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A Card to Aspire To?
Mar. 12th, 2021 11:27 amIt's been a year since I upgraded to the Hilton Aspire American Express credit card. It's time to check the score.
Aspire is the highest of three Hilton Honors affiliated credit cards Amex offers. Previously I'd upgraded and downgraded between the lower and middle cards. The bottom card charges no annual fee. The middle card, Hilton Surpass, charges $95/year and offers increased benefits. Aspire charges a whopping $450 but offers the best benefits. The key is, was it worth it?
But we all know what happened next. Coronavirus. Yesterday was the anniversary of the global pandemic. My cheeky slogan "Go big or go home" turned into a reality of Stay Home. All was not lost, though. Amex came through with some useful credits to help offset the cost of the annual fee, plus there was the big batch of points for completing the initial spend target.
I upgraded to this card with an offer of 150,000 bonus points for completing $4,000 of spend in the first 90 days. As is typical for me I hit that target in about half the time. Over the past year I've earned a total of 188,000 points on the card. I value Hilton Honors points at $0.004 apiece, so that 188k is worth $752.
The value of the points isn't as simple as $752, though. There's an opportunity cost of using this card versus another. I have two cards that pay 2% cash back. I spent $6,200 on the card to earn those points. With another card I would've gotten $124 cash back. So $752 is reduced to $628. Still pretty good, but then there's that whopping $450 annual fee....
The airline credits I snagged $162 worth of before the pandemic shut down my desire to fly anywhere. In hindsight I should have bought additional tickets with the airline and turned them into vouchers to max out the $250 of available credits.
I had a booking for a Hilton resort stay to take advantage of the other $250 credit, but the hotel shut down ahead of my trip due to the lockdown. Hilton and Amex came through with a great alternative offer: the credits would apply to dining. I easily snagged all $250 with take-out food through the summer.
Amex also offered a bunch of additional spiffs throughout the year; things like its "Shop Small" program. I hit these for another $68 of credits. Altogether I earned $480 of credits, slightly outpacing the $450 AF. Combining this net of $30 with the net from the points yields a total net of $658.
UPDATE, 9/19: This card also provides a free-night certificate each year. I forgot to include that in my original analysis— probably because I hadn't really had opportunities to use it by that point. Two months later I did, and made it worth about $175. Adding that to the tally above yields a new net win of $833. That's quite a score!
Theoretically there are enough credits on the table with the Amex Hilton Aspire to more than cover the $450 AF. I say theoretically because they are rebates on particular kinds of spend. I've got to spend money at the right hotels and airlines to get the credits. If there's no spend, there's no credit... but the $450 AF remains. As I can see light at the end of the tunnel with Coronavirus I will let this card renew for another year. I'll check back in 12 months to reevaluate again!
Aspire is the highest of three Hilton Honors affiliated credit cards Amex offers. Previously I'd upgraded and downgraded between the lower and middle cards. The bottom card charges no annual fee. The middle card, Hilton Surpass, charges $95/year and offers increased benefits. Aspire charges a whopping $450 but offers the best benefits. The key is, was it worth it?
The Irony of "Go Big or Go Home"
"Go big or go home," I wrote a year ago in describing my decision to try this card. The $450 AF potentially would be more than offset by credits I'd use while traveling— flying airlines and staying in nice hotels. At the time I enjoyed the delicious double entendre of saying "Go big or go home"; capturing the value of this travel-oriented card would entail leaving home.But we all know what happened next. Coronavirus. Yesterday was the anniversary of the global pandemic. My cheeky slogan "Go big or go home" turned into a reality of Stay Home. All was not lost, though. Amex came through with some useful credits to help offset the cost of the annual fee, plus there was the big batch of points for completing the initial spend target.
Lots of Points
I upgraded to this card with an offer of 150,000 bonus points for completing $4,000 of spend in the first 90 days. As is typical for me I hit that target in about half the time. Over the past year I've earned a total of 188,000 points on the card. I value Hilton Honors points at $0.004 apiece, so that 188k is worth $752. The value of the points isn't as simple as $752, though. There's an opportunity cost of using this card versus another. I have two cards that pay 2% cash back. I spent $6,200 on the card to earn those points. With another card I would've gotten $124 cash back. So $752 is reduced to $628. Still pretty good, but then there's that whopping $450 annual fee....
Big Fee, Big Credits
I signed up for this card fully aware of the significant $450 fee. I figured I could offset it by taking advantage of annual credits of up to $250 for Hilton resort stays and $250 for flights on a preferred airline (I picked Southwest). This is where there was good news / bad news / good news with the pandemic.The airline credits I snagged $162 worth of before the pandemic shut down my desire to fly anywhere. In hindsight I should have bought additional tickets with the airline and turned them into vouchers to max out the $250 of available credits.
I had a booking for a Hilton resort stay to take advantage of the other $250 credit, but the hotel shut down ahead of my trip due to the lockdown. Hilton and Amex came through with a great alternative offer: the credits would apply to dining. I easily snagged all $250 with take-out food through the summer.
Amex also offered a bunch of additional spiffs throughout the year; things like its "Shop Small" program. I hit these for another $68 of credits. Altogether I earned $480 of credits, slightly outpacing the $450 AF. Combining this net of $30 with the net from the points yields a total net of $658.
UPDATE, 9/19: This card also provides a free-night certificate each year. I forgot to include that in my original analysis— probably because I hadn't really had opportunities to use it by that point. Two months later I did, and made it worth about $175. Adding that to the tally above yields a new net win of $833. That's quite a score!
Aspire to Do it Again?
The big question with any credit card after the first year is whether it's worth keeping a second year. Without the big mass of points from the signup bonus many cards become a lot less valuable, and those with high annual fees— like this card's $450— become net losses.Theoretically there are enough credits on the table with the Amex Hilton Aspire to more than cover the $450 AF. I say theoretically because they are rebates on particular kinds of spend. I've got to spend money at the right hotels and airlines to get the credits. If there's no spend, there's no credit... but the $450 AF remains. As I can see light at the end of the tunnel with Coronavirus I will let this card renew for another year. I'll check back in 12 months to reevaluate again!
