by my calculations you’re worrying way too much about 10 bucks for a gui carrying a credit card with an annual fee of 700 dollars
5 Likes
Haha true. I’m just trying to get the hang of the process for some bigger travel coming up
1 Like
just pullin ya chain man. Anyway, so long as your Hilton Honors account is connected to Amex, Hilton will know you’re a Gold member when you book via Amex’s travel portal.
I just want to make sure I’m getting TWO CENTS OR MORE on my points like a pro ya dig??? Haha
I ended up calling Amex and they said I had to book directly through Hilton to take advantage of gold status benefits…
1 Like
Man, I miss @TwoCents and his dungeon.
3 Likes
hm interesting… good to know for the future!
You two (@IlliniGolferHack) have me questioning everything on which credit card I need/should use.
2 Likes
Honestly if you have major Hilton travel coming up look at the Hilton Aspire card. Sucks adding another big annual fee card to the portfolio, but imo it is worth keeping. $450 annual fee, but $250 Hilton credit, $250 airline credit for one airline of your choice, and an annual free night at virtually any Hilton (we used this year for $1800/night Waldorf Los Cabos).
Currently typing this from Chicago Hilton where we are getting 54x points per dollar (10x for the stay, 10x diamond status from the card, 14x for paying with the card, and 20x for triple points promotion currently going on). Basically 25% cash back in points to save up for the next trip to Waldorf Los Cabos.
2 Likes
Amex all the way.
1 Like
Sheeeeesh is that any good?!?!
I always thought I preferred Marriott properties, but my experience with Hilton on this trip has me rethinking my allegiance. The Hilton Aspire card is definitely next in my stable, as long as we can find a nice Hilton property in Greece/Turkey/Croatia for the honeymoon
1 Like
Can second this, though. Absolutely loving my platinum card experience so far.
I’m new to the amex platinum game and trying to learn the in’s and out’s as well. Given this information from Amex, you have to weigh the benefits that come with Hilton gold status vs receiving 5x points, since 5x is only received when booking through amex travel? Am I processing this correctly??
Hey fellow newbie!
Exactly. From what I can gather reading/watching YouTube videos of the points pros, you calculate the dollar amount of points earned + perks offered. So for my example, I would calculate the 5x points earned through Amex and compare to points earned through Hilton + dollar amount of upgraded room, site credit, etc.
And yes, 5x Amex points only through Amex portal, but you don’t get the Hilton gold status perks. Booking direct through Hilton also offers point bonuses, too, they’re just with Hilton Honors points
1 Like
I book all travel on Amex especially flights and car rentals because of the insurance aspects.
2 Likes
Was looking thru point conversions on the Amex site and… has this always been the case? 2 for 1 on Hilton?
It’s because the cash value of Hilton points is half that of Amex
Edit: not a special deal or anything
We sure about that? I ran a few quick searches on Marriott vs Hilton points redemption rates. Used the last weekend in August and looked at Boston & San Diego. Hilton rooms generally required less points per night across the board.
I kicked 29,000 Amex points over to Hilton just for fun. Gonna confirm they land at 2x tomorrow, says it will take a day to get there.
1 Like
The points guy has AMEX being worth 2 cents per point and Hilton being worth 0.6 cents per point so 2x would be a loss.
I’m not sure about the Hilton vs Marriott redemption rates. From what I was seeing most standard rooms were about 45,000 points on Hilton.
What I meant was what @nickp is saying. AMEX points generally worth 1 cent per point or more, Hilton points are worth at best .6 cents per point but the info I saw said .5. So the double points when moving from AMEX to Hilton makes sense in this case. Not a bonus, just straight value.
I’m not really sure that necessarily holds true… Hilton charges crazy points on their vacation club/timeshare/super-resort properties. But for regular hotels it seems 1:1 or better.
For example, the Homewood Suites in San Diego for Aug 26-28 is 60,000 Hilton Honors points on their site:
The same hotel, with the same dates, is 72,147 Amex points:
Def a “how you use em” condition here. For example on the super-high-end resort front:
1 Like