I enjoy planning trips using points and miles. It allows me to save on travel costs, elevate our experiences, and travel more frequently. To make that happen, my husband and I have credit cards with various hotel chains offering points, perks, and free nights.
Although we enjoy the flexibility of staying at a variety of hotels, over the last few years, we have moved Hilton to the top of our list because we can combine the benefits and earning power from our Hilton credit cards for outsized value and over-the-top stays. Hilton offers a wide range of hotel styles making it easy to find a property that fits our needs. Whether we are looking for a fancy resort or an affordable hotel for a quick stay, Hilton usually has an option.
American Express Hilton Aspire and Hilton Surpass cards
The Hilton Aspire
The American Express Aspire is Hilton’s premium credit card with a steep $550 Annual Fee. Although the cost is high, the card has valuable benefits including top-tier Diamond status which can deliver fantastic room upgrades. The card also comes with an uncapped Annual Free Night Certificate which can be used to secure standard rooms at any price. It also includes two $200 Resort Credits (one good January – June and another from July – December) that can be used at any property on the Hilton Resort List. In addition, the card has a $50 Quarterly Airline Fee Credit that can be used to cover a variety of fees with any airline.
Earning Points with the Aspire card
- 14x points at Hilton properties
- 7x on Flights booked directly with airlines, Dining, and Travel booked through the American Express Travel Portal
- 3x on all other purchases
The Hilton Surpass
The American Express Hilton Surpass card has a much lower $150 Annual Fee. This card includes automatic Hilton Gold Status and a $50 Quarterly Hilton Property Credit. Although it does not come with a Free Night Certificate, you can earn one by spending $15,000 on the card during a calendar year and a 2nd one if you reach $30,000. Because we can get so much value from these certificates, we make earning them a priority.
Earning Points with the Surpass card
- 12x at Hilton properties
- 6x at Restaurants, Groceries, and Gas Stations
- 4x at Online Retailers (like Amazon)
- 3x on all other purchases.
Yours, Mine & Ours
One of the best parts of the Surpass card is the bonus categories which lets us earn tons of points for everyday spending. My husband uses the Surpass card as his primary card for daily purchases like gas and dining. On the backend, we use it to pay monthly bills and at online retailers to quickly build up our points bank and help us reach the spending requirement to earn a Free Night Certificate.
I use the Aspire card for paying bills and shopping (not groceries) to earn 3x points plus I always use this card at Hilton properties to earn 14x points and to trigger the Aspire Resort Credits.
These cards work great when paired together. With Hilton Points Pooling, we can combine our points to create a great vacation. The robust earning structure of the Surpass card lets us accumulate lots of points and that spending also leads to earning a Free Night Certificate. We pair that with the Aspire card for a second Free Night Certificate, elite status benefits, room upgrades, and travel credits.
Although we pay a combined total of $700 in Annual Fees for these two cards, we always get our money’s worth from them. We earn tons of points we can redeem for award stays, hundreds of dollars in useful credits, and 2 uncapped Free Night Certificates. I like to think big when I redeem our Free Night Certificates and choose hotels that cost $700 or more per night. Using just one Free Night Certificate provides enough value to offset our annual fees.
Some of our Amazing Stays
Here are a few examples of how we combined points and perks from both cards to secure outstanding hotel reservations with all the bells and whistles.
Last February my husband and I used a mixture of points and Free Night Certificates to book a 3-night award stay at Baker’s Cay Resort in Key Largo. We were upgraded to an oceanfront corner suite which would have cost $2,500 with taxes and fees.
We also utilized the Daily Food and Beverage Credits combined with my Aspire Resort Credits for several meals, snacks, and drinks during our stay. We had the best time and had a zero balance at check out.
My daughter also has a Surpass card so we combined our points to make hotel reservations for our trip to Paris in May last year. We spent 2 nights at the Hilton Paris Opera, a beautiful hotel on the same block as the Metro and the St. Lazare Train Station. Because of my status, we were provided complimentary access to the hotel Lounge and enjoyed breakfast, afternoon snacks, and beverages throughout our stay.
While in France, we also stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace. We were upgraded to an incredible suite with two balconies thanks to my Diamond status. We also had a spectacular dinner with all the courses and a bottle of Sancerre at the hotel’s La Veranda Restaurant. The meal came to $205 but after applying my Resort Credit our final cost was just $5.
These are the things that make the Aspire Card so valuable to me.
In just a few days my husband and I will be heading off for a 3-night award stay at the Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea in Maui. We wouldn’t have been able to pull off this reservation without combining our points and a Free Night Certificate from each of our cards.
Last fall I wanted to take advantage of an American Express offer to get $50 back on $250 of Hilton purchases. I still had my last 2024 Aspire Resort Credit that we didn’t have plans to use so I made a prepayment of $250 toward our upcoming reservation at the Grand Wailea. This made my out-of-pocket zero after receiving both the $200 Resort credit and the $50 Amex credit. During our stay, I can use my first $200 Resort Credit of 2025 to give us a total of $450 in credits to use on the property for a luau, at the spa, on dining, or whatever fun stuff we decide to do.
Final Thoughts
Combining the status, perks, and credits from the Hilton Aspire card with the points-earning potential of the Hilton Surpass card can be a great way to book premium hotel stays at a budget price. We definitely get more value from this Dynamic Duo of credit cards than the amount we spend on their Annual Fees.
This is not a sponsored post, these are my personal opinions and experiences.
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