Additional Gold status benefits include room upgrades based on space availability. Also, the fifth night is free whenever you book a stay with points. One more perk: You’ll get a free night at most Hilton hotels if you spend $15,000 on purchases with the Hilton Honors Surpass Card within one calendar year.
Rental car elite status: Enjoy complimentary National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status when you enroll in the Emerald Club, helping you skip lines and get car upgrades.
Up to $200 in Hilton credits: These credits alone make this card worth it. You can earn up to $200 back, or $50 in statement credits per quarter, on eligible Hilton purchases like hotel stays and purchases made at spas and restaurants within the hotel property (terms apply). Bookings must be made directly through a Hilton reservation channel to be eligible.
No foreign transaction fees: If you travel internationally frequently, you can save money by avoiding transaction fees outside the United States.
Current welcome offer
If you’re a new applicant for the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card, you could earn 170,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first six months of card membership. Most welcome bonuses offer fewer points and make you spend much more than this amount to become eligible, so now is a great time to apply.
How to earn points
With the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, you’ll earn 12 points per dollar spent at Hilton Hotels and Resorts, 6 points per dollar spent at restaurants (including takeout and delivery) within the US, 4 points per dollar spent on online retail purchases within the US, and 3 points per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
Outside of the card spend, you can earn additional points by linking your Lyft rides, joining the Hilton Honors Dining Program, and when booking Enterprise, Alamo, and National car rentals.
Aside from using the card for everyday spending and renting cars, I pay attention to the promotions and register for nearly all of them. I recently stayed at the Resorts World Las Vegas, a collection of three Hilton properties. I booked a promotional package that included food and beverage credits and a discount on the room, which I paid for on my Surpass card. I received about 15,000 points for a three-night stay. The 15,000 points included 6,000 base points (10x per dollar), an 80 percent point bonus of the base stay of 5,000, and 4,000 points due to completing a stay during a promotion. I earned an additional 7,000 (12x per dollar) points for paying for the room with the Surpass card.
How to redeem points
I’ve been able to redeem points for stays in London, South Africa, and Colombia from the points I’ve earned through the sign-up offer and points I’ve acquired through the card over the years. Recently, I used the points and cash payment method to book a hotel for my husband’s birthday. I only used 30,000 points and paid the remainder for a standard room in cash. As a bonus, I put in the reservation notes that we were celebrating a birthday and asked for a complimentary upgrade due to our statuses. To my surprise, we were upgraded (the day of) to a two-room executive suite, including a wraparound balcony overlooking Centennial Park in Atlanta.
