The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is Hilton’s mid-tier credit card — it offers more perks than the $0-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card but fewer than the pricey Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. Terms apply.

Nonetheless, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers a slew of useful benefits for Hilton loyalists, along with a sizable welcome bonus that could be redeemed for several free hotel nights. Terms apply.

Summary of perks

For a low annual fee ($150 annual fee), the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card offers the following welcome offer and perks:

Welcome offer: Earn 170,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

Bonus Categories:

Hilton hotels: 12 points per $1.

U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations: 6 points per $1.

U.S. online retail: 4 points per $1.

Everything else: 3 points per $1.

Hilton Gold Status.

Free Night Certificate: Earned after spending $15,000 on card purchases in a calendar year.

Priority Pass: 10 complimentary visits to participating lounges every year (existing cardholders who enrolled in Priority Pass on or before Jan. 31, 2023 will no longer have a membership as of Feb. 1, 2024. Cardholders who enroll between Feb. 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024, will continue to have membership through Oct. 31, 2024).

Plus: Bonus points toward Diamond status, up to $200 back each year on Hilton purchases, no foreign transaction fees and travel insurance protections.

Terms apply.

These benefits provide a solid start to anyone who wants to experience Hilton properties along with elite status. In addition, due to the travel restrictions resulting from the pandemic, Hilton has expanded the benefits on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card to make it easier for customers to remain loyal to Hilton.

Maximizing your sizable welcome bonus offer

Although Hilton no longer publishes an award chart, you could use the Points Explorer tool to find out how many points are required at various properties. Award nights at Hilton properties range from 5,000 points per night at some economically priced hotels to 120,000 points for the fanciest locations (e.g., Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi).

The welcome offer is enough to get you a two-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Los Angeles Marina Del Rey in August 2020.

Comparatively, this stay costs $714, but with points you’re getting a value of 0.6 cent each. By using points, your redemption matches the points value (NerdWallet values Hilton points at 0.5 cent per point, or $720 total in this 120,000-point example).

If you want to go bigger and fancier for one-night stays you can consider locations such as:

The Grand Wailea on Maui: At 95,000 points per night, it’s an expensive rate, but you can get a room that easily goes for over $650 per night with your welcome offer points (that’s 0.7 cent per point).

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills: Book a standard room that can often run $850 for 95,000 points (a nice 0.9 cent/point value).

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island: 95,000 points will get you into the $1,000 (or more) per night ‘standard’ Water Villa at this resort, giving you a great value in excess of 1 cent per point.

Bonus categories: Know your earn rates (as high as 12x)

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card awards 12x points on Hilton stays. Terms apply.

Unsurprisingly, using the card to pay for Hilton stays is a solid option. Premium travel cards like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and The Platinum Card® from American Express return 5x points per $1 on hotels booked through AmEx Travel, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns 5x points on air travel and 10x points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Plus, you'll earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. Terms apply.

If you’re not too concerned with earning transferable points (and you’re a Hilton loyalist), 12 points per $1 is a very good earn rate for a mid-tier credit card (only the high-end Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card earns more Hilton points at 14x). Just remember, Hilton points aren’t easily transferable to partners, so keep your earning preferences in mind when deciding which credit card to use on a Hilton hotel stay. Terms apply.

Automatic Gold Status

Because you receive automatic Gold status when you get the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, you will earn 80% in bonus points on hotel stays and get free continental breakfast. So for every $1 you spend, you will earn 10 base points and 8 bonus points, for a total of 18 points per $1. This is a great earn rate — and remember this is in addition to the 12 points per $1 you get by charging your stays to your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. For example, if you used your card to pay for a $400 stay, you would earn 12,000 Hilton points. Terms apply.

One of the best perks of Gold status is the fifth-night-free perk, which allows you to get a fifth night free when extending a four-night award stay.

For example, a five-night stay at the Hilton Sofia in September 2020 would have only cost you 120,000 points instead of 150,000 points because of your Gold status.

The cash rate for this property is about $929. By using your 120,000 points on this redemption, you’re getting a value of 0.8 cent per point. If you were trying to maximize your points, this is a redemption you’d want to consider.

Combining your Gold status, the welcome offer and Hilton’s fifth-night-free benefit, this example illustrates how you’re able to derive almost $1,000 in value out of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.

Diamond status

You could also spend your way to Diamond status if you charge $40,000 of purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card within a calendar year. However, there is an easier way to achieve Diamond.

The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card grants you automatic Diamond status. Although that card has a $550 annual fee, if used strategically, the cash-back credits can essentially reduce the fee to zero. Terms apply.

Free night certificate after spending $15,000

If you manage to spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year, you’ll end up with a free night certificate, which can now be used on any night of the week. The required spend isn’t astronomical (average $1,250/month), but it's something you’d want to keep in mind if you’re trying to earn the free night certificate. Terms apply.

Hilton has more than 6,100 properties, and only a few dozen do not accept free night certificates. The excluded properties amount to less than 1% of all Hilton hotels, so you'll definitely have a lot of options to choose from.

Not all free nights are created equal. Consider combining your free night certificate with the fifth-night-free benefit to maximize the value of your certificate. You can get details around maximizing this strategy in our guide to earning and redeeming Hilton free night certificates.

10 Priority Pass lounge visits

When you get the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, you will receive 10 complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits (enrollment required), which must be used within the Priority Pass membership year. Each guest that you bring in with you will cost $32. If you were to pay for this membership in cash, Priority Pass prices the annual 10-visit subscription at $299 ($29.90 per visit). Given how expensive airport food can be, sitting back in a lounge and having some snacks, drinks and a quiet place to relax (if the lounge isn’t too crowded) is a nice bonus for frequent travelers. Terms apply.

Once you’ve exhausted the 10 visits, you will have to pay $32 per visit, which is the same as the guest fee. Terms apply.

Existing cardholders who enrolled in Priority Pass on or before Jan. 31, 2023, will no longer have a membership as of Feb. 1, 2024. Cardholders who enroll between Feb. 1, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024, will continue to have membership through Oct. 31, 2024. Terms apply.

Starting Oct. 1, 2023, the cost of lounge visits beyond free allowances provided via Priority Pass Select credit card benefits will increase to $35 per person, per visit.

Other benefits

Although not as meaningful as the previously mentioned benefits, the following four perks deserve a mention as well.

Complimentary ShopRunner membership

ShopRunner is a membership site that provides complimentary two-day shipping on items at over 100 online merchants. As a holder of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, you get a complimentary membership which can be an awesome perk if you shop online frequently and want your stuff fast. One downfall though: some merchants will only offer free shipping once you meet a specific dollar amount. Terms apply.

No foreign transaction fees

If you use the card outside the U.S., you will not have to pay any foreign transaction fees. This can be a big savings given that these fees can be as high as 3% in addition to the conversion rate. If you plan on traveling abroad, you’ll really benefit from this feature. Terms apply.

Insurance protections

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card comes with a couple of insurance benefits:

Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

As a cardholder (and primary renter), you receive coverage if your rental car is stolen or damaged. Terms apply.

Baggage Insurance Plan

If your luggage is lost, you may receive compensation from AmEx in addition to what you may receive from your airline carrier. Terms apply.

The bottom line

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is a mid-tier Hilton product that offers a solid welcome offer and a bunch of useful benefits, including automatic Gold status, a free night certificate after spending $15,000 and a good earn rate on bonus categories. If you want more perks than the $0-fee Hilton Honors American Express Card but aren’t ready for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card may be a good choice. Terms apply.

To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, see this page.

All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is no longer available through NerdWallet.