In this article
Major Changes to the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
These are all effective today. I really wish Amex would have given advanced notice on some of the negative changes.
As of today, the following changes apply to this card:
Limited Time Welcome Offer
Earn 175,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $8,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors Business Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.† Offer expires 06/05/2024.
Higher Annual Fee
Starting today, the annual fee is $195, more than double the old fee. If your card renews on or after July 1, 2024, it will renew at the new annual fee.
New Earn Structure
Earn Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card:
- 12X for purchases made directly with a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio
- 5X on all other eligible purchases on the first $100,000 in purchases per calendar year, 3X Points thereafter
(ALL Bonus categories are now gone from this card)
New Quarterly Credits
Get up to $60 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Business Card. That’s up to $240 in statement credits annually.
New Car Rental Status Benefit
- Complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status. Enrollment in the complimentary Emerald Club® program is required. Terms apply.
What is the Hilton Business Card Losing?
A lot.
- You can no longer earn Free Night Reward certificates. Not for $15,000 in spend and not for $45,000 in spend as previous. This will be the reason I drop the card when it comes up for renewal. It was THE reason I used the card.
- Priority Pass Select Benefit is gone.
- Bonus Categories are gone.
What Stays the Same?
Complimentary Gold status remains a benefit of the card as does the ability to get Diamond status with $40,000 in spend in a calendar year. The 12X on Hilton hotels remains.
When Do Existing Benefits Sunset for Existing Cardmembers?
This is what really gets me. Let me detail below and then comments:
- Bonus Categories. You will only earn bonus points in the following categories through June 30, 2024: restaurants located in the U.S.; airfare on a scheduled flight charged directly with passenger airlines or American Express Travel (charter flights and private jet flights are excluded); purchases directly from select major car rental companies listed at americanexpress.com/rewards-info; gasoline at gas stations located in the U.S.; shipping services purchased in the U.S. for courier, postal, and freight; and on monthly wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. wireless telephone service providers (purchases of hardware and equipment are excluded; any purchases from third parties and resellers are excluded).
- Priority Pass Benefit Sunset Schedule:Priority Pass Select™ Membership Enrollment Deadline: Through June 30, 2024, you may still enroll in the benefit by calling the American Express customer service number on the back of your card.
When Your Priority Pass Select™ Membership Will End: If you enrolled in the Priority Pass Select program on or before June 30, 2023, your Priority Pass membership will continue through June 30, 2024 and will be cancelled as of July 1, 2024. If you enrolled in the Priority Pass Select program between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, your membership will continue through March 31, 2025 and will be cancelled as of April 1, 2025. Any unused lounge visits will be forfeited at the time of cancellation.
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Hilton Honors Free Night Rewards
Eligible purchases made through June 30, 2024 will count toward the Hilton Honors Free Night Rewards benefit. After June 30, 2024 the Hilton Honors Free Night Rewards benefit will no longer be available on your Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, and you will no longer be able to earn Free Night Reward(s) as a benefit of your card
If the total eligible purchases on your Hilton Honors American Express Business Card Account reach $15,000 or more during the period from January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024, you will receive a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors. After you make an additional $45,000 in purchases in that same period, totaling $60,000 in cumulative spend, you will receive a second Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors. Each Free Night Reward will be issued in the form of a redeemable code and sent to you in an email from Hilton Honors to the email address listed on your Hilton Honors account. You will receive the Reward email within 8-12 weeks after you have met each purchase requirement. This benefit is only available to the Basic Card Member; however, eligible purchases made by Additional Card Members will contribute to the purchase requirement. Eligible purchases to meet the purchase requirement are for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, cash advances, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.
My Thoughts
Clearly if you stay at Hilton at least quarterly, then you cover the annual fee and come out ahead by $45. That’s a good thing.
5X on eligible purchases (all categories) works out to about a 2.5% rebate on spend valuing Hilton points at about half a cent each. That’s pretty good. But it’s also only on your first $100,000 a year.
However….
As an existing cardmember of this card I’m quite upset that not only are they removing the Free Night Reward for spend benefit, they are not even letting existing cardmembers enjoy the benefit for the year that is already 1/4 done. If you were planning to spend $3,750 a quarter to grab that Free Night Reward, you now have to make up 9 months of spend in just 3 – or take the loss and get nothing.
And for me, those Free Night Rewards were THE reason to carry the card which, unlike all other mid-level hotel cards (that are now half the annual fee), doesn’t even come with any sort of annual free night. Now there is no way whatsoever to earn Free Night Rewards from this card (after June 30, 2024).
Likewise, the existing bonus categories sunsetting in just two months seems not just unfair to existing cardholders, but especially unfair to someone that got the card a week ago.
What do you think?
If you are interested in the refreshed version of this card, you can use my referral link to earn 175,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after they spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on their new Hilton Honors American Express Business Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Thoughts?
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