May 26, 2014, 3:09 pm
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.
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:
Check your application status
Linking AmexAscend 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 AmexAscend 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
- 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
Is the Amex
For information on other Hilton-branded credit cards, see the wiki at Ongoing offers for Hilton cards issued by Amex or Citi
The Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American Express (formerly called Ascend)
Sep 5, 2017, 7:41 am
#346
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,857
Looks like the link in the wiki is still dead. Here's a working 100K + free weekend night after a year link:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c....../?EEP=26129
Offer (supposedly) expires 10/4/17.
I've replaced the dead link in the wiki with this one. If anyone knows of a reason that's a bad idea, feel free to revert this change.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c....../?EEP=26129
Offer (supposedly) expires 10/4/17.
I've replaced the dead link in the wiki with this one. If anyone knows of a reason that's a bad idea, feel free to revert this change.
Sep 5, 2017, 10:06 am
#347
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 209
You can only receive the bonus offer for Surpass once(whether via upgrade or direct application) in 7 years. Perhaps it would be better to apply for the Surpass card separately, earn the 100K bonus, and receive the 1st free night anniversary bonus as a new applicant.
Sep 8, 2017, 7:16 am
#348
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Richmond, VA
Programs: AA (Gold)
Posts: 302
So as mentioned earlier in the thread, Hilton generated a new Honors number for me with this card even though I put my existing number on the application. I got Amex to update the account my points are credited to on their end and all is good. However...
This week in the mail I get a "welcome to Honors" mailing for the account Honors opened and it shows the Amex card's gold status benefit linked to this account.
Do I need to contact Hilton to have this new account combined with my old one? I am currently gold through stays anyway so I don't know if the Amex gold status was transferred to my "old" Hilton account or not.
This week in the mail I get a "welcome to Honors" mailing for the account Honors opened and it shows the Amex card's gold status benefit linked to this account.
Do I need to contact Hilton to have this new account combined with my old one? I am currently gold through stays anyway so I don't know if the Amex gold status was transferred to my "old" Hilton account or not.
Sep 8, 2017, 7:16 am
#349
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 736
PSA: If Amex assigns you a new account number that isn't your own I highly recommend that you wait until you earn the sign-up bonus and have them in your account before you merge accounts to make the process smooth. I "earned" my bonus back in mid-May and the finger pointing between Amex and Hilton has been going on since then - this is absolutely horrendous. Amex continues to say they sent them to the old account, Hilton continues to say there's nothing there and they likely bounced since the account was no longer active and had been merged.
Sep 8, 2017, 10:48 am
#351
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MD/DC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, TK Gold
Posts: 1,536
So as mentioned earlier in the thread, Hilton generated a new Honors number for me with this card even though I put my existing number on the application. I got Amex to update the account my points are credited to on their end and all is good. However...
This week in the mail I get a "welcome to Honors" mailing for the account Honors opened and it shows the Amex card's gold status benefit linked to this account.
Do I need to contact Hilton to have this new account combined with my old one? I am currently gold through stays anyway so I don't know if the Amex gold status was transferred to my "old" Hilton account or not.
This week in the mail I get a "welcome to Honors" mailing for the account Honors opened and it shows the Amex card's gold status benefit linked to this account.
Do I need to contact Hilton to have this new account combined with my old one? I am currently gold through stays anyway so I don't know if the Amex gold status was transferred to my "old" Hilton account or not.
I contacted Hilton and they merged the two accounts (almost giving me a heart attack when they said they went ahead and keep only the new number active - but managed to reverse that to the old number).
Sep 8, 2017, 2:42 pm
#352
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS/MHT
Programs: United Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Six Continents Spire, Hilton Hhonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 39
PSA: If Amex assigns you a new account number that isn't your own I highly recommend that you wait until you earn the sign-up bonus and have them in your account before you merge accounts to make the process smooth. I "earned" my bonus back in mid-May and the finger pointing between Amex and Hilton has been going on since then - this is absolutely horrendous. Amex continues to say they sent them to the old account, Hilton continues to say there's nothing there and they likely bounced since the account was no longer active and had been merged.
Sep 9, 2017, 10:19 am
#353
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Sky team, hhonors, Marriott
Posts: 125
... My wife got a new card and did not notice that the Amex account was linked to a new number until her bonus had posted. She asked to merge the accounts to her existing number and the Gold status was applied to her existing Hilton account but the earned points and the bonus have not transferred. After initially stating it would take about 5 days, Amex have told us we need to wait up to 6 to 8 weeks so she is still in waiting mode.
Sep 9, 2017, 12:11 pm
#354
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MD/DC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, TK Gold
Posts: 1,536
I only ask them to connect them because I also recieved the welcome card in the mail with the Gold status on the new account. I did not want to risk the status not following through to the right account (even when the bonus points posted to the right account). I.e., it is issue of timing - if the status was granted at the opening of the account, I was not sure it would flow to the right account after changing the number on the Amex side.
Sep 10, 2017, 5:16 pm
#355
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 736
This is not necessarily a better option. My wife got a new card and did not notice that the Amex account was linked to a new number until her bonus had posted. She asked to merge the accounts to her existing number and the Gold status was applied to her existing Hilton account but the earned points and the bonus have not transferred. After initially stating it would take about 5 days, Amex have told us we need to wait up to 6 to 8 weeks so she is still in waiting mode.
Sep 11, 2017, 7:01 pm
#356
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, Park City, UT
Programs: AA EXP, Delta Plat, Marriott Plat,Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat
Posts: 902
Hilton Basic bonus offer
This doesn't seem to be in Wiki and can't seem to find answer.
If applied for and received Surpass about 5 months ago and got bonus can I get the basic card, complete the spend, and receive that 75k point bonus offer as well?
If applied for and received Surpass about 5 months ago and got bonus can I get the basic card, complete the spend, and receive that 75k point bonus offer as well?
Sep 11, 2017, 7:19 pm
#357
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, Park City, UT
Programs: AA EXP, Delta Plat, Marriott Plat,Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat
Posts: 902
Hilton Basic bonus offer
This doesn't seem to be in Wiki and can't seem to find answer.
If applied for and received Surpass about 5 months ago and got bonus can I get the basic card, complete the spend, and receive that 75k point bonus offer as well?
If applied for and received Surpass about 5 months ago and got bonus can I get the basic card, complete the spend, and receive that 75k point bonus offer as well?
Sep 12, 2017, 1:32 am
#359
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: California via OAK
Posts: 139
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.
Sep 13, 2017, 6:55 pm
#360
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Very strange. I recently opened 4 Amex Hilton card accounts for 2 family members (both the no-fee card and the Surpass for both). Amex created new Hilton Honors account numbers for them even though I entered their existing Hilton Honors numbers during the application process.
Now each relative has 3 separate Hilton Honors accounts. It's easy to combine them through Hilton's website if you have the preferred e-mail address or password for each account. But since Amex created 2 of the 3 accounts for each relative, there is no password or e-mail address associated with them.
Any suggestions on how to solve this? Only option is to call Hilton Honors I guess. Not a big deal, but I'm annoyed with Amex for creating new Hilton Honors numbers for each card.
Now each relative has 3 separate Hilton Honors accounts. It's easy to combine them through Hilton's website if you have the preferred e-mail address or password for each account. But since Amex created 2 of the 3 accounts for each relative, there is no password or e-mail address associated with them.
Any suggestions on how to solve this? Only option is to call Hilton Honors I guess. Not a big deal, but I'm annoyed with Amex for creating new Hilton Honors numbers for each card.
This is common and was discussed upthread. You can talk to them in chat (as well as call) and they'll change the number on your new account to the correct one. It's not difficult...just ridiculous that this keeps happening. We've had 5 cards over the last year and had to change the points number on every single one. And, actually, since you have more than one card per individual, calling may be easier since you'd have to log into each account separately to correct it via chat.
This is more than just a nuisance too. I had points from the sign up bonus in one of the Hilton Honors accounts Amex set up. I asked Amex to change the number to the pre-existing Hilton account number. Amex made the change, but the points which had previously been in the account are now "pending" rather than deposited in the account. I was told to wait 8 weeks and they should post. Nevermind the fact that they already posted once to the incorrect Hilton account that Amex needlessly created.