Amex Hilton Aspire, Check If You Are Targeted for No Fee Upgrade
THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED
American Express has an offer for current Hilton and Hilton Surpass cardholders to upgrade to the Hilton Aspire card. The great thing about this upgrade offer is that you will not pay a fee for the first year and will pay a small fee the second year. The bad thing about it is that you don’t get a bonus. That means that it can be a good offer for those who have had the card in the past and want the benefits, but not worth it if you are eligible for a bonus on this card.
Offer
You need to have the no fee Hilton card or the Hilton Surpass card to qualify for an upgrade. Then you need to check if you are targeted. Go to this Direct Link and log in to see if you are eligible. As mentioned above, there is no bonus for this upgrade. But the real bonus here is the waived annual fee. Here’s the details on the fee:
Annual Membership Fee: When you upgrade, your new Card will have a promotional annual fee of $0 for one year. In the first billing period on or after the end of the promotional year, you will be charged a prorated amount of the $95 annual fee for your new Card based on the time remaining until your next account anniversary date. On each account anniversary date thereafter, you will be charged the annual fee for your new Card. If you cancel your Card account or switch to another Card during the one year promotional period, you may no longer remain eligible for this promotion.
So if you are upgrading from the Hilton Surpass for example, it will work like this:
- You pay no fee for the first year until your anniversary date
- On the next anniversary date you will pay a prorated amount of the $95 annual fee
- And a year after that you will be charged the $450 Hilton Aspire fee
Is it Worth It?
If you have never had the Amex Hilton Aspire card, then you are missing out on the welcome bonus. So this is a great option for those who have already had this card in the past. But keep in mind that we have seen upgrade offers for 150K points. Another thing to consider is if you can take advantage of the travel benefits in the near future.
But with this offer you can get close between one and two years of no fee for the Aspire card, depending when your anniversary date is. This is also great timing to get a card that offers credit based on calendar year, since you can possibly triple dip them. That’s assuming your current Hilton card is not a downgraded Aspire card from that awesome no-fee offer last year. On the plus side if you just downgraded, that gives you more time to keep your no-fee Aspire after the upgrade.
Amex Hilton Aspire
Here are some of the details of the card:
- 14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide
- 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies and at U.S. restaurants
- 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on other purchases
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status
- One Weekend Night Reward at a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio with your new Card and each year of Card Membership
- A second Weekend Night Reward at a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio after spending $60,000 in purchases on the Card in a calendar year
- Unlimited Priority Pass Lounge passes to ease the airport experience
- $250 airline incidental fee statement credit
- $250 Hilton resort statement credit
- $100 on-property credit at Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts when booking the exclusive Aspire Card package
- Access to 24/7 American Express concierge
So you get all this for no fee.
Guru’s Wrap-up
This seems like a very generous offer, even without a signup bonus. It’s possible that it could be a mistake, since it offers the Aspire with no fee for almost two years. This is a premium card with tons of benefits. But before you start calculating your options, just take a quick look at the link above and see if you are targeted.
Let me know if you think it’s worth going for it.
HT: Milenomics
