jamesteroh

And even 6 pts/$ isn't a good return at restaurants or gas stations if someone isn't using it to meet the minimum spend. If someone has a chase sapphire reserve they will get 4.5 cents/$ at restaurants if they use it for travel and a lot of times chase freedom has restaurants has a bonus 5% category which comes out to 7.5 cents/$ charged and a few reward cards have gas as a bonus category which amounts in better awards than 6 HH points per $.

The only spend I'm planning on doing on this card is for Hilton stays. Hilton has really devalued their points over the past 7 years.

farnorthtrader

I am a huge fan of Hilton and the Hilton cards, however, in your situation, I don’t think the Ascend sounds like it is right for you if it is gnot Ng to be your only card and you might struggle to meet the spending requirement. You might want to look at the Wyndham card. Lower spending requirement and 3 hotel nights right away in any of their hotels.

AbyssalLoris

Thanks for all the replies. I think I am finding along similar lines - hard to make good value of the Ascend unless it is used for a chunk of real spending (I don't do any MS). For me, the EDP really trumps anything on groceries and I am quite happy with the TYPremier for restaurants and travel (not that travel other than Hilton is to be put on the Ascend). My assumption would be that I couldn't hit the $15k on the Ascend due to the opportunity cost of doing so. In this situation, perhaps the Ascend isn't a great option at all.

I am not in the UR scheme for now but mean to go there. I don't value UR as tremendously greater than TYP, aside perhaps from the hotel (Hyatt) transfer value. I don't like Southwest very much, and while I do agree on the value of United miles, I would mostly redeem for international travel (probably to Asia). For that, there are excellent options both in MR and TYP. Regardless, I do think UR shines in the ability to earn points more than TYP. I would be loathe to transfer points (UR, MR, TYP) to hotels over airlines with the exception of Hyatt. I'm not getting the CSP as I would prefer to get the CSR, and am (foolishly perhaps) holding out for a larger bonus on the latter.

So, coming back to hotel cards (or any other not covered) - what is my alternative? The problem with Wyndham is that anywhere I'm likely to go in the near future wouldn't have good Wyndham options where I'd want to stay. I am never looking for the highest end hotels - I don't value them enough to make the points worth it and certainly not the dollars, but don't know about Wyndham options in places like Hawaii, Cancun or the Carribean (I know that is a large spread). SPG: Most of these places only list high category hotels that would fetch only 1 night from the bonus, where 2 would be nice. I'm really not enamored of the earning rate on SPG. The Marriott card seems meh, and as someone who'd never stay enough for hotel elite status (vs. airline, where international trips can quickly earn status), the benefits seem poor. These hotel consolidations are not so good for us consumers/churners, methinks. Sorry for the rambling post. Creative suggestions still appreciated. Any worthwhile ways airline miles can be used to book hotels with good value for miles? AA or Jetblue, perhaps?

nk15

What are the chances that the will offer points to upgrade the Ascend to the Aspire in February? I have a Hilton stay in 3 weeks and want to upgrade to Diamond before then, I am thinking of waiting until Feb 5 or so?

HawkeyeFlyer

I would not hold my breathe on a larger sign up bonus on CSR. Chase lost their butts on this card with sign up bonuses, if anything trying to find ways to re-coup it

elCheapoDeluxe

The only place I see on the aspire card is rught under the signature panel. "Hilton Honors Aspire Cardmember Signature"

AbyssalLoris

I may have been wrong about Wyndham hotels in certain locations - it appears there might be good options. I will have to look into it. Thanks.

jamesteroh

There are quite a few brands under the Wyndham umbrella. I don't stay at Wyndhams much but there is a Ramada I like in West Hollywood and the Burboun Orleans in New Orleans is now a a Wyndham. I'm looking into seeing how hard it is to use points there and if it isn't too difficult thinking about applying for the card. One thing with Wyndhams is you don't get a free breakfast with status.

If you ever go to any Harrah's casinos the status match benefit could be a nice benefit. I see the Wyndham paid card gives Platinum status. I have Platinum status with Harrahs and Wyndham matched it and I'm pretty sure Harrah's matches Wyndhams platinum status. It's not as valuable of a benefit as it was a couple years ago but Paris still gives platinums access to the VIP buffet line which is a real time saver.

Eujeanie

According to the Amex rep I chatted with, the start towards the $15,000 is January 1.

BrlDsguise

You may want to look at the credit card forum for these answers.

AbyssalLoris

Sure will, but which credit card forum? They are all fragmented too. Anyway, good tip and makes better sense than posting these non-Hilton questions here.

ChinaShrek

Same here, if you want another data point.

farnorthtrader

I was facing the same dilemma, wondering whether I would be able to get a bonus upgrade offer prior to my trip to a Hilton resort in March. I decided it wasn't worth the gamble and instead applied new for the Aspire for both my wife and I. We also both applied for the Business Hilton and we both got approved for both. That put us both at 5 AMEX credit cards right now and will put us at 7 and 8 AMEX credit cards when the Citi cards get activated at the end of the month, so we had to apply now before the cit cards got added into the count.

Bicoastal Local

Hawkeyefan

I want to ask, with the Ascend card, once you meet your $15K in spending for the year, will the free night be delivered the same as Citi did, like 4-6 weeks after your anniversary date OR will it be delivered after you meet the spend no matter when that should fall?