mragin

@sfoactuary No problems here. Took two months to get to the spend, but miles posted within a few days of the statement ending. Another bonus of this card: low introductory rate (2.9%). I normally pay all cards in full, but if I spend a little too much one month it's no big deal to leave a small balance on this card.

Igor718

question ............

1) What is the transfer rate? What if I wanted to take these 45K points and transfer them to airline miles???

2) Just 1 week ago I applied for Amex Gold 75K points and approved. Will the be a problem? Should I wait a bit?

thank you.

UA Fan

Try a few times with some time gap. I was also unsuccessful on the first two attempts and third was a charm. the first two times were quick i.e. as soon as I read the declined message sent another one that went to the very same person. I don't understand why this always happens to me, but then i waited a day and send the third one and got lucky. My parents got it on the first attempt though. YMMV.

dopey!

I tried this morning, and within 4 hours, shocker!, I received an email back saying they will give me an additional 20,000 points on top of the 20,000 I have already received. All I would have to do is notify them once I reached the $500 spending requirement. I am happy. Again, YMMV. ^

BOShappyflyer

No. Spent $500 within the first few days since getting the card. And by the first statement, the 50,000 points were sitting in my account. I thought they posted it very quickly. I'm impressed. I'm going to keep this as my go-to no-annual fee card.

cdmoye

I just got an email offer for an HHonors AmEx (looks like a branded AmEx, not a Citi one) with these offer details:

• Get 20,000 HHonors Bonus Points after your first purchase with the Card.
• Get 30,000 HHonors Bonus Points when you spend US$500 in your first three months of Cardmembership.
• Get 2,500 HHonors Bonus Points for each of your first four stays at one of ten distinct brands within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio paid for with the Card during the first 18 months of Cardmembership.
• And get 2,500 HHonors Bonus Points when you add an Additional Cardmember.

I'm still sort of on-the-fence when it comes to hotel cards and am trying to figure out if this is worth the pull. How does HHonors stack up against other hotel programs (PC, SPG, etc.)? Is 55,000 (what I would likely get right off) worth it in HHonors? Is that just 2 nights at some Cat 1-3 hotel, or is that really worth something?

Thanks!

andysiz

The answer you are most likely to get on FT, and I agree, is: it depends. It all depends on what your plan is: at the micro-level (Hilton) and at the macro-level (all rewards programs).

If you're looking for pure bang for your buck (Er, hard inquiry) for any rewards program AND you're looking to apply for multiple cards for their bonuses, then this card is probably not for you. To compare: even if you were focusing just on Hilton points, you could get a 75k/100k AA Citi card and upon getting those points, convert them to HHonors points at a 3:5 rate (e.g. 30,000 AA miles --> 50,000 HHonors points).

This card is nice in that there is no annual fee. If you're looking for a fee-free (as opposed to the fee-laden Surpass card with better earnings) way to earn HHonors points, this could be valuable. Also, you may want to consider this card for AXON rates (see link added below -- comprehensive posts about Hilton HHonors).

With respect to whether Hilton points are better than other hotel points, it all depends on what you are planning to do with your points and where you plan to stay. If you're saving up for a big stay at the Conrad Maldives, Hilton points are VERY valuable in terms of $value/pt. If you're planning on staying a lot of Garden Inns....

Note: whether you concentrate on Hilton rewards or not, if you have a Visa Signature card, DO get the instant gold status (if not gold already): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...rdholders.html. Note that you are entitled to redemption discounts as an elite member (e.g., Conrad Maldives at as low as only 37,500 points per night!). See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...hing-else.html .

greyraven40

did you mean they were sitting in your Hilton account or they were visible on the AMEX login end?
thanks

the-dude

In my case they went straight to HHonors...

andysiz

I had the same experience -- within a day or two of when my first statement posted (I had spent the $500 before the first statement hit), I got the 50k bonus (on top of the regular spending points) deposited into my Hilton account; the points were not just "visible" on the Amex login end. And note: the posting triggered upon my statement posting, not my payment for that statement posting.

Hope that helps.

onthego15

How do you transfer AA miles to Hilton points? Are you talking about points.com, or is there some other way? Thanks.

andysiz

Go here for general information on transferring Hilton points TO miles AND FROM miles (note that other airline miles can transfer to Hilton, at a 1:2 ratio, even):

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/points/exchange.do

For AA --> Hilton points specifically, go here (AA page for transferring out AA points):

https://commerce.points.com/landing/...9-96D9050B6446

Cheers.

andysiz

If you're looking just for the most Hilton points, you might want to try getting the high AA miles sign up bonus cards (up to 75k or 100k AA miles per card) and transferring them to Hilton at a 3:5 ratio (see my posts above #52 and #57). Obviously, you can try to get both and get the points and the Hilton card benefits.

Saas

A big benefit to this card is 6 points per dollar at gas stations, grocery stores, drug stores, wireless and home phone service (unless you have Frontier who doesn't accept AMEX ), cable and satellite providers.

I'll rack up the points pretty quick with those perks.

onthego15

Thanks, this may be helpful for me down the line. ^