Hilton Honors American Express Card
No annual fee · 3x on everything else · no foreign transaction fees
Earn rates · how we got this
| Category | Rate | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Dining | 5x | uncapped |
| Groceries | 5x | uncapped |
| Gas | 5x | uncapped |
| Everything else | 3x | uncapped |
| Hotels at Hilton only — anywhere else in this category the card earns its base rate, so it is excluded from every ranking on this site |
7x | uncapped |
See how it ranks: best dining cards · best groceries cards · best gas cards.
What we have watched change
Differences between one check of the issuer's page and the next — not a reconstruction of the card's history. We only know what we were watching when it moved.
- Welcome offer Hilton Honors American Express Card welcome bonus fell from 80,000 to 70,000. 2026-09-11
Signup bonus: 70,000 points after $2,000 in 6 months. We never count unearned bonuses in savings math — a bonus you don't clear is worth zero. Plus a Free Night Reward. Limited-time offer; ends 2027-01-13. Bonus figure confirmed on the issuer's page 2026-09-15.
Non-cash perks
- Hilton Honors Silver status (upgrade to Gold after $20,000 spend in a calendar year)
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Amex Special Ticket Access (Presale/Reserved Tickets)
- Send & Split (Venmo/PayPal integration, enrollment required)
- Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance (secondary)
- Global Assist Hotline
- Purchase Protection (up to $1,000/purchase, $50,000/calendar year)
- American Express Venue Collection (10% back on qualifying concessions, up to $250/calendar year, enrollment required)
Does the fee earn out? · how we got this
No annual fee, so every point earned is pure upside. The question is only whether its rates beat the other cards already in your wallet — which depends on your spending, not the card.
Check the current offer on the issuer's site → Where a card link will appear once available — no link on this page pays us today.
Who this card is not for
Every point below is a term the issuer prints, read off this card's own row in our database — not an opinion about the card. One thing on this card rules out a kind of spender:
- Anyone who doesn't spend at Hilton. Its largest printed rate, 7x on hotels, pays only at Hilton. Anywhere else it earns its base 3x, so the headline number is a loyalty rate rather than a category rate — which is why no ranking on this site counts it.
Comparing cards in the same currency? See the best cards that earn Hilton Honors points →
More from American Express
Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →
Verified 2026-08-21 against issuer terms · sources: www.americanexpress.com · www.thepointsguy.com. Spot an error? Tell us.