).

There is no lounge access, there are no elite miles, instead there's a companion fare (though of course that only helps if you travel with someone else), and the AF is only $75:

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/cr...visa-signature

The main FT thread about the Alaska Airlines credit cards is;

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...s-now-30k.html