Which Hilton credit card is best?

I often get asked some variant of “which credit card should I get?” And if you stay at Hilton and are interested in collecting Hilton points, here are my quick recommendations:

• For occasional Hilton guests: Hilton Honors American Express Card
• For most frequent Hilton guests: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
• For luxury travel and free night certificates or instant top-tier status: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

Generally, I like to think of getting the Hilton credit cards as buying a set of benefits that are useful to you when staying at Hilton hotels. The Hilton cards aren’t particularly rewarding cards to spend money on outside of Hilton stays—you can get much better rewards through cash back or general travel rewards cards.

For more on our recommendations, keep reading, but if you want to compare the cards for yourself, check out our recently updated Hilton card comparison charts.

For occasional Hilton guests: Hilton Honors American Express Card

If you don’t stay at Hilton hotels often, your best bet is probably the Hilton Honors American Express Card. Here’s why:

• Having this card and using it at least once every two years can keep your points from expiring.
• You’ll earn 7x points on your Hilton stays with the card.
• The elite status you get with the card will give you the fifth night free benefit on award stays.

Hilton Honors points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Maybe you have a cache of Hilton points from previous work trips or earning a few Hilton credit card welcome bonuses and you don’t have any plans to earn or use points in the near future. If this is the case, it makes sense to have the Hilton Honors American Express Card. Using your card at least once every 24 months will ensure your points don’t expire.

The card gives you Hilton silver status, which admittedly doesn’t get you much. But will get you a 20% bonus on the points you earn on your stays, elite rollover nights, and a free bottled water. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll get access to the fifth night free benefit on award stays, which can make your point redemptions 25% more valuable.

Hilton Honors American Express Card welcome offer

Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/14/2026.

Learn how to apply.

This bonus is earned as Hilton Honors Bonus Points.

Annual fee: No annual fee

For most frequent Hilton guests: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

Most people who stay at Hilton hotels regularly will want to get the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. Here’s why:

• You’re likely to offset the cost of the card’s annual fee with the card’s statement credits for Hilton stays. (You can earn up to $50 in statement credits each quarter when you use the card for purchases at Hilton properties.)
• You’ll earn 12x points on your Hilton stays you charge to the card.
• The card gets your instant Gold status, which comes with an 80% boost in the points you’ll earn from hotel stays, plus a few additional substantive perks.
• You can earn a free night award after spending at least $15,000 on the card in a calendar year and the card earns enough points in its bonus categories to make it a good choice to use for purchases in the bonus categories.

If you’re wondering whether the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is the right card for you, ask yourself one question: Will you earn the statement credits for Hilton stays every year without thinking about it? If you’re booking directly with Hilton, paying with your Hilton credit card, and your natural travel patterns have you staying at Hilton hotels at least once a quarter, the card is probably worth it.

On the other hand, if you think you’ll have to manage your travel and book Hilton hotels just to ensure that the card’s statement credits don’t go to breakage, then the Surpass card probably isn’t the best choice for you.

Lastly, one final point on earning Hilton points. While the Surpass card offers fewer points on Hilton stays than the Aspire card (12x vs. 14x), paying a large annual fee to access those earnings doesn’t make sense unless you’re spending a lot of money on Hilton stays each year. We’re still collecting data for a future article on how much Hilton points are worth, but based on our preliminary estimates, you would need to spend $70,000 – $100,000 on Hilton hotel stays with your card to get value in excess of the Aspire card’s annual fee.

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is the best Hilton card for you if you stay in Hilton hotels consistently and can get the value from its up to $50 in quarterly Hilton statement credits.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card welcome offer

Offer: Earn 155,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/14/2026.

Learn how to apply.

This bonus is earned as Hilton Honors Bonus Points.

Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

For luxury travel and free night certificates: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

If you regularly stay in high-end luxury Hilton properties on paid stays or you like maximizing the value of Hilton free night certificates, the Hilton Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is your card. Here’s why:

• Resort credits and Waldorf Astoria and Conrad on-property credits can provide value if you stay at these properties.
• You get one free night certificate annually from having the card and can earn up to two more through spending.

The Hilton Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card offers a few perks that can really pay out if you normally pay for luxury hotel stays within the Hilton brands. The card offers up to $200 in resort credits semi-annually and a $100 on-property credit at participating Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts. If that matches up with the type of travel you normally book, the card has a clear value proposition.

Maybe you don’t pay for luxury travel stays with cash, but you enjoy squeezing as much value as possible out of Hilton free night certificates. In this case, the Aspire card is your card. With the card, you’ll get one Hilton free night certificate each year, plus you’ll have the opportunity to earn up to two additional certificates from spending. Hilton free night certificates can be used at most Hilton properties worldwide and using a few certificates for ultra-luxury hotels (think Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi) can provide incredible value.

Finally, Getting the Hilton Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card can get you instant top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond status. In some cases, this alone can justify this card’s annual fee.

Maybe you’re about to start a new job as a consultant, supply chain engineer, or sales executive and you’re going to go from never traveling to traveling 80%+. If your future travel involves staying in Hilton hotels, it might be worthwhile to get the Hilton Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card to propel yourself to top-tier status with the chain instead of slogging out 30 stays or 60 nights with no or middling status with the chain.

The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card will get you the most opportunities to earn Free Night Rewards, which can be used at the vast majority of Hilton Hotels, worldwide. (Terms and capacity controls apply.)

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card welcome offer

Earn 175,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $6,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 1/14/2026.

Learn how to apply.

This bonus is earned as Hilton Honors Bonus Points.

Annual fee: $550