Hilton AmEx Surpass Review: Decent Value, Lounge Perks

This card features robust ongoing rewards on eligible Hilton purchases, automatic Gold Status and Priority Pass Select lounge visit passes.
Claire Tsosie
By Claire Tsosie 
Edited by Kenley Young

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5.0

NerdWallet rating 
The bottom line:

This card doesn't come with a free anniversary night, like other hotel cards at the same price point do. But its lounge benefits and automatic Gold Status still make it a good deal for some.

Pros

  • High rewards rate

  • Automatic elite status

  • Luxury perks

Cons

  • Has annual fee

  • No free anniversary night

Jump to: Detailed review
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
Annual fee
$95
Regular APR
20.99%-29.99% Variable APR
Intro APR
N/A
Rec. credit score
690-850 (Good - Excellent)
Apply now

on American Express' website

  • Annual fee

    $95

  • Rewards rate

    3x-12x

  • Bonus offer

    Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

  • Intro APR

    N/A

  • Ongoing APR

    APR: 20.99%-29.99% Variable APR

    Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable

    Penalty APR: 29.99%, Variable

  • Balance transfer fee

    N/A

  • Foreign transaction fee

    None

More details from American Express
  • Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
  • 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 Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
  • Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
  • Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors™ Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
  • $95 annual fee.
  • Terms Apply.

Compare to Other Cards

NerdWallet rating 
NerdWallet rating 
NerdWallet rating 
Annual fee

$95

Annual fee

$0

Annual fee

$95

Regular APR

20.99%-29.99% Variable APR

Regular APR

20.99%-29.99% Variable APR

Regular APR

20.99%-29.99% Variable APR

Intro APR

N/A

Intro APR

N/A

Intro APR

N/A

Recommended Credit Score
Recommended Credit Score
Recommended Credit Score
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Detailed review: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

As far as hotel credit cards go, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is solid — but not spectacular.

In part, that’s because it lacks an important benefit that other hotel cards offer at the same price point: an automatic annual free night after every cardmember anniversary.

However, the card comes with strong ongoing rewards, a robust welcome offer, incentives for big spenders, automatic elite status and 10 free visits to airport lounges in the Priority Pass Select network every year. For Hilton enthusiasts who can take advantage of these perks, it could be a worthwhile card.

🤓Nerdy Tip

Prior to July 2019, this card was known as the "Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card." Further, before January 2018, it was called the "Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card from American Express." So the "Surpass" and "Ascend" names refer to the same card.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Benefits

To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, see this page.

Card type: Hotel.

Welcome offer: Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

Annual fee: $95.

Ongoing rewards:

  • 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio. Terms apply.

  • 6 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations. Terms apply.

  • 3 points per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases. Terms apply.

NerdWallet values Hilton points at 0.5 cent each. This is a baseline value, drawn from real-world data, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 0.5 cent or more in value from your Hilton points.

Points can also be transferred to Hilton's airline partner programs or redeemed for car rentals and credit at Amazon.com, among other options.

Transferring points to airlines is generally a low-value option because of Hilton's unfavorable transfer ratios. Using points on Amazon.com is also a poor redemption option, yielding only 0.2 cent a point. For more information about Hilton point redemption options, read NerdWallet's review of the Hilton Honors loyalty program.

Foreign transaction fee: None.

Other benefits:

  • Automatic Gold Status and a path to Diamond Status. You’ll get Gold Status automatically with the card, which comes with several perks. And if you spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year, you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.

  • Potential to earn a weekend night reward with spending. Earn a weekend night reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year.

  • Lounge passes. Get 10 free visits to Priority Pass Select airport lounges each calendar year once enrolled.

Benefits and perks

Robust welcome offer and ongoing rewards

This card comes with a sizable welcome bonus: Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

The ongoing rewards — especially at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations — are practical for folks who plan to use this card for everyday purchases and often spend in those categories.

In addition to the 12 points per dollar spent you'll earn on eligible Hilton purchases with this card, you'll also earn 10 Hilton Honors base points for every eligible dollar spent on Hilton rooms (with some exceptions), and an 80% bonus through the Gold Status your card automatically comes with (more on that later). Terms apply. Potentially, that could add up to 30 points per dollar spent on eligible Hilton stays.

Automatic elite status

This card comes with Gold Status, Hilton's middle elite status that's a step above Silver status, and a step below Diamond. This gives you access to plenty of goodies usually reserved for loyal customers. These perks include:

  • An 80% bonus on all Hilton Honors base points earned.

  • Complimentary breakfast at select hotels.

  • Room upgrades, subject to availability, at select hotels.

  • Fifth night free when you book a stay of five or more nights using only points.

  • All benefits available to lower-tier elite members, such as free internet access at select properties, two complimentary bottles of water per stay at select properties and more. Terms apply.

The 80% bonus, in particular, makes it easy to rack up rewards on Hilton stays. Suppose you book an eligible Hilton stay for $200, and earn 2,400 points from the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card and 2,000 points from Hilton through the loyalty program. Because of your Gold Status, you would get an 80% bonus on those 2,000 points earned through Hilton — an additional 1,600 points. All told, that $200 purchase would earn you 6,000 Hilton points.

Priority Pass Select passes

If you really want access to airport lounges but don’t want to shell out a three-digit annual fee for the privilege, this card’s lounge benefits are right in the Goldilocks zone for you. It offers 10 free visits to Priority Pass Select lounges each calendar year, giving you a taste of luxury for a reasonable cost. Terms apply. And if you use all those visits each year, it might be more cost-effective than actually springing for a pricier card with unlimited Priority Pass Select visits. Keep in mind that you’ll forfeit these passes at the end of the year if they go unused, though.

How it compares to other Hilton cards

In the Hilton card family, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is the mass-market option. Unlike the $0-annual-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card, it offers Priority Pass Select passes and automatic Gold Status. But it lacks many of the premium benefits that the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card offers. For more analysis, read NerdWallet's full comparison of Hilton cards. Here's how the cards stack up.

• 7 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels or resorts. • 5 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations. • 3 points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases. • Automatic Silver status. • Terms apply.

• 12 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels or resorts. • 6 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations. • 3 points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases. • Automatic Gold status. • 10 complimentary visits to participating Priority Pass Select airport lounges every calendar year. • Weekend night reward after spending $15,000 on card purchases in a calendar year. • Terms apply.

• 14 points per $1 spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and resorts. • 7 points on qualifying flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and U.S. restaurants. • 3 points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases. • Automatic Diamond status. • Get one weekend night reward with your card every year after renewal. Also, get an additional weekend night reward after spending $60,000 on card purchases in a calendar year. • $250 Hilton resort statement credit. • $250 airline fee credit. • $100 Hilton on-property credit when you book a 2-night minimum stay at HiltonHonors.com/aspirecard with participating hotels. • Priority Pass Select membership. • Terms apply.

Drawbacks and considerations

Annual fee

If the annual fee on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is a buzzkill for you, consider the Discover it® Miles

This $0-annual-fee travel card earns 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all purchases. Points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for travel statement credit, and can be used to cover a broad range of such purchases, including hotel stays. It also comes with a good bonus offer: UNLIMITED BONUS: Only Discover will automatically match all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. For example, if you earn 35,000 Miles, you get 70,000 Miles. There’s no signing up, no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a Miles-for-Miles match.

No free anniversary award night

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers strong rewards, but it doesn’t offer an automatic free award night every year. To earn a free weekend award night, you have to spend more than $15,000 in a calendar year. If you want a card that gets you a free award night with no spending requirement, consider the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card instead.

This card offers a free award night every anniversary year and solid ongoing rewards. The card also comes with automatic Silver Elite status, which gets you extra benefits. The annual fee is $95.

To explore other options, visit NerdWallet's top credit cards that offer free anniversary nights.

Alternate Pick: Flexibility
Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card
NerdWallet rating 
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
2X points on travel and dining

Earn bonus rewards in a variety of popular spending categories, including dining and travel. Points are worth 1.25 cents apiece when redeemed for travel booked through Chase, or you can transfer them to more than a dozen hotel and airline programs. There's a fantastic sign-up bonus, too.

Read our review

How to decide if it's right for you

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card isn’t the best $95-annual-fee hotel card available. But if you plan to use the Priority Pass Select passes, it could be a solid deal.

If you'd like to see how this card stacks up to others, see our roundup of the best credit cards NerdWallet has to offer.

To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, see this page. All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is no longer available through NerdWallet.

on American Express' website

Methodology

NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.