There are some that argue that the new Hilton Aspire card is not only the best premium credit card out there but possibly the best credit card out there at all! It does come with a $450 annual fee, but has a wide variety of benefits
Benefits of the Hilton Aspire card
The Hilton Aspire card does come with a $450 annual fee, which is pretty steep for a hotel card. It does come with a variety of benefits though which may make it worth it depending on your situation
- The 150,000 Hilton points I value at about $600
- Hilton Diamond (top tier) status as long as you have the card
- 1 weekend night reward when you sign up and every year after renewal. And, earn an additional night after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your Card in a calendar year. (SEE ALSO: Hilton Free Weekend Night – Is It Worth It?)
- $250 airline credit per calendar year
- $250 resort credit at Hilton resorts and a $100 credit on a 2 night stay
- Priority Pass access for yourself and 2 guests (if you don’t already have like 5 Priority Pass memberships
) - 14x Hilton points when you stay
Aspire upgrade offer
A few months ago, I talked about how many users of the no-fee Hilton Honors card and the mid-tier Hilton Ascend card were seeing offers to upgrade to the Aspire for 150,000 points without a hard pull. I signed up back in November to upgrade my card.
With our upcoming trip, I was looking to see how our family of 8 could access a few of the Priority Pass lounges in CVG and MCO for our trip. I mean The Club at CVG is nothing special, but I suppose it beats the terminal :-). I first checked to see if authorized user cards on th Aspire were eligible for Priority Pass membership since they’re free – turns out they are not.
Then I logged into my wife’s American Express account and found that she was ALSO targeted for the Aspire upgrade offer!
With her Priority Pass membership, that would get 6 of us in, and then the 2 younger kids would not be charged at these particular lounges as they’re under 12. I did miss the triple dip of signing up for the card in December and getting 3 years of airline fee credits for one annual fee, but maybe that would be okay. A 2nd free weekend night would be nice (SEE ALSO: The 5 best Hiltons to use your free weekend night at)
Upgrading would be another welcome offer without a hard pull; right when we’re both approaching getting under Chase 5/24
Other great welcome offers on Hilton cards
If you don’t have an Ascend card or aren’t eligible for the Aspire upgrade, here are the 4 different American Express Hilton offers with their current welcome offer
- Hilton Honors Card from American Express – 75,000 Hilton points after spending $1000 in the first 3 months. No annual fee. Learn more about this card by clicking here
- Hilton Honors Ascend Card from American Express – 125,000 Hilton points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months. $95 annual fee. A free weekend night after spending $15,000 on the card. 10 free Priority Pass lounge visits. Learn more about this card by clicking here
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – This is the one (currently) with the big Hilton 125,000 point welcome offer. 125,000 Hilton points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months. You also get top tier Diamond status by spending $40,000 on the card in a year and the possibility of 2 free weekend nights with spend. This is a business card, though you may have a business even if you don’t really think you do. Learn more about this card by clicking here.
- Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express -150,000 Hilton points after spending $4000 in the first 3 months. $450 annual fee but plenty of benefits Learn more about this card by clicking here (not an affiliate link)
The 125,000 point offer on the Hilton Honors Ascend and the Hilton 150,000 point offer on the Hilton Honors Aspire are higher than we have ever seen. The other 2 offers (75,000 for the no-fee version) and 125,000 on the Business card are matching the highest welcome offers we’ve seen
Here’s a chart comparing the different options
If you’re looking for what to do with all those Hilton points, you can see our 5 best uses of Hilton points here. If you’re approved for a card through these links, I may receive a commission. As always, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR A CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAYS YOU SHOULD. If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly at dan at pointswithacrew dot com or ask your questions over on our free miles and points Facebook group
What do you think? Should I sign up for a 2nd Aspire card?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
STOP… can’t find the unsubcribe button….
Lol
How soon after meeting the minimum spend do you get the free weekend night?
There have been mixed reports on that – with some people reporting it’s taking 8-12 weeks and multiple contacts to Amex
I got it in 2 days
Sign your wife up for a new Aspire card using your referral. She will get a sign-up bonus of 150k HH points. Plus you will get 20k HH points for the referral from your Aspire (or perhaps do even better using a universal referral from a MR-earning card). Then do the upgrade offer for another 150k HH points. That’ll give you a major haul of HH points plus 2 sets of $250 airline credits (and another 2 in early 2020) plus 2 free weekend night certs plus 2 $250 Hilton resort credits. That’s a great haul for $900 in fees. If she does the upgrade first, she’ll be shut out from the sign-up bonus under the once-per-lifetime rule.