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The Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American Express (formerly called Ascend)

Old May 26, 2014, 3:09 pm
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Last edit by: rrgg
Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass card. 155,000 points for spending $3,000 in 3 months; $95 annual fee. Offer Expires Apr. 17, 2024
Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass card. 170,000 points for spending $3,000 in 3 months; $95 annual fee. Expired Jan 17 2024
Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass card. 130,000 points for spending $4,000 in 4 months; $95 annual fee. OFFER EXPIRED AUG 28.
Hilton HHonors American Express Ascend card
. 75,000 points for spending $2,000 in 3 months+ 25,000 points after additional $1000 in 6 months; $95 annual fee.
  • Important limitation on this offer: "Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product."

Note: For existing Surpass card holders, AMEX verbally confirmed that on or after 20 January 2018, card holders can call in and request cards be converted to Aspire - while maintaining the same credit card number, balance limits, PIN, etc.

Card features:
  • Annual fee: $95 $150, no first-year waiver.
  • Earning: 12 HHonors points per dollar on Hilton spend; 6 points/$ at U.S. restaurants, supermarkets & gas stations; 4 points for online retail purchases (as of 2023); and 3 points/$ on everything else.
  • Elite status: Hilton Gold status for as long as you have the card and Diamond status after $40,000 in annual spend.
  • Booking bonus: 500 bonus points for every stay (including award stays) booked directly with Hilton & guaranteed with the card

Check your application status

Linking Amex Ascend Surpass to your Hilton Honors account.Many (most?) have reported that a new Hilton Honors number gets assigned by Amex even when they put their existing Hilton Honors number in the application, and it can take several weeks to get this worked out. However, the key to making things go smoothly seems to be an exact match of your name and address between Amex and Hilton, including adding your middle initial to your Hilton Honors account if you use it on your Amex. When everything matches, an Amex rep should be able to update the account number, it should "go through" immediately, and the correct Hilton account number will be reflected on the Amex website in about 2 days.

Is the Amex Ascend Surpass churnable?As of May 1, 2014, Amex will not give a signup bonus to card applicants who have held the card in the past ~7 years, even if the applicant has never earned a previous signup bonus for it. However, it is still possible to upgrade an existing Hilton Amex to the Ascend Surpass card to earn a bonus (and reportedly to do this more than once by later downgrading & then upgrading again). The best strategy is to earn a Ascend Surpass signup bonus first, and only afterward pursue the upgrade bonus(es).

For information on other Hilton-branded credit cards, see the wiki at Ongoing offers for Hilton cards issued by Amex or Citi




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The Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American Express (formerly called Ascend)

Old Sep 13, 2017, 7:30 pm
  #361  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
In the past when I have earned a referral bonus, the points have shown up in my account one day after the new account was approved. For this most recent card, it was approved on the 10th, but the referral points haven't shown up yet (today is the 13th). I hope I don't have to fight with Amex on this. There's no way to prove your relative or friend used the link you e-mailed them.

Last edited by LWT3; Sep 13, 2017 at 7:40 pm
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Old Sep 13, 2017, 7:44 pm
  #362  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Originally Posted by Willbur
It seems like you're not talking about merging on the Hilton side because that occurs instantly. The ideal way to ensure there are no issues is to have Amex change the miles crediting to the correct Hilton number whenever it's noticed. But do not merge the accounts on the Hilton side until you have received the bonus/any pending points.
I earned the bonus, saw it post to the new account number on the Amex website, asked Amex to update the account number to the long-standing Hilton Honors number, they did, but the points disappeared. I called and they said they are now "pending". They weren't pending before -- they had fully posted. But after the switch those points went to pending, and Amex says I have to wait 6-8 weeks for them to post. That's the equivalent of the IT help desk telling you to reboot your computer. They hope that after 8 weeks the points will magically reappear, and I'm not optimistic about that.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 5:58 am
  #363  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
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Posts: 1,333
Originally Posted by LWT3
I earned the bonus, saw it post to the new account number on the Amex website, asked Amex to update the account number to the long-standing Hilton Honors number, they did, but the points disappeared. I called and they said they are now "pending". They weren't pending before -- they had fully posted. But after the switch those points went to pending, and Amex says I have to wait 6-8 weeks for them to post. That's the equivalent of the IT help desk telling you to reboot your computer. They hope that after 8 weeks the points will magically reappear, and I'm not optimistic about that.
So, it sounds like some of you aren't trying to have the account number changed until you've already started putting spend on the card and/or have finished the bonus spend. I've always checked the HH account number and SM them to change it when I get the card and set it up on-line. It's only after they switch the account number that I start putting spend on it. I've never had an issue.

Not saying you should have to do it like I do...Amex should be better than this and it's their issue that they should resolve.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 12:52 pm
  #364  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,042
I received the targeted offer of 100,000 points to upgrade my no-fee Surpass to the $75 fee version. This offer says nothing about the bonus not being available to anyone who has received a Surpass bonus before. I did receive it several years ago, but when Cit Hilton Reserve came out I downgraded my Surpass to the no fee version. Does anyone know if this targeted offer to upgrade will let you have the bonus a second time, contrary to the usual Amex policy?
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 2:29 pm
  #365  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: Hhonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; IHG Platinum
Posts: 87
Re: Second Surpass Bonus

Originally Posted by Tizzette
I received the targeted offer of 100,000 points to upgrade my no-fee Surpass to the $75 fee version. This offer says nothing about the bonus not being available to anyone who has received a Surpass bonus before. I did receive it several years ago, but when Cit Hilton Reserve came out I downgraded my Surpass to the no fee version. Does anyone know if this targeted offer to upgrade will let you have the bonus a second time, contrary to the usual Amex policy?
At first, I initially thought there was no prohibited language as I couldn't find it in the email or in the "terms and conditions" link in the email. Maybe yours is different, however, try clicking the "Request Upgrade" box at the bottom of the email. On the bottom of the next page, there is another "Offer Terms" link. Right at the top of the page that pops-up, it states: "Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product."
Again, perhaps yours will be different - but double-check it.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 6:03 pm
  #366  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Originally Posted by fredc84
So, it sounds like some of you aren't trying to have the account number changed until you've already started putting spend on the card and/or have finished the bonus spend. I've always checked the HH account number and SM them to change it when I get the card and set it up on-line. It's only after they switch the account number that I start putting spend on it. I've never had an issue.

Not saying you should have to do it like I do...Amex should be better than this and it's their issue that they should resolve.
Your approach seems like a good one. And your last line is very true. It's ridiculous that Amex screws this up for so many people for such a long time.
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Old Sep 16, 2017, 5:33 am
  #367  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Originally Posted by LWT3
In the past when I have earned a referral bonus, the points have shown up in my account one day after the new account was approved. For this most recent card, it was approved on the 10th, but the referral points haven't shown up yet (today is the 13th). I hope I don't have to fight with Amex on this. There's no way to prove your relative or friend used the link you e-mailed them.
Card approved on the 10th. Spend met on the 13th. Neither the referral bonus nor the sign up bonus have posted as of the 16th. This is for the no fee card, so Amex owes us 20,000 plus 75,000.
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 11:55 am
  #368  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,123
Originally Posted by LWT3
Card approved on the 10th. Spend met on the 13th. Neither the referral bonus nor the sign up bonus have posted as of the 16th. This is for the no fee card, so Amex owes us 20,000 plus 75,000.
I got my Surpass referral bonus within 5 business days of the recipient being approved.
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 6:58 pm
  #369  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MD/DC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, TK Gold
Posts: 1,536
Originally Posted by Tizzette
I received the targeted offer of 100,000 points to upgrade my no-fee Surpass to the $75 fee version. This offer says nothing about the bonus not being available to anyone who has received a Surpass bonus before. I did receive it several years ago, but when Cit Hilton Reserve came out I downgraded my Surpass to the no fee version. Does anyone know if this targeted offer to upgrade will let you have the bonus a second time, contrary to the usual Amex policy?
I've received a similar offer - despite the fact I just opened a Surpass card couple of months ago.

Amex chat confirmed that there is no restriction on earning the points - although frankly, I expect an uphill battle if I'll do it.

But 100,000 points for $75 is tempting.
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 9:57 am
  #370  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Any reason not to downgrade after upgrading (Reward Abuse Team issue?)

My wife was offered 100,000 to upgrade her no-fee card to the Surpass in March and did so. She was charged $25 for a pro-rated annual fee. Now she's into her anniversary date, so the $75 annual fee just hit the account. We can downgrade to the no-fee version without running afoul of Amex's reward abuse rules, can't we?
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 10:15 am
  #371  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: IAD...and loving it?!
Programs: UA Platinum (1MM Gold), HH Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 858
Originally Posted by MD/DC Flyer
I've received a similar offer - despite the fact I just opened a Surpass card couple of months ago.

Amex chat confirmed that there is no restriction on earning the points - although frankly, I expect an uphill battle if I'll do it.

But 100,000 points for $75 is tempting.
Same offer here. Had the Surpass until about 4 years ago and then downgraded to the no fee card when we shifted to the Citi card. Have waded through the fine print at all steps short of pulling the trigger and none say anything about not being available to previous Surpass holders. I plan to capture the terms before executing. However, given the severance with the Citi card, I have to do this eventually so this looks like the moment.
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 11:18 am
  #372  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: IAD...and loving it?!
Programs: UA Platinum (1MM Gold), HH Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 858
Originally Posted by Portolan
Same offer here. Had the Surpass until about 4 years ago and then downgraded to the no fee card when we shifted to the Citi card. Have waded through the fine print at all steps short of pulling the trigger and none say anything about not being available to previous Surpass holders. I plan to capture the terms before executing. However, given the severance with the Citi card, I have to do this eventually so this looks like the moment.
Have now talked to an AMEX agent who said that the "no previous bonus" clause appies only to new requests for a Surpass card, not upgrades. In the "trust but verify" mode, I have copied the Terms and Conditions statement to a pdf document in case this becomes a dispute later on. Finished the on-line upgrade and it immediately I'd been approved (no real risk on their part since it is an upgrade form a card that already has an established line of credit). We'll see how this plays out.
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Old Sep 18, 2017, 7:52 pm
  #373  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: RDU
Programs: AA PLT, Club Carlson GLD, IHG Spire, Lifemiles GLD, Hilton Gold
Posts: 338
So, my wife and I both signed up for the Surpass 100K. For both cards, a new Hilton Honors account was needlessly created instead of using the accounts we indicated. My wife already has a referral posted to her new account.

I don't have any spend on mine yet.

How would we go about being able to log into these newly created accounts?

To fix this, Should we call AMEX or Hilton? It seems like it will be more complicated for my wife's account, which already has points in it and spend on the card.

Why is Amex doing this? :-(

Last edited by zgringo14; Sep 19, 2017 at 5:23 am Reason: grammar
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Old Sep 19, 2017, 8:02 am
  #374  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,782
Originally Posted by zgringo14
So, my wife and I both signed up for the Surpass 100K. For both cards, a new Hilton Honors account was needlessly created instead of using the accounts we indicated. My wife already has a referral posted to her new account.

I don't have any spend on mine yet.

How would we go about being able to log into these newly created accounts?

To fix this, Should we call AMEX or Hilton? It seems like it will be more complicated for my wife's account, which already has points in it and spend on the card.

Why is Amex doing this? :-(
If you know the password and account number of the new account:

https://secure3.hilton.com/en/hh/cus...neAccounts.htm

If you have the AMEX account online, I think you could click the HH points summary and it will take you to the linked HH account so at least you could get the account number. And then you could call HH and tell them to combine the accounts if you don't have the password for the new account.
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Old Sep 19, 2017, 8:56 am
  #375  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
Originally Posted by zgringo14
So, my wife and I both signed up for the Surpass 100K. For both cards, a new Hilton Honors account was needlessly created instead of using the accounts we indicated. My wife already has a referral posted to her new account.

I don't have any spend on mine yet.

How would we go about being able to log into these newly created accounts?

To fix this, Should we call AMEX or Hilton? It seems like it will be more complicated for my wife's account, which already has points in it and spend on the card.

Why is Amex doing this? :-(
To answer your question: because they can, but that doesn't make it right.

I applied for the card toward the end of the May promotion period and was assigned a new account number. No amount of calling ever got that changed, but I was able to have the points deposited in my existing account. Calls successfully made that happen. Hilton's reason for assigning me a new account number was that I had not included my existing account information in the application. I know that is not true, but no amount of wheedling and cajoling elicited a modification.

In truth, it matters not because the points have all been put in the right account. I finally let go of the issue and moved on to more pressing problems. Some other folks who had the same problem were able to get that new account number expunged from the record - they were luckier than me!
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