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American Express|Personal
Elevated BonusVerified May 2026
Hilton Honors Surpass
4.2/5
Annual Fee
$150
Sign-Up Bonus
130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points
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Earn 165,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months.
Our Take
The sweet spot in the Hilton lineup. Gold status gets you free breakfast worth $30-50 per stay, and the free weekend night after spend typically covers a $300+ stay.
Key Benefits
- Automatic Gold status
- Free weekend night
- $200 Hilton credit/year
- 12x at Hilton
All Benefits
- Welcome offer: earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card Membership (current public offer per the American Express issuer page and corroborated by The Points Guy and Upgraded Points 2026 reviews; Hilton Honors points are widely valued at roughly 0.5 cents each, putting the implied welcome value near $650)
- $150 annual fee (positioned between the no-annual-fee Hilton Honors American Express and the $550 Hilton Honors Aspire); authorized users have no annual fee, although authorized-user spend pools to the primary cardholder for earning category bonuses
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on eligible purchases made directly with Hotels and Resorts within the Hilton portfolio (highest non-Aspire Hilton earn rate on Hilton-branded purchases)
- Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar at U.S. restaurants (including takeout and delivery from U.S. restaurants), at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations (refreshed in 2024 from the prior 6X-U.S.-restaurants-only structure; the supermarket and gas-station 6X categories were added in the 2024 product refresh and are confirmed on the current Amex Featured Benefits page)
- Earn 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on U.S. Online Retail purchases (capped categories that were also part of the 2024 refresh; this category replaced the legacy 3X-on-everything rate for U.S. online retail purchases on the Surpass and supplements travel/streaming earning)
- Earn 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on eligible streaming subscriptions in the U.S. and on transit purchases (including taxis, rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses, and similar transit purchases) per the 2024 refreshed Surpass earning chart
- Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on all other eligible purchases (uncapped base earn)
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Elite status for as long as you remain a Card Member (provides a 80% bonus on base points for 18 points per dollar on Hilton stays, complimentary daily food and beverage credit at participating brands including Hilton-branded U.S. properties, room upgrades when available at check-in, free standard Wi-Fi, and the 5th-night-free benefit on standard-room reward stays of five or more nights)
- Path to Hilton Honors Diamond Elite status: earn complimentary Diamond status for the rest of the calendar year, plus the following calendar year, after spending $40,000 on eligible purchases on the Surpass in a calendar year (Diamond unlocks 20 points per dollar on Hilton stays, full executive lounge access where available, suite upgrades when available, and the 48-hour room guarantee)
- Up to $200 annual Hilton Resort statement credit: up to $50 in statement credits each calendar quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) on eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts; credit is delivered as a statement credit after the eligible Resort charge posts and unused quarterly buckets do not roll over (refreshed credit structure introduced in the 2024 product update)
- Up to $100 on-property credit at participating Waldorf Astoria and Conrad hotels: covers eligible on-property charges (dining, spa, other property charges) on a paid stay of two or more consecutive nights booked through Amex Travel with a Surpass-specific rate (this credit was added in the 2024 refresh and matches the structure of the Aspire on-property credit at a lower stay threshold)
- Free Night Reward: earn a Free Night Reward usable at virtually any Hilton property worldwide (no standard-room category cap and no published blackout dates) after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases on the Card in a calendar year (calendar-year measurement, not cardmember year)
- Hilton Honors 5th Night Free on standard-room award stays of five or more nights paid entirely with Hilton Honors Points (a published Hilton Honors Silver-and-above benefit that Gold-status Surpass holders automatically qualify for; effectively a 20% discount on long award stays)
- No foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the United States (a meaningful improvement vs many sub-$200-AF hotel cards and a fit for international Hilton stays)
- Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance (secondary coverage): when you decline the rental company's collision-damage waiver and charge the entire eligible rental to the Card, you receive secondary coverage for damage to or theft of a covered rental vehicle (secondary to your personal auto insurance and to any other applicable insurance)
- Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance (per the 2024-refreshed Surpass benefit guide): coverage for prepaid, non-refundable common-carrier travel charged to the Card and canceled or cut short due to a covered reason (lower per-trip and aggregate caps than the Aspire's $10,000/$20,000 structure; consult the most recent Surpass Guide to Benefits for current limits)
- Purchase Protection: covers eligible new purchases for up to 90 days from the date of purchase against accidental damage, theft, or loss, up to $1,000 per occurrence and up to $50,000 per Card Account per calendar year
- Extended Warranty: extends an eligible U.S. manufacturer's warranty of 5 years or less by up to one additional year, up to $10,000 per item and up to $50,000 per Card Account per calendar year, when the item is charged in full to the Card
- Global Assist Hotline: 24/7 medical, legal, financial, and translation referrals plus emergency coordination when traveling more than 100 miles from home (cardholder pays third-party costs; coordination itself is free)
- Pay Over Time / Plan It: eligible cardholders can split purchases of $100 or more into fixed monthly installments with a fixed fee instead of interest, giving the Surpass installment flexibility (Plan It availability is determined by Amex based on cardholder eligibility)
- Hilton Honors point pooling: Hilton allows up to ten Honors members to pool points without fees, and there are no airline-mile fuel-surcharge issues on Hilton's own properties since Hilton's award charts are revenue-based (this is a Hilton-program benefit Surpass cardholders inherit via point earning)
- Authorized Users (Additional Cards): no annual fee per authorized user (a notable saving vs cards like the Amex Platinum), and each authorized user's eligible spend earns Hilton Honors points credited to the primary cardholder's account
- Lounge access: Not offered. The Hilton Honors Surpass does not include Priority Pass Select, Centurion Lounge access, or any other airport lounge program (Priority Pass on the Surpass was discontinued effective February 1, 2024 as part of the same refresh that ended Priority Pass on the Aspire; the Aspire never restored lounge access and the Surpass remains without lounge access)
- Hotel transfer / flexible-points redemption: Not offered as a Membership Rewards card. The Surpass earns Hilton Honors Bonus Points only, which can be transferred to airlines at heavily devalued ratios (typically 10:1 or worse) but cannot be transferred to Amex Membership Rewards or to other hotel programs
- Companion ticket / airline elite status / free checked bag: Not offered. The Hilton Honors Surpass is a hotel co-brand and does not include any airline-specific perks such as companion certificates, MQM/MQD boosts, or free-checked-bag privileges
- Global Entry / TSA PreCheck application fee credit: Not offered on the Surpass (this credit is reserved for the Amex Platinum, Business Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, and select premium products; the Surpass at $150 AF sits below the typical credit tier)
- CLEAR Plus credit: Not offered on the Surpass (the up-to-$209 CLEAR Plus credit is exclusive to the $550 Hilton Honors Aspire among Hilton-branded Amex cards)
- Hotel-brand-specific status beyond Hilton: Not offered (no automatic Marriott Bonvoy, IHG, World of Hyatt, or any other hotel program status; the Surpass is a Hilton-only co-brand)
- Fine Hotels + Resorts / The Hotel Collection / International Airline Program: Not offered as Surpass benefits; these Amex Travel perks remain reserved for The Platinum Card, Business Platinum, and Centurion Card Members
- Streaming, ride-share, retail, or dining merchant statement credits (Uber Cash, Saks, Walmart+, Lyft, Disney+/Hulu, Resy, Equinox, etc.): Not offered. The Surpass's credit structure is focused on Hilton Resorts, Waldorf Astoria/Conrad on-property charges, and the Free Night Reward; it intentionally avoids the merchant-specific credit sprawl of the Amex Platinum
- Cell Phone Protection: Not offered on the Hilton Honors Surpass. Among Hilton-branded Amex cards, cell phone protection was added to the Aspire in the 2024 refresh; the Surpass benefit guide does not include this protection at this annual fee tier
- Primary CDW on rental cars: Not offered (Surpass CDW is secondary to your personal auto insurance; Amex's Premium Car Rental Protection add-on is available separately for a per-rental fee but is not included as a Surpass benefit)
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How to Earn the Bonus
Spend $3,000 in the first 6 months to earn the 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points bonus.
Ready to Apply?
Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points
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