Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card Review: Premium Allowances for Hilton Loyalists
Editor’s Note: This is a frequently seen post with regular updates on new information and offers.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card Overview
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is a premium hotel credit card with top benefits. Key allowances include free Hilton Diamond Elite identity, reward points for Hilton Stay and incredibly valuable statement credit. This card is a great choice for Hilton loyalists. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐½
*Card ratings are based on the opinions of TPG editors and are not affected by the card issuer.
It’s no surprise that Hilton Aspire was named the Best Hotel Credit Card at the 2024 TPG Awards.
Even with the card’s high $550 annual fee, these benefits can easily outweigh the cost, including nearly all Hilton hotels’ effective annual free night rewards. If your credit score is 700 or higher, the best chance of approval is available.
Here is everything you need to know about the Hilton Amex Aspire.
Information on the Hilton Amex Aspire card has been collected independently by Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Pros and cons of Hilton Aspire
| advantage | shortcoming |
|
|
Hilton Aspire welcomes quote
With the current welcome quote from Hilton Amex Aspire, new applicants can earn 175,000 points in purchases spent $6,000 in the first six months of card membership. According to TPG’s June 2025 valuation, these points are valuable – worth $875.
This is the standard welcome quote we see, but it still meets the criteria for when we apply for a card.
Remember that AMEX only allows you to earn one bonus per card in your lifetime, so when you have the best welcome quote (or approach) it is important to apply for a card.
Related: Hilton Honors: Everything About Loyalty Programs
Hilton Aspire’s interests
There are many privileges and values in this common card:
- Hilton Honor Diamond Status: As long as your card account is open, you will get the status of the Hilton Diamond Elite. Diamond status can add value, thanks to the upgrade you can earn when you book points, reward points, enjoy the indoor lounge, free breakfast and available space.
- Up to three reward nights: Open an account and card for an anniversary every year, and you will receive one night at nearly all Hilton hotels around the world. You can spend the second night of $30,000 on your card during the calendar year and the third night of $60,000 on your calendar year.
- Up to $400 in the Hilton Resort Statement: During each calendar year, you will receive up to $400 ($200 per six months) on a declaration of purchase of qualified Hilton Resorts. This $400 is available for dining, activities, spa treatments, indoor fees and taxes.
- Annual airline fee credits up to $200 per calendar year: You will receive a declared credit of up to $50 per calendar quarter for purchases of tickets directly from the airline or via Amextravel.com.
- Business credit of up to $100 for Hilton: When you book at least two nights for a participating Waldorf Astoria or Conrad Properties via phone 855-292-5757, you will receive a lender of up to $100 during your stay.
- Clear Plus Membership: When you sign up for a Clear Plus membership and pay with your Hilton Aspire card, you receive up to $199 a year of declared points.
- Taxi elite identity: You will receive the Executive Status of the National Car Rental Emerald Club Club Emerald Club Program for Free (registration required, terms and conditions apply).
- Mobile phone protection*: When using the Hilton Aspire Card to pay wireless bills for a specific cell phone cable, the card owner can be reimbursed for repairing or replacing damaged or stolen devices, up to $800 per claim. There are two approved claims limits for 12 months, each with a $50 deduction.
The card also offers some travel protections, including trip delay insurance* (when your flight is delayed for more than six hours) and trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
Ultimately, Hilton Aspire has no foreign transaction fees.
*Qualifications and income levels vary from card to card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. For more information, visit AmericaneXpress.com/benefitsguide. The policy is insured by AIG New Hampshire Insurance Company.
Win points at Hilton Aspire
This card allows you to easily accumulate high points balance in your Hilton Honors account, which you need if you want to keep your luxury property with Hilton Honors Night.
Hilton Amex Aspire card offers 14 points per dollar for hotels in Hilton portfolio. According to TPG’s June 2025 Hilton points valuation is 0.5 cents per point, which is equivalent to a 7% return on spending.
You will also earn 7 points per dollar (return 3.5%) when booking car rentals directly from selected car rental companies and dining at U.S. restaurants on flights booked directly with the airline or via Amextravel.com.
Cardholders also earn 3 points per dollar on all other expenses on the card (return 1.5%).
These aren’t groundbreaking speeds, but it’s a great option if you’ve earned a lot of points at Hilton.
Related: Best Hilton American Express Credit Card
Hilton Asper’s Redemption Point
Hilton offers you a lot of options and many options available. We recommend using them for standard reward nights for best value, but you can also redeem them for merchandise, gift cards, premium room redemption and airline transfers (a ratio of about 10:1).
Although you can’t quite determine how much points the reward night costs due to Hilton’s variable rewards table, you can use Hilton’s Points Explorer to get a rough idea of how much points the property you need will cost.
You can also use points to subsidize payments, and use points and money options to get up to 1% of your total room bill when choosing an expensive Hilton hotel.
TPG Travel Content Director Eric Rosen used the benefits of the fifth night to maximize the value of his points in order to stay in Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal. Standard bonus nights earn 120,000 points during his stay.
According to TPG’s June 2025 valuation, he took advantage of his fifth night free benefits, paid only 480,000 points of his five-night stay and saved $600 worth of Hilton points.
Related: How to Redeem Points Through Hilton Honors Program
Transfer Points in Hilton Asper
Hilton has more than 25 airline partners You can transfer Hilton honor points such as Air Canada, British Airways Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Delta Skymiles.
But, this Usually, it is not a good redemption because most partners have extremely low proportions.
The only case that may be cashed out is if you need to use airline programs like airline transfer partners (such as Eastern China Miles) and Saudi Arabians (Saudia Alfursan) to purchase reward tickets, or you need points or miles.
Related: Should you transfer your hotel points to your airline partner?
Which cards compete with Hilton Aspire?
If you want a card that carries a lower annual fee or receives a different type of reward, one of these may be more appropriate:
- If you want a lower annual fee Hilton allowance: Hilton Honors American Express Suppass® Cards have Hilton benefits such as free gold status, which is much lower for the first year’s annual introduction, followed by $150 (see rates and fees; applicable terms). To learn more, check out our full review of Hilton Sperpass.
- If you want elite benefits for Marriott Hotels: The Marriott Bonvoy Brillight® American Express® card is the top card in the Marriott hotel lineup. It has privileges like free Nighttime Awards and Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum Elite status (the terms and conditions apply). To learn more, check out our full review of Bonvoy Brilliant, Marriott Hotel.
- If you want more general rewards: PlatinumCard® from American Express earns rewards that you can transfer to Hilton or any other travel partner. It comes with privileges like Hilton and Marriott’s full airport lounge access and elite status. Registration is required. However, it costs more than $695 for the Hilton Amex Aspire (see rates and fees). To learn more, check out our full review of Amex Platinum.
For other options, check out our list of the best hotel cards.
Related: Hilton & Hilton Aspire Sperpass: Do you want gold or diamond conditions?
Bottom line
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card offers incredible value to even semi-frequency Hilton customers. If you don’t have a top hotel card yet, this is a great premium product.
While its $550 annual fee may seem high, it comes with valuable welcome offers, annual free night certificate, automatic elite identity, and multiple declared credits (admission is required to receive certain benefits; terms and conditions apply). If you can take advantage of all or most of these benefits, then you will easily justify the annual fee of the Hilton Aspire.
However, if you often don’t stay at Hilton Properties and thus gain a lot of value from these benefits, it might be better to use a general travel reward card.
Related: How to choose a hotel credit card
For Hilton Overcoming Card rates and fees, click here.
For Amex Platinum rates and fees, click here.
