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American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass

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The card’s rewards – 6 points per $1 spent at the Hilton, gas, groceries, drugstores, and cable/internet/wireless bills – rank it as one of the better everyday-purchases rewards cards. In fact, it ranks well even among the gas credit cards for its ~3% rewards rate. But.

The key to understanding the Hilton HHonors cards is understanding what a Hilton Point is worth. If each point were worth 1 cent, like most rewards programs, the cards would be fantastic. However, this is not the case.

NerdWallet estimates Hilton points are worth 1/2 of a cent, about 1/2 the value of other point programs.

Our methodology:

  • Waldorf Hotel: 50,000-60,000 points per night versus retail of $250 per night. Point value, about 1/2 of a cent.
  • Hilton Casino Gaming Chip: 40,000 points versus face value of $100. Point value, about 2.5/10 of a cent.
  • Carnival Cruise Gift Certificate: 480,000 points versus face value of $1000. Point value, about 2.1/10 of a cent.
  • American Airlines Gift Certificate: 25,000 points versus face value of $50. Point value, 2/10 of a cent.

    • The exchange rate is even less favorable when you exchange Hilton points for airline miles or buy points directly:

  • You can exchange 10,000 Hilton points for 1,500 airline miles, which is about a $15 value. Participating partners include American Airlines, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Qantas Airways, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic Airways
  • You can purchase points for 1 cent each when you buy more than 10,000 at a time.

    • If you’re confident you can consume all of your Hilton points at Hilton/Waldorf hotels, assume more rewards than NerdWallet’s estimate. If you never stay at Hilton/Waldorf hotels, assume fewer rewards than our estimate.
    Also, before you take the leap with HHonors, we’d recommend considering the American Express Blue Cash, the Discover Escape with 2% rewards on all purchases, and the American Express Costco Card with 3% on gas/groceries and 2% on travel.

    How to decide between the Hilton HHonors, the Hilton HHonors Surpass, and the Citibank Hilton HHonors card?

  • The Citibank card only offers a base reward rate of 2 Hilton points per $1 spent, so unless you really need a Visa card, it is a poor choice.
  • The Surpass has difficult to value fringe benefits, such as airport lounge access. Excluding these benefits, the main tradeoff is that the Surpass card has an annual fee of $75 but earns points slightly faster, so we’d use our Credit Card Finder to calculate which card is a better deal based on your spending habits. Roughly speaking, you have to earn an EXTRA 25,000 points each year to offset the $75 annual fee, which translates to ~$80,000 per year in spending.
    • http://www.boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler Ric Garrido

      You state HHonors points are worth 1/2 cent, but you show the reward rate at 1.5% or 1.5 cents?

      Please explain.

      • nerdwallet

        Hi Ric, you earn 3 points for every dollar spent, so if each of those points is worth 1/2 cent, the reward rate comes out to 1.5%.

        Glad someone is keeping us on our game though, keep the feedback coming! It's hard work keeping all these numbers accurate ;-)

        • john qwerty

          Hi nerdwallet,

          Thanks for the good info. What if I plan to use all my points for hilton stays…what would one point be worth?

    • Jerry Alsid

      Other than accumulated points, the other benefit which is difficult to monetize (but is indeed a very excellent and worthwhile "reward") is the Diamond VIP status when $40,000 has been spent in any year. The Diamond level is good for a full year after the $40,000 spend.

    • Don Dirkse

      Am I dreaming? I thot I saw something about HHGold requiring reduced points for rewards, particularly for cat. 6&7.

      • http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet

        Not sure if this is what you are talking about, but cardholders do have the opportunity to redeem 4-night stays at Category 5&6 hotels for less points than would normally be required.

        A 4-night stay at a Category 5 hotel is 125,000 bonus points rather than 140,000, and the same stay at a Category 6 is 145,000 instead of 160,000.

        HH Gold VIPs also earn a 25% bonus credit on stays, but you have to spend more than $20,000 on the card to earn complimentary VIP status (after the first year, which is free).

    • Pamsanders999

      Your reviews mention that the Surpass card has lounge access – I can only find this benefit offered with the Platinum Card – could you clarify please?

      • http://www.nerdwallet.com/ NerdWallet

        Hi there,
        From the Surpass’ website:

        A complimentary Priority PassSM membership (valued at $99) is yours as a Hilton HHonors Surpass Cardmember.

        • Elaronndy

          Thanks for verifying this for me, very much appreciated. However, for anyone else considering this, I checked the Priority Pass Membership page and for the Standard membership I have to still have to pay $27 to acces the lounges and the number of lounges is very limited (in fact no access in my main hub airports such as IAD and LHR. And no access to United lounges. Just a heads up for anyone thinking of choosing this card specifically for the lounge membership. Again, thanks for a great job.

          • http://www.nerdwallet.com/ NerdWallet

            Hey there,

            Thanks for letting us know! That’s a pretty significant caveat, we’ll be sure to make a note of it.