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American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The Hilton Honors American Express Card doesn’t ask for an annual fee and features solid rewards and automatic enrollment into Hilton Honors Silver status. Silver status provides some helpful perks like a fifth night free when redeeming for five nights or more and a 20% bonus to Base points.
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The information related to Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card have been collected by Credit Card Insider and have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of these products.
We give the Hilton Honors American Express Card 4 out of 5 Stars. It has no annual fee and offers plenty of rewards as well as added amenities for Hilton enthusiasts.
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The Hilton Honors Card from American Express aims to make your Hilton stays more comfortable and rewarding.
Most of the value comes from the automatic enrollment into Hilton Honors Silver status, which provides some added perks for Hilton patrons. Chief among them are a 20% bonus to Base points earned and your fifth night free when redeeming for five nights or more. And there’s no annual fee, which makes it all the sweeter.
You’ll also earn an impressive number of reward points at Hilton properties. But if Hilton isn’t your favorite hotel brand to stay at, check out our other top picks for hotel cards.
There are other cards in the Hilton family that might interest you as well. They do however carry annual fees, but also feature stronger rewards and better benefits:
Card | Annual Fee | Benefits |
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Hilton Honors American Express Card (this review) | $0 (Rates & Fees) |
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Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Review) | $95 (Rates & Fees) |
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Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card | $450 (Rates & Fees) |
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The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Review) | $95 (Rates & Fees) |
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You’ll get 19X Hilton Honors points at most Hilton brands. If your points are worth 0.5–1 cent, that would equate to a cash back equivalent of 9.5%–19%.
You’ll also earn 5X points on certain everyday spending, and at those same point values, that’ll net you a cash back equivalent of 2.5%–5%. And, you’ll be earning 3X Hilton Honors Bonus points on every other purchase for a cash back equivalent of 1.5%–3%.
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Those 19X points per dollar is partly due to your Silver status enrollment. You’ll receive 7X Bonus points from the card, and 12X points from your membership.
Most cards only earn 1X point per dollar outside their home turf, so the 3X points the Hilton Honors card offers is a nice step up.
If you’re wondering where the extra 12X points come from, here’s a brief explanation. You’ll earn 10X Base points from your Hilton Honors membership at almost every Hilton hotel. And thanks to your 20% bonus from Silver status, you’ll get two extra Bonus points per dollar. That brings your Hilton Honors point total to 12X points per dollar.
However, there are a few hotel brands in the Hilton family that don’t offer 10X Base points per dollar. At Tru and Home2, you’ll only earn 5X Base points, meaning your 20% point bonus will only be worth one extra point. So at those two hotels, you’re looking at a total of 6X points from your membership.
After earning a heap of points, it’s time to find out what you can do with them. There are quite a few different options available. You can:
You’ll find the best value for your points when redeeming for hotel stays at Hilton hotels. Transferring them into miles would likely diminish their value, as each airline and rail partner has a poor transfer rate. The ratios you’ll currently get are 10:1 Hilton points to miles, 20:3, or 50:13.
Aeroflot Russian Airlines | EVA Air |
Aeromexico | Finnair |
Aeroplan (Air Canada) | Frontier Airlines |
Air Asia BIG | Garuda Indonesia |
Air France-KLM | Hainan Airlines |
Air New Zealand | Hawaiian Airlines |
Alaska Airlines | Icelandair |
American Airlines | JAL Japan Airlines |
Amtrak | Jet Airways |
Ana – All Nippon Airways | LAN Airlines |
Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific) | Malaysia Airlines |
Asiana Airlines | Philippine Airlines |
British Airways | Qantas Airways |
China Eastern Airlines | Qatar Airways |
Delta Air Lines | SAS Scandinavian Airlines |
Emirates | Saudi Arabian Airlines |
Ethiopian Airlines | Singapore Airlines |
Etihad Airways | Turkish Airlines |
Eurowings | Virgin Australia |
If you head over to Hilton’s website you’ll be able to search for hotels. Once you’ve found where you’d like to go, you can choose to use your Hilton points for reward nights instead of cash.
Hilton doesn’t publish a point table for its properties. Instead, you can use its points explorer tool to indicate how many points you’re working with, and then choose a location you’d like to stay at.
Once you plug in the location you want, it’ll give you a selection of Hilton brand hotels to choose from. You’ll see the minimum and maximum point requirements per night and can check for room availability.
Only certain rooms are available to be booked with points, and each room may have a different point requirement.
We ran through a few examples of a weekend stay to find out what kind of value you might expect from your points:
Location | Cash (per night, includes taxes & fees) | Point cost (per night) | Point Value |
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Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix Tempe, AZ | $213.60 | 22,000 | 0.97 cents |
Hilton Denver City Center | $186.73 | 35,000 | 0.53 cents |
H Hotel Los Angeles, Curio Collection by Hilton | $195.79 | 46,000 | 0.43 cents |
Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing | $211.32 | 49,000 | 0.43 cents |
Waldorf Astoria Chicago | $505.50 | 93,000 | 0.54 cents |
From the examples above, it looks like you might find the best value for your points at a lower point cost. Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix Tempe will provide a cash back equivalent of about 18.4%, when you’re earning 19X points per dollar.
However, at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, which is a higher-end hotel and thus requires a larger sum of points to book, you’re looking at a cash back equivalent of about 10.3%. And while that might be less than what the lower point requirements worked out to, it’s still a solid return on your spending.
Because the point requirements are calculated per room rather than per hotel, the rates are pretty flexible. That means you might be able to search for a different room at the same hotel if you don’t get the point value you’d like right off the bat.
The greatest value will come from the Silver status enrollment. The other benefits are rather sparse, just a few generic travel protections and limited shopping protections. But that’s to be expected for a hotel travel card with no annual fee.
You could always upgrade to another card in the Hilton family if you want more, like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Review). Or, choose a different travel card altogether that might carry an annual fee, but could also feature advanced rewards and benefits.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
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15.74% - 24.74% Variable | None | 25.24% Variable |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
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$0 | None |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
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None | Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater. |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
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29.24% Variable | Up to $40 | Up to $40 |
The Hilton Honors American Express Card isn’t a bad option for a no annual fee hotel credit card. But for more frequent travelers, you could likely do better.
If you do travel more frequently, one of the other Hilton cards (or another hotel card, if Hilton isn’t your cup of tea) might serve you better.
For example, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Review). It does carry an annual fee of $95, but it also offers the chance to earn a free annual night and boosts your status to Gold level, which could prove much more useful than Silver.
Simply click the link below. You’ll be directed to the credit card issuer’s site where you can securely input the required information. You should usually hear back almost instantly about whether you’ve been approved or not for a new card.
The Hilton Honors American Express Card is recommended for people with good credit.
If your credit scores fall within the ranges of 670–739 for FICO or 700–749 for VantageScore, you’re considered to have good credit.
But don’t count yourself out if your credit scores don’t look like that. Sometimes credit card issuers will still approve you even if you’re not at the recommended level. Other factors, such as income and source of income, can factor into the issuer’s decision.
However, the opposite could hold true even if you are in those ranges or above. Not everyone makes the cut — in the end, it’s all up to the credit card issuer.
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American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
We found that your Hilton Honors points are worth about 0.5–1 cent. But the point requirement for room redemption fluctuates quite a bit, so you might be able to find a slightly higher point value if you try different rooms.
While you won’t get a free reward night every year, you will receive a fifth night free when redeeming points for five nights or more thanks to the automatic Silver status enrollment. Take a look at the full list of benefits that comes with your card.
The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Review) is one of the better cards offered by Hilton.
It does have an annual fee, but it also improves on most facets of the Hilton Honors American Express card. There are improved rewards, better benefits, and a higher welcome offer.
Instead of Silver status, you’ll be enrolled in Gold status, which includes a much larger bonus to Base points, provides room upgrades when they’re available, and offers free breakfast. You’ll also get the opportunity to earn an annual award night, provided you spend $15,000 in a calendar year. And to top it off, you’ll receive Priority Pass Select membership, giving you access to a multitude of airport lounges.
So if you travel frequently enough, this card might give you more bang for your buck.
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Members will earn another 18X points per dollar at Hilton thanks to the Hilton Honors Gold membership. That brings the grand total to 30X points from Hilton, and the cash back equivalent to 15%–30%.
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card (Review) offers high rewards and strong amenities for people who frequent InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) hotels and resorts.
You’ll earn a few points less than you would with the Hilton Honors American Express, and you’ll likely see a cash back equivalent of 20%–25%. It might get you a little more back regularly, but it may not reach as high as the 19% you could earn with the Hilton card.
The IHG card does require an annual fee, but it also comes along with an annual free reward night. So if you use that for a room that would normally cost you $89, that fee is effectively negated. Instead of Hilton’s Gold status, you’ll be enrolled into IHG’s Platinum Elite status, which provides a large bonus to Base points, room upgrades when they’re available, and other handy amenities like late checkout. There’s also an application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck attached, covering up to $100 every four years.
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If you’d rather stay with Marriott Bonvoy than Hilton, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card (Review) is one to consider.
You’ll earn 17X points per dollar at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, so that’s a little under the 19X you’d earn at Hilton. However, your points will usually be worth more. If you get a point value of 1–2 cents, you’d see a cash back equivalent of 17%–34%, which is better than the 9.5%–19% you’d get with the Hilton card. But there is an annual fee.
On top of a higher cash back equivalent, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless will give you an annual free reward night, after the first year of being a card member. The membership, while still Silver, isn’t as impressive at Marriott compared to Hilton’s Silver status. The Base point bonus is slightly smaller.
If you prefer Marriott Bonvoy hotels, this could be the route to take. You’d earn a little more, and once you have the card for a year, you’ll start getting an annual free night to help you forget about the annual fee.
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The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (Review) differs from the others here, as it’s a general-use travel rewards card.
So rather than earning a handsome number of points at a specific hotel, you’ll earn a flat rate on all of your purchases. With no annual fee and few benefits, this card is best used by people who don’t travel frequently and don’t always stay at the same hotel, or who spend on a variety of travel options.
It earns 1.25X miles per dollar on every purchase, which compared to the Hilton card is quite a bit less. You won’t get any memberships or amenities at a specific hotel either, but you will get the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection. This benefit provides exclusive perks at a wide variety of hotels.
There’s an introductory purchase APR too, so your purchases won’t earn interest for for 12 months (after that your rate will be 15.49% - 25.49% (Variable)). This card can be pretty useful for people who don’t hit the road too much.
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American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
Do you have the Hilton Honors American Express Card? Have your Hilton stays been more rewarding and comfortable thanks to Silver status? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Best Hotel Credit CardsFor rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Card, please click here.
Evan graduated from SUNY Oswego with a degree in journalism and creative writing. In his professional writing career, he strives for precision and comprehension in his work. He’s written news articles, blog posts, and copy, working across a slew of different mediums. With in-depth research and great care for accuracy and detail, he now works to bring you the most up-to-date credit information.
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