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One of my favorite co-branded hotel credit cards is the mid-tier Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. In addition to being an excellent way to earn Hilton Honors points, the card offers an uncapped free night certificate after spending $15,000 in a calendar year. This highly valuable Hilton free night certificate is valid for 12 months from the date of issuance.
I’ve had the Hilton Surpass card since 2021, and I make sure to spend $15,000 on this card every single year. Here’s a look at why, plus some important card details.
Hilton Surpass Welcome Offer and Benefits
Currently, the Hilton Surpass card has the following welcome offer: Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
(Terms Apply)
- Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status with your Card. Plus, spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn an upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
- Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That's up to $200 in statement credits annually.
- Earn a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 6X Points for each dollar of purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases.
- Earn 3X Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- As a Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Member, you can enroll to receive complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status through the link on your American Express online account. After you're enrolled, you can reserve a rental car by calling National Car Rental directly, using your travel service, or by booking online or through the National Car Rental mobile app. Terms apply.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy international travel without additional fees on purchases made abroad.
- Whenever you travel more than 100 miles from home, Global Assist® Hotline is available for 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical and legal referrals, emergency cash wires, and missing luggage assistance. Card Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. Other terms and conditions apply.
- Points don't expire while your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is active and in good standing.
- $150 annual fee.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
In exchange for an annual fee of $150 (Rates & Fees), the card offers the following benefits:
Automatic Hilton Gold status
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card members get automatic Hilton Gold status, which provides the following key travel benefits:
- Fifth night free on stays of five nights or more when booking with Hilton Honors points
- 80% bonus points on paid stays. You'll earn 18X points at most Hilton locations: 10X from being a Hilton Honors member + 8X for being a Hilton Gold member — plus additional earnings depending on what card you pay with
- Either a food and beverage credit or continental breakfast each day, depending on brand and location
- Space-available room upgrades
These are in addition to some perks offered to all Hilton Honors members:
- Waived resort fees on award stays
- Milestone bonuses with Hilton, such as 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights at a Hilton after you've stayed 40 nights during a calendar year
Bonus spending categories
The Hilton Surpass earns bonus points in the following categories:
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
Other Hilton Surpass benefits
- Up to $50 statement credit every quarter for purchases made with Hilton, up to $200 annually
- No foreign transaction fees when using your Hilton Surpass card abroad (Rates & Fees)
- Complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status
- Spend $40,000 during the calendar year to receive Hilton Diamond status for the following calendar year
- Spend $15,000 during the calendar year to receive a free night valid anytime in the next 12 months
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
The Hilton Surpass Free Night Benefit
Let’s dig into that last benefit — the free night certificate. You'll unlock this after spending $15,000 during a calendar year. While other similarly priced hotel cards offer a free night certificate simply for paying the annual fee, they don't provide the same value as the Hilton Surpass‘s.
The Hilton Surpass free night reward is uncapped
The reason Hilton's free night certificate can be more valuable than other brands' is that there's practically no limit on where or how you can use it.
You can use your free night certificate at almost every Hilton property in the world, regardless of the cash or points rate, as long as a standard room is available. Here's the short list of excluded properties, which accounts for less than 1% of Hilton's footprint and are mostly timeshare properties.
For example, you could book a stay using the free night certificate at all-inclusive properties such as the Hilton Playa de Carmen or the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa. It can also be used at high-end properties such as Conrad Bora Bora Nui and Waldorf Astoria Maldives.
I personally have used my Hilton free night certificates at properties worth over $1,000 a night. Points rates for those nights ran between 90,000 and 140,000 points.
Related: New: You Can Now Book Hilton Free Night Rewards via Hilton's Website Chat
Other hotel credit cards with free night certificates
Other hotel co-branded credit card offer free night certificates, but they typically have a category cap or points limit. Some allow you to use points to top up your award, while others have a hard limit on their use. Here's what other co-branded cards in the midtier pricing range offer:
- The World of Hyatt Credit Card ($95 annual fee) provides a free night certificate valid at Category 1–4 Hyatt properties each year after your cardmember anniversary, with the option to earn a second certificate after spending $15,000 in a calendar year. However, these come with limitations: you can’t top them up with additional points to book higher-category properties, they aren’t valid at Hyatt all-inclusive properties (which use a separate, letter-based award chart), and you can’t apply other awards to these stays, such as Guest of Honor Awards or Suite Upgrade Awards.
- The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card ($99 annual fee) provides a free night certificate worth up to 40,000 points each year after your cardmember anniversary. You can add points from your IHG One Rewards account to top off the award, with no cap on the total redemption value.
- The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card ($95 annual fee) provides a free night certificate worth up to 35,000 points each year after your cardmember anniversary. You can add up to 25,000 points from your Marriott Bonvoy account to top off the award, for a maximum redemption value of 60,000 points.
- The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card ($250 annual fee) provides a free night certificate worth up to 50,000 points after spending $15,000 in a calendar year. You can add up to 25,000 points from your Marriott Bonvoy account to top off the award, for a maximum redemption value of 75,000 points.
While the Hilton Surpass card doesn't automatically come with a free night certificate by paying the annual fee, the uncapped free night certificate gained by spending $15,000 a year on the Hilton Surpass card can be vastly superior to the other free night certificates due to the uncapped potential value you can get if you use your certificate at one of Hilton's top properties.
Related: Hotel Credit Cards That Provide Free Annual Night Certificates
The Hilton Surpass provides higher points earning via hotel and everyday spending
Typically, co-branded hotel credit cards have their highest earning rates on spending at their respective properties. The Hilton Surpass card is no exception, earning 30X points at most Hilton brands (10X base points, 8X bonus points for having Gold status, and 12X points for paying with your card). Just make sure to charge all on-property expenses to your room folio and pay it with your Hilton Surpass card.
In addition, the Hilton Surpass has competitive earning rates for standard everyday spending categories. The Hilton Surpass earns 6X Points at U.S. gas stations and 6X Points at U.S. supermarkets. You'll also earn 4X for all U.S. online retail spending and 3X Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
If you can spend the entire $15,000 on the Hilton Surpass in the card's 6X bonus categories, you'd earn 90,000 points a year. That's a solid return compared with other co-branded hotel cards. Those points can help you extend your stay at whatever property you're staying at with your free night.
$150Rates & Fees
(Terms Apply)
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
$95Rates & Fees
- Up to 9X points total per $1 spent at Hyatt - 4X points per $1 when you use your card at Hyatt hotels & 5X points per $1 you can earn as a World of Hyatt member
- 2X points per $1 spent at restaurants, on airlines tickets purchased directly from the airlines, on local transit and commuting and on fitness club and gym memberships
- 1X point per $1 everywhere else
$99Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
- 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
- Earn up to 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
Bottom Line
The Hilton Surpass is an excellent card to hold on to for the long haul. When you spend $15,000 a year on this card, you'll receive an uncapped free night certificate to use at almost any Hilton property. If you're in the market for a reasonably priced co-branded hotel card with a solid combination of benefits and rewards, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better option.
(Terms Apply)
- Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status with your Card. Plus, spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn an upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
- Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That's up to $200 in statement credits annually.
- Earn a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 6X Points for each dollar of purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases.
- Earn 3X Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- As a Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Member, you can enroll to receive complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status through the link on your American Express online account. After you're enrolled, you can reserve a rental car by calling National Car Rental directly, using your travel service, or by booking online or through the National Car Rental mobile app. Terms apply.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy international travel without additional fees on purchases made abroad.
- Whenever you travel more than 100 miles from home, Global Assist® Hotline is available for 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical and legal referrals, emergency cash wires, and missing luggage assistance. Card Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. Other terms and conditions apply.
- Points don't expire while your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is active and in good standing.
- $150 annual fee.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees), The World of Hyatt Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
Is the 15k spend per claerndar year or per card year? I have the card fo rmany years already and find the gold status and $50. per quarter on hilton spends make the card a must have. But i wasnt aware of the FNC as odnt spend a lot on it?
Per calendar year. From the T&Cs: “Basic Card Members can receive a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after the total eligible purchases on their Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card account reach $15,000 in a calendar year.”
The card dropped the lounge access benefit, so I dropped the card.
I just earned my FNC as of 1 June, the first via the $15k grind, and the second overall (first one was part of the welcome bonus + 130k points offered back in 2022). In addition to the quarterly credits (an easy $200, IYKYK), the card is easily my greatest money-maker.