One of the best ways to earn Hilton Honors points (which can give you free rooms at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts) is to to sign up for one of the two types of Hilton-sponsored credit cards.
Hilton Family
American Express Hilton Surpass card
One Hilton-sponsored card is the American Express Hilton Surpass card. It has a $75 annual fee. There is usually a sign up bonus offered with the card; the bonus varies from 60,000-100,000 Honors points, which are credited to your account after you spend a certain amount within the first 3 months of card membership.
The American Express Hilton Surpass card has great earning potential:
– Earn 12 Honors points per dollar spent at participating Hilton properties
– Earn 6 Honors points per dollar spent at U.S. restaurants, supermarkets (unfortunately, warehouse stores are not considered supermarkets in this regard), and standalone gas stations
– Earn 3 Honors points per dollar spent everywhere else
You will also receive Honors Gold status for as long as you have the card. If you spend $40,000 per year on the card, you will also receive Diamond status. The loyalty rewards benefits for Honors are described on the Honors website.
Gold status will get you a 25% bonus on all the Hilton Honors Base Points you earn, in addition to getting you every 5th night free when you book a stay completely on points. This is a great benefit if you are planning a stay of 5 nights or more!
American Express Honors card
The American Express Honors card has no annual fee. There is usually a sign up bonus that ranges from 40,000-60,000 Honors points when you spend $750 on the card within the first 3 months of card membership.
This card has the same categories as the Surpass card, just with lower category bonuses:
– Earn 7 Honors points per dollar spent at participating Hilton properties
– Earn 5 Honors points per dollar spent at US restaurants, supermarkets (excluding warehouse stores), and standalone gas stations
– Earn 3 Honors points per dollar spent everywhere else
You will also receive Honors Silver status for as long as you have the card. If you spend $20,000 per year on the card, you will receive Gold status.
Silver status will get you a 15% bonus on all the Hilton Honors Base Points you earn, in addition to getting you every 5th night free when you book a stay completely on points. This is a great benefit if you are planning a stay of 5 nights or more!
Point Requirements for Rooms Near Disney World
Those are the various cards that will get you Hilton Honors points. You can visit the American Express website to see all the various details about each card. If you and your spouse each signed up for one or more cards and met the criteria for the sign-up bonus, you could accumulate a huge amount of Hilton points to use while on vacation.
Nancy and I have both signed up for both of these cards and used the points for trips to Walt Disney World. We tend to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn near Sea World or the Hampton Inn near the main gate. We have stayed well over 20 days at Walt Disney World for free using the points generated from these credit cards!
