Let’s start with a simple fact: fewer people are traveling right now than any time in the last 10 years. That’s bad news for airlines, hotels and other travel businesses, but not necessarily for you. For years, customers with points and miles were taken for granted, but now they have the keys to the castle.
Loyalty, and the points that come with it, are an essential tool to get people caring about travel again, and with so many points on the table, you can stock up and plan for some incredible future trips, without even leaving home. It’s actually a great time to get into credit card rewards, and starting with up to 275,000 Hilton Points doesn’t hurt…
Dream Bigger With Points
Points and miles allow you to dream bigger. To go for that more socially distanced business class seat, rather than economy, or go for that splash out hotel with fewer guests rather than something that “will do”. But for too long, it was too hard for people to actually realize travel dreams via rewards points, because flights and hotels were selling out anyway.
Airlines and hotels took their rewards programs for granted. It was all too easy for airline and hotel loyalty programs to print points, while making it hard for people to redeem them, but those days are over, at least for another year or two.
Want to use points for previously impossible to book hotels or suites? We’re just about to enter the best 2-3 year window to do so, in the last 20 years. This is the time to stock up on points, and redeem them in the next few years, as you venture back into travel.
Great Rewards Credit Card Offers
These US credit cards are offering welcome bonuses which are much higher than usual right now. That means after a bit of spending, you’ll have a truckload of points ready to deploy for your next big trip, whenever it may be.
These cards are also offering increased spending bonuses, such as double the normal points on dining, home gym equipment or grocery shopping, so that you’ll pull it out of your wallet more often than others. It’s a perfect win.
125,000-150,000 Point Hilton Cards
The Hilton Aspire Amex card is offering an incredible 150,000 points right now as a welcome bonus. It’s a steep card, with a $450 annual fee which isn’t waived, but it can easily be offset with the instant Hilton Diamond Elite Status thrown in for as long as you hold the card.
In addition, you’ll earn a $250 resort credit annually which can be spent directly at Hilton Hotels, to offset the annual fee. With the resort credit tapped, you’re effectively paying $200 a year for Hilton Diamond status, which is superb.
Lower Annual Fee
If that’s daunting right now, the Hilton Surpass Amex is offering 125,000 points with just a $95 annual fee. The card offers complimentary Hilton Gold status automatically, and also a free weekend night after you spend $15,000 in the year. If you’re a baller and spend $40,000 a year on the card, that’s another way to trigger Hilton’s top tier Diamond status.
If you were to get both, or one person in your travel party was to get one, and you the other, you’d have 275,000 Hilton Points primed and ready for that big Maldives trip, or next getaway. FYI, the Maldives is open, even to US visitors right now, and with fewer people traveling, points availability is superb, even at the new Waldorf.
Pair This With Hilton Promos
Each of these cards offers impressive spending perks on Hilton spend, in addition to new bonus categories for dining. The Hilton Aspire Amex is offering 14X points per dollar spent at Hilton, in addition to what you earn as Diamond. The Hilton Surpass Amex is offering 12x points per dollar spent at Hilton, in addition to Gold bonuses.
In addition to what you’ll earn through status and card spend, Hilton is offering double base points, and double nights through the end of 2020, which means you’ll continue to earn an insane number of points with Hilton, if you stay in any hotels for the rest of the year.
Both cards also offer more points on US dining right now, which is another great way to rack up Hilton Points from daily spend, though there are some other cards which might better rewards your daily dining. The Hilton Aspire is offering 7X at restaurants in the USA, while the Hilton Surpass is offering 6X at US restaurants and supermarkets.
Basically, the 275,000 points is the icing on the cake, if you’re a Hilton loyalist. These limited time card offers can be pulled at any time, so if it’s something you should look into, get to it!
Last year I was fortunate to nab targeted bonus on both Surpass and HHonors cards with 150K and 90K points. So lucky; haven’t seen those offers since.