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

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ARCHIVE THREAD for The Hilton HHonors® Surpass(SM) Card from American Express

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Kiwi Flyer
Hilton HHonors forum co-moderator

Wiki updated with new 85K offer.

I just applied for the Surpass a few weeks ago when it was 80K and met the minimum spend :( Only a 5K difference but I tried asking Amex to match , but didn't get much luck. Has any one else gotten them to match better offers?

Rare for them to match.

AMEX is the one bank that won't match offers. One of the many reasons why their bank is gonna do the poop shoot.

If I give my card to charge incidentals to the room but my name isn't on the reservation, would I still get the 12 points per dollar for Hilton charges?

Y

Well my anniversary has just rolled around. Saw the annual fee post...thought about it and SM'd AMEX switching to the no annual fee product. I don't stay a ton at Hiltons, and not near enough to justify the higher annual fee. Combined with Gold status now via the AMEX Plat, and a FOREX charge on the card (Had a few Hilton stays outside of the US this past year) I didn't see the value.

Overseas applicants
 

I spoke to the Amex calling centre and they said that if you apply by phone, rather than online, you don't need a social security number, just a US address (which I have access to).

This suggests I should be able to apply from overseas using my US address (I am not a US citizen)

Has anyone else done this? Not sure how they would go with my credit rating (or absence of)

My reasons for doing this would be the high earn rate and Diamond qualification.

I applied online using my US address from overseas. My HH account had my swiss address, but I had no problems.

Thanks for the info...do you have a social security number and did they need this? i dont have this but they said ok without it of applying by phone,

Yep. I do have an SSN. I think that the online application required it.

Thanks! I have been waiting for just such an offer.

Is the 85K offer still valid? The link on the wiki seems active but the offer I found on the Amex website is only 60K. I am confused!

yes.

The "most obvious" offer is often worse than a less-publicized one (and not just in this case).

So, yes, the 85k offer is still valid, but only if you know the link.

It's just like there'a a bunch of Citi AA MC 50k miles offers always valid if you know the link, but at AA's website or Citi's website most of the time the public Citi AA MC offer maxes out at 30k miles.

The highest offers are often only marketed to a limited audience (and copied here from there), while the "widely available" offers are often not as high.

Thank you all for confirmation. I am pretty new to this.

100k offer
 

Public offer is now 100k with spending requirement $3000/3 months; available through May 4 2016.

Something odd afoot: when I visit https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...honors-surpass, I see a 50K offer, not 100K. Have never held this card.

Odd indeed. When I click the same link I get this http://i.imgur.com/c3EvqDL.png.

Did you try an incognito browser?

Same thing appears for me, but I have the no fee Amex Hilton and it shows 50k to upgrade my card. Opening in incognito or in a different browser shows the 100k offer.

Since my husband already has this Amex Surpass card, I thought of applying for my own...but it seems Hilton does not allow you to easily combine points, but rather you must gift them for a fee.

So I was just looking at other Hilton cards, and currently the Hilton Visa Signature has an offer, expiring TODAY (3/31), that gives you 75,000 bonus points, no annual fee, must spend only $2,000 in first 3 mos. Of course does not have the same earnings - only 6 at Hilton, 3 at drug stores/gas stations (and something else), and 2 at everything else.

But for anyone else in a similar situation to us I think it sounds like a great alternative to get some bonus points.

The no annual fee put it over the top for us.

Here's the link: https://creditcards.citicards.com/us...694C8580E77D17

Keep in mind that though you may not be able to merge accounts you can book a room under your account for your husband. Either for him or add him to your reservation. So getting the better offer may work out for you guys, GL.

Note that there's a separate thread dedicated to the base Hilton Visa (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...ki-choose.html), as well as a master thread, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...amex-citi.html, compiling the various Amex & Citi Hilton product offers. Both have wikis with 75K offers listed. (This one, despite the date in the URL, seems to be unreported; I'll add it to the other wikis shortly.)

Does the bonus for this card post before statement close? I just received 100k points in my account and can't figure out where they came from.

I have found Amex often posts bonus points shortly after spend requirement is met, rather than after the corresponding statement closes.

Correct. Amex differs from Citi & Chase in this respect.

I already have the Amex Hilton with no annual fee. Just today, I logged on and found that my Hilton is eligible to upgrade to Surpass card with 100K point bonus after $3k spending. Should I upgrade or should I apply as a new card for the same offer? If I upgrade, is it possible to downgrade in the future since I still want to keep the no annual fee card for the long run? If so, how soon can I downgrade?

I have a question about the points. Is there a place were I can see how many points I get per charge (transaction)?
I would like to see a breakdown for each transaction showing how many points it got me.
I put my groceries and gas on this card. I have read here before that some groceries stores like Walmart do not count because they are not really just a grocery store.
Is there a list of grocery stores on Amex website?

If you want to keep the no-annual-fee card for the long run, then I don't know why you would jump through hoops to upgrade and downgrade.

How did you see the upgrade offer? I too have the Amex Hilton and would love for an upgrade offer to match the new card bonus.

Given the new Surpass offer & interest in signups & upgrades, I've added a section to the wiki on how to maximize your bonuses over the long run. (Short version: earn signup bonus first, then upgrade later on. The reverse order is functionally impossible.)

Apologies if this has been answered, did a quick search but couldn't find it.

When does the 12x points for completing a stay post? I just completed my first stay and it gave me the 500 bonus points for booking directly, but I do not see the 12x for Surpass.

It's not 12x for a stay; it's 12x for Hilton-related spend. You'll get the points (base + bonus) at the end of each billing cycle, just as with other cards that have fixed bonus categories.

According to the wiki, I should apply and then upgrade to get 2x100k bonus, right? If the card is canceled right after bonus is obtained, will we get annual fee refund?

I just saw the same offer on my account, no brainer and yes you can downgrade later back to the no annual fee version. I think you'll have to pay one $75 annual fee for this offer once which I don't have a problem with. I would downgrade at some point before your 2nd annual fee hits.

If you already have the no annual fee version with a 100k offer to upgrade that is the best deal (at least for me). Not sure about if the AF would be refunded but my SA just canceled her SPG and amex prorated the annual fee back to her, $16. Winning!

I personally wouldn't cancel right a receiving a bonus but its whatever you feel comfortable with.

I don't actually want to cancel but if we downgrade it, will we get the AF prorated? And how long do we have to hold on to the Surpass before eligible for downgrade?

Upgrading usually saves you a hard credit pull vs. a fresh application. Downgrade anytime before yr. 2 annual fee is due. Be thankful that your 100,000 points is only costing $95. ;)

You mean $75, right?