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One of two brand new Hilton co-brand cards and the first aimed at business owners, the The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is the business rendition of the much improved Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. Albeit, sporting a few differences that provide an additional layer of value for business owners able to put higher spend on the card.
The Hilton Business Card is the only business-focused card in the revamped lineup of Hilton co-brand credit cards, which includes:
- Hilton Honors American Express Card (replaces the old Hilton Honors™ Card from American Express)
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (replaces the old Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card from American Express)
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Welcome Offer: Earn 125,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Earn Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card: 12X at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, 6X on Select Business & Travel Purchases, 3X Everywhere Else. Terms & Limitations Apply.
- Enjoy complimentary Gold Status with your Hilton Honors Business Card.
- Earn a Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- Earn another Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend an additional $45,000 in purchases on your Card in the same calendar year.
- Relax with 10 free airport lounge visits each year once enrolled in complimentary Priority Pass™ Select membership, which offers access to over 1,000 lounges in over 120 countries.
- Terms apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 12X at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio
- 6X on Select Business & Travel Purchases
- 3X Everywhere Else
The main points of difference from the Hilton Surpass are changes to the 6x bonus categories and the ability to earn a second free weekend night certificate if you can reach $60K in spend each year (Terms Apply).
Hilton Business Card Welcome Bonus
Welcome Offer: Earn 125,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card Membership.
To put the welcome bonus into perspective, 100K Honors points is enough for 20 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport (excluding 5th night free redemptions), one of the best hotels priced at Hilton’s lowest free night award rate of 5,000 points. Or one night at the Conrad Tokyo which runs to 95,000 points per night in peak season.
Points Earning Potential and Category Bonuses
The Hilton Business Card earns a solid 12x bonus points at Hilton properties worldwide. That's in addition to the 10 base points you’ll make as a Hilton Honors member and the 25% bonus earned from Gold status which you receive automatically as a cardholder. If you’re paying for your stay with the Hilton Business Card, you’re bagging at least 24 points per dollar spent, before taking into account any of Hilton's regular promos which can often stack for enormous value.
The 6x bonus categories include U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants, U.S. shipping purchases, mobile phone services from U.S. providers, flights booked directly with airlines or via amextravel.com, and car rentals from select rental companies. You’ll earn 3x Hilton points on all non-bonus purchases.
Hilton Business Card Feature Benefits
Weekend Free Night Reward After Spending $15K
The Hilton Business Card earns a weekend free night reward after spending $15,000 each calendar year. An achievable target for a small business card that is redeemable across Hilton’s portfolio of hotels and resorts.
Second Weekend Free Night Reward After Spending $60K in a Year
$60K is a substantial target to hit for a free weekend night certificate, but the ability to earn two free nights per year on a card is a big plus, and that’s not accounting for the points earned while reaching that target. At 3x points for non-bonus spend, you’d also walk away with a minimum 180K Hilton Honors points, enough for two nights at Hilton’s highest category hotels.
Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Elite Status
A few creature comforts when traveling can make your time away from home that much more bearable. The Hilton Business Card provides complimentary Gold Elite status which entitles you to free breakfast, the possibility of room upgrades, and late checkout. If you are striking out for the second free night certificate at $60K spend, a welcome byproduct of that effort is receiving Hilton Diamond status as you cross the $40K spend line.
10 Free Priority Pass™ Lounge Passes
Lounge access is a surefire way of easing the burdens of business travel, and the Hilton Business Card delivers with 10 free Priority Pass Lounge passes each year. The lounge access benefit on the Hilton Business Card isn’t the unlimited free access we see on premium business cards like The Business Platinum® Card from American Express. However, for a small business card with an annual fee under $100 to offer any complimentary lounge access is an outstanding benefit (Rates & Fees).
No Foreign Transaction Fees
One of the new perks Amex has introduced across its lineup of Hilton cards is to cut foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees). When a card charges 2-3% foreign transaction fees for purchases made outside the U.S., it wipes out any gains made from picking up points on overseas spend, so this is a welcome change to Hilton’s co-brand portfolio of cards.
Application Restrictions
American Express only allows you to earn the new cardmember welcome bonus once per lifetime on each credit card. So if you currently hold, or have held a specific Amex card in the past, you won’t be eligible to receive the welcome bonus for that card again. As per the Amex application page:
“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.”
Fortunately, the Hilton Business Card is an entirely new product, so this won’t affect your prospects of securing the welcome bonus if approved for the card. Amex does impose other constraints on both credit and charge cards, a topic we cover in detail in our post on credit card application restrictions.
Final Thoughts
The Hilton Business Card offers high-value benefits that make it a standout mid-tier business rewards card. In addition to a substantial welcome bonus, new cardholders receive instant Gold Elite status with the opportunity to earn Diamond status after $40K spend. You can earn two weekend free nights if you can put enough spend on the card each year, and the 10 free lounge passes are a great perk for any small business owner, without the need to drop hundreds of dollars in annual fees. If you travel for business, the Hilton Business Card is a great alternative to a premium business card, minus the prohibitive cost.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Rates & Fees)
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Sounds like a solid card — might be worth pairing with CSR.
Emily, how do you see this pairing with the CSR? I mean, it is great if you’re a Hilton fan, but points can’t be combined with the CSR and Ultimate Rewards can’t be transferred to Hilton. Can you explain what your thoughts are?
Very solid card. I’m going to have to re-think some cards in the coming year and figure out what makes the most sense for me and my family.
Seems like a solid card i might pick up for those cheapter hilton properties. Gonna have to do more research before pulling the trigger on it tho
Is this considered better than the American express blue business card?
If you’re focused on earning rewards with Hilton Honors, yes. “Better” is HIGHLY subjective and it all depends on your goals. What do you think Bertrand?
Another credit card to consider, I am putting all my spend on my CSR.
When you get 10 lounge visits a year, are those all in your name? Or could you use 5 and your partner use 5?
10 swipes on the card. You’ll need to be present for the swipe, but if you’ve got your partner with you, that’d be two out of ten.
I guess, with some options drying up, such as with the once in a lifetime bonus change from AMEX, I’ll keep this card in mind, and will apply sooner or later. Thanks for the information.
Hilton really isn’t one of my hotel properties of choice, so I personally have very little interest. I would prefer to earn points for others like Marriott/SPG and Hyatt, and the more flexible UR and MR currencies.
Hilton really isn’t very high on my list of properties of choice, so I have very little interest. I would prefer to focus on earning points in Marriott/SPG and Hyatt, and the more flexible UR and MR currencies.
Looks like a good card!
Amazing promotion. Please offer a Hilton co-branded card in Canada…
If it hasn’t happened yet, I wouldn’t count on it any time soon.
Looks like a good card if that is your hotel brand of choice.
Exactly!
i will be applying for this today
Exciting to have new cards
I like that card as I use Hilton branded hotels for personal travel! Thanks as always !
This seems to be a great addition for those who have the business needs for this card.
The way I feel about Hilton, I’m in no rush to sign up. I said the same thing about the Delta Amex card, and I eventually pulled the trigger. It’s always good to have some orphan points laying around > for emergencies. 😉
FYI, when I checked the Bali property in November, it was going for ~USD $50.
These days, my CSR is my #1 card out of my (Award) wallet 😉 followed by the Marriott card, just for good measure.
Marriott, really? 🙂
I would prefer SPG over Marriott card. It’s essentially, 3 Marriott points per dollar on everything. Just saying
Howie,
My new Marriott card converts to Starwood. 😉
My old Starwood converts to Marriott! lol
The card is interesting and I’ll keep it in mind for a time when I know I can easily get the sign up bonus, but the more I enjoy the benefits of flexible currencies, the less inclination I have to get a branded card. Every dollar I spend on this card is two fewer MR points that I’d earn using my Blue for Business Card.
I do like the ten lounge passes which is not bad for the AF of this card.
Thanks for covering the updates and highlights of the card.
Went pending First time it happened.
I wish Marriott would step up to this kind of bonus.
Too bad this branded credit cards are not available in every market
The United States is the only country with this crazy of a credit card/rewards market.
Since Hilton is my brand of choice, I’m definitely looking forward to applying for this card in the near future. However, truthfully, this will be a sock drawer card after earning the sign-up bonus, since I already have a Surpass/Ascend card on which the bonus categories match up better with my spending habits.
Giving away status in this way is precisely what turns actual road warriors off the Hilton chain.
But good for those who don’t stay in hotels as much, but want the guarantee of breakfast and/or lounge access.
Instantly approved for the card. Nice to have another card that gives a good bonus.
The signup bonus on the Aspire card is certainly disappointing.
I hope the signup bonus will increase at some point as the current offer is not attractive enough for many people to apply for the card.
I really like the new line if hilton cards. Nice yo finally be able to use a hilton card over sea too!
Wish the lounge passes were actually certificates you could pass out.
No bonus on gas/grocery 🙁
Already have the Hilton card. So no worries there. Been looking at the IHG card though.
Does the IHG card have a better value than Hilton? Not really value but standing per se in the hotel reward world?
I just read about the Kimpton hotels and they do seem like a big plus to them.
Have you blogged about the best way to get AF waived?
I prefer the ability to pool points with Hilton, but really like the IHG free night certificates that come with the credit card along with the Accelerate promos.
As for getting annual fees waived, you can always call and see if there is anything you can do, but if a card is providing value to me, I’m, happy to pay its fee to be a good customer.
Just applied!
The priority pass lounge benefit sounds great. Does that include access for present guests as well? Thanks.
The 10 visits are for 10 total people. So you could, in theory, do 10 people all in one visit and that would be your 10.
love the new colors
Good article but I tend to stay at Marriott and SPG properties more than Hilton. What’s your favorite chase card for everyday spend (non travel and dining) The Freedom?
Our favorite is the Chase Freedom Unlimited — Marketed as 1.5% cash back. Also, if you’ve got another Ultimate rewards earning card, such as the Sapphire Preferred, you can combine the points between the two (https://awardwallet.com/blog/combine-chase-ultimate-rewards-multiple-credit-cards/), getting a better rate of return and higher value associated with a Sapphire card.
Hmmmm, Im tempted. Havent seen anything lately thats piqued my interest. This may.
Yea this looks like a card I could sign up for.