Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
December 18, 2024: All four Hilton credit cards currently have elevated welcome offers available. These offers are all limited-time offers available through January 8, 2025.
The fastest way to earn Hilton Honors bonus points or free night certificates is through a new cardmember welcome offer. Here are the best available new cardmember welcome bonuses on Hilton Honors credit cards.
Best Hilton credit card welcome offers
Hilton Honors American Express Card: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.
(Annual fee: annual_fees. See Rates and Fees)
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: bonus_miles_full Column ID value for provided table ID not found!
(Annual fee: annual_fees. See Rates and Fees)- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Earn 175,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card after you spend $6,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/8/2025. Learn how to apply.
(Annual fee: $550. See rates and fees. Terms apply.) 
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: bonus_miles_full Learn how to apply.
(Annual fee: annual_fees. See Rates and Fees)
All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Our take: Great if you want a Hilton card, but there are better bonuses
If you’re interested in earning Hilton points, these welcome offers are about as good as it gets—all of these cards current have the largest welcome offer we’ve seen since we started tracking. If you frequently stay at Hilton properties and are looking to pick up any one of these cards, now is the time to do it.
Just don’t be too impressed by the large number of points you are earning. Hilton points are the lowest-value points of any of the major hotel currencies, so you can earn a large absolute number of points but you’ll get substantially less value per point when you redeem them than Hyatt points, or even Marriott points. As a quick rule of thumb, think of Hilton points as being worth about 0.004 (four tenths of a cent) toward Hilton hotel stays.
More about each of the Hilton credit cards
Earning miles with a Hilton credit card welcome offer isn’t the only reason to get a Hilton credit card. If you stay at Hilton Hotels and Resorts even occasionally, these cards can be the key to unlocking valuable perks and earning a massive number of Hilton Honors points.
Here’s a bit more about each card. For an in-depth comparison of all of the Hilton credit cards, check out our complete guide to Hilton credit cards.
Hilton Honors American Express Card: A card with no annual fee that earns Hilton points
The Hilton Honors American Express Card is the only Hilton credit card that is offered with no annual fee. (See Rates and Fees) Having the card and charging at least one purchase every 24 months is an easy way to keep your Hilton points from expiring.
Compared to the other Hilton cards, the basic Hilton Amex’s earnings on Hilton stays are pretty mediocre. Although it earns 5x points in several bonus categories, it isn’t a great card to use for general spending—the value you can expect from the points you earn on most purchases will be less than you could earn on a 2% cash back credit card.
When to pick this card: This card is a reasonable option if you’ve amassed a large cache of Hilton points and you want a way to keep them from expiring. If you’re serious about being loyal to Hilton, one of the other Hilton cards might be a better pick.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Statement credits for Hilton purchases
The signature feature of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is its statement credits for Hilton stays. You can earn up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for Hilton stays you charge to the card. (Terms apply.)
When to pick this card: You’ll get the most from this card if you’re staying with Hilton’s family of brands several times a year and capturing the value of the credits. Spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year will earn you a valuable Hilton Free Night award. Outside of Hilton stays, you’ll get slightly better rewards in the card’s bonus categories than you will from a 2% cash back credit card.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Top-tier status and a free night award each year
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card will give you instant top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond status and a free night reward with your new card and every year after renewal.
When to pick this card: You’ll get the most from the Aspire card if you’re either spending a lot on Hilton hotels—think road-warrior-level travel, staying in Hilton hotels every week—or if your travels tend toward the luxury end of Hilton’s properties. The card offers a up to $400 per year in Hilton resort credits, plus a $100 on-property credit at participating Waldorf Astoria® and Conrad® hotels. Terms apply.
If you’re going to try to spend $30,000 or $60,000 on the card to pick up a few extra Hilton Free Night Awards, your best bet is to shift your spending toward Hilton stays or the categories where the card offers bonus rewards. The card’s 3x on other eligible purchases isn’t terribly compelling.
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card welcome bonus
The The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card offers up to $240 in annual statement credits for Hilton stays to small business owners. If you’re staying at Hilton hotels at least quarterly, you’re likely to make back what you pay in annual fees with the statement credits alone.
You’ll get the most out of your Hilton business card if you use it exclusively for Hilton purchases and use another card for other spending.
When to pick this card: The recent changes to the Hilton Business Card announced earlier this year removed the ability to earn Free Night Awards with the card and nerfed the awards you earn on non-Hilton purchases. Using a 2% cash back card on your non-Hilton purchases will get you about as much value, and you can do much better with cards that offer bonus rewards on gas, at restaurants, or on travel.
For most people, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers a more compelling value proposition.
About Hilton Free Night Awards
Many of Hilton’s credit cards offer free night awards, either as part of a limited-time welcome bonus or as an going perk of the card. Here’s what you need to know about Hilton Free Night Awards.
Hilton free night awards have more potential value than any other hotel chain’s free night certificates. While other hotel chains cap the value you can get from your certificates through restrictions on hotel categories or by issuing certificates that can be used for an award stay “up to” a certain number of points, Hilton certificates can be used at almost any hotel within Hilton’s family of brands, worldwide.
As long as a Hilton hotel offers a standard award room with double occupancy, you should be able to book that room using your certificate. You’ll need to call to book—Hilton Free Night Awards cannot be used online—but you can search for award nights for standard rooms online before using your certificate.
Here are a few things to remember about using Hilton free night awards.
- Hilton free night awards expire. Free night rewards expire 12 months from the date they are issued.
- You must book and stay by the expiration date. The stay you book with your Hilton Free Night Award must be completed by the certificate’s expiration date.
- Hilton free night awards can only be used for standard rooms. If a standard room isn’t available, your certificate can not be used for that stay.
- Hilton free night awards are not transferable. The person named on the certificate must be the one who stays.
- About 60 properties are excluded. The vast majority of these properties are Hilton Club and Hilton Grand Vacations Club locations. Hilton has over 7,500 properties within its brand portfolio.
A few notes on applying for American Express credit cards
Here are a few things that you should know about applying for American Express cards.
- Amex will let you know if you’re ineligible for the new cardmember welcome offer when applying. If you don’t qualify for a welcome offer for any reason, American Express will inform you during the application process and let you withdraw your application before they perform a “hard pull” on your credit report. If you withdraw your application, the withdrawn application will have no impact on your credit score.
- No hard pull if they deny you. If Amex denies your credit card application, they usually won’t issue a hard pull on your credit report. This means that your credit score won’t decrease because of the denied application.
- One welcome offer per card per “lifetime”. Most Amex card terms say that you’re ineligible for a welcome offer if you’ve ever had the card before. Some targeted offers do not have this lifetime language. Readers and other blogs have reported that Amex may internally define “lifetime” as 7 years—if it’s been 7 years since you’ve had a card, you might be eligible to get a welcome offer again.
- Some cards allow one welcome offer per card “family”. Some American Express cards, like the personal Platinum card or the Charles Schwab Platinum card have language that prohibits you from earning a welcome bonus if you’ve ever had a card from the same card family before.
- Maximum 5 Amex credit cards and 10 pay-over-time cards. You can have a maximum of 5 American Express credit cards at one time. In addition, you can hold up to 10 American Express pay-over-time cards (like the Platinum, Gold, and Green cards.) These limits are known to occasionally be flexible for some cardmembers, some of the time.
- You might be able to get a better welcome offer than the public offer. American Express offers some customers targeted offers. See our post on how to get the best welcome offers from American Express and try those methods before applying for an American Express card. You might be able to get an elevated welcome offer.
- Check your application status online. You can check the status of your American Express card application online through the Amex website.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hilton Diamond get free breakfast?
As a Hilton Diamond, you receive a complimentary breakfast at most non-U.S. hotels and a daily food and beverage credit at U.S. hotels. The amount of the food and beverage credit varies by brand and is not awarded to members who have received Executive Lounge access when a property’s executive lounge serves breakfast.
Can a Hilton free night certificate be used everywhere?
The Hilton Free Night Award can be used at the vast majority of Hilton properties, excluding the properties found on Hilton’s exclusion list. To use your free night certificate, a standard room must be available to book using points. The Free Night Award can only be used for a standard room.
American Express card disclosures
Hilton credit card rates and fees
- For rates and fees of the card_name please visit this link: See Rates and Fees
- For rates and fees of the card_name please visit this link: See Rates and Fees.
- For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card please visit this link: Rates and fees.
- For rates and fees of the card_name please visit this link: See Rates and Fees
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
