Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card: An ideal option for Hilton loyalists

Since the Hilton Honors Surpass doesn’t come with luxury travel perks, you could pair it with a card that does. The Capital One Venture X has Global Entry/TSA Precheck fee reimbursement, Capital One lounge access, complimentary Priority Pass membership, and a $300 annual statement credit towards your Capital One travel bookings. So, although the $395 annual fee (See Rates & Fees) might be a turn-off compared to the Surpass’s $150 annual fee, the potential value may outweigh the cost for the right cardholder. 

Pairing your Hilton Honors Surpass with an airline card might get you the best of both worlds when planning your next trip. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card is a solid mid-tier option that earns:

• 2X points on Southwest Airline purchases
• 2X points at gas stations and grocery stores (on up to $5,000 in combined purchases yearly)
• 1X points on everything else

Compared to the rewards value of the Surpass, you could stretch your points farther, as Southwest Rewards points are valued at 1.5 cents per point, according to Bankrate's valuations. It’s also especially useful for Southwest loyalists, since you’ll get airline-specific perks like no fees for flight changes, two EarlyBird Check-In boarding upgrades (until December 31, 2025), and your first checked bag flies free. 

A close competitor to the Hilton Honors Surpass card is the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless. The ongoing annual fee is just $95, and you’ll earn comparable rewards you can use at Marriott hotels around the world.

Like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless offers a high rewards rate (up to 17X points) on hotels participating in the issuer’s rewards program. Over 7,000 hotels participate in Marriott Bonvoy, and cardholders who regularly stay at (or prefer) Marriott hotels and their partner branches would certainly want this card on their radar.

The Hilton Surpass earns a boosted 12X points at Hilton locations, which is a bit lower than Bonvoy Boundless card’s offer. Additionally, Bonvoy points are worth about 0.7 cents per point compared to Hilton Honors points, which are valued at an average 0.6 cents per point according to Bankrate’s latest valuations.

If you plan to use your hotel card specifically for hotel stays, then the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless is your best option from a strictly rewards-oriented perspective. Meanwhile, the Hilton card is likely a better standalone rewards option since it earns more in everyday spending categories, including at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. restaurants. 

The Capital One Venture offers a more flexible rewards program than the Hilton Honors Surpass card, albeit one that may be less rewarding if you’re planning to focus your spending on hotel stays.

Depending on how you redeem, the Venture card’s welcome bonus may be a better fit. It offers: 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening – that’s equal to $750 in travel. You may enjoy more than 1-cent-per-mile in redemption value if you transfer Capital One miles to a high-value airline or hotel partner.

Capital One miles are worth up to about 1.7 cents per mile with a good transfer partner, which is a bit more than Hilton Honors points. But, the Hilton Honors Surpass offers higher-earning bonus categories that can earn points much faster.

For example, if you shop regularly at grocery stores in the U.S. and frequently stay at Hilton Hotels, the Surpass card may net you more value than the Venture card. That's because the Venture card only earns:

• 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2X miles on general purchases

For instance, if you spent $5,000 per year at U.S. supermarkets and $2,000 per year at Hilton hotels on the Capital One Venture Rewards, you'd earn 14,000 Capital One miles (for hotel purchases outside the Capital One Travel). With the Hilton Honors Surpass, you'd earn 54,000 Hilton points for the same spending. Your Capital One miles would be worth approximately $238 in travel redemptions while the Hilton points would be worth roughly $324 when redeemed through the Hilton Honors portal.

That said, if you’re the kind of cardholder who makes everyday purchases more often than you stay at hotels, a flat-rate rewards card may be in your best interest. This idea is especially the case if you want to redeem points for air travel or other travel expenses through the issuer’s portal.

Cardholders can access a referral link by logging into their card account and navigating to the “refer now” option. Like other American Express cards, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass comes with a referral program that lets you and the person you refer earn bonus points if they are approved and open a card account.

The best way to use the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass card is at U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and at all hotels and resorts included in the Hilton portfolio. This will earn you the highest amount of rewards you can with the card. When you’re ready to redeem your points, do so through the Hilton Honors app or over the phone and apply your points to hotel stays or experiences to get the most of your points.

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass credit limit will be determined at the time you are approved for the card. Part of your limit may be made available for cash advances and at any time during card membership, American Express may increase or reduce your credit limit.

Cardholders will need good to excellent credit to qualify for this card. However, if your credit falls below that range but you’d still like a hotel or travel rewards card, consider the Credit One Bank® Wander™ Card. This card is geared towards cardholders with fair credit and offers flexible rewards for travel purchases. It’ll be an ideal option to establish or re-establish your credit as you work your way up to a travel card like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass.

No.

The Hilton Honors American Surpass card has a number of benefits that, if used, can recoup the card’s annual fee and bring additional value to your card membership. Highlights include a free night reward when you spend $15,000 or more in a calendar year and complimentary Gold Elite Status. Along with these benefits, Amex also provides car rental and damage protection as well as access to the Global Assist hotline when you travel 100 miles or more away from home.

Yes, you can add authorized users to your Amex Surpass, and any points they earn with their card will be credited to the primary cardholder.

Only current Surpass cardholders are ineligible for the Amex Surpass. Eligible candidates should have a FICO score of at least 670 to have the best chance at being approved for the card.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2023 was $77,280 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $6,000
• Dining out: $3,900
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,400
• Apparel and services: $2,000

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 26 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features — its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows: 

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.