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Amex to Hilton transfer bonus
Usually I’m not a fan transferring American Express Membership Rewards to any hotel program, but transfer bonuses, at the very minimum, warrant a discussion. Currently, there is a 30% transfer bonus given when you turn an American Express Membership Reward into a Hilton Honor point. This isn’t necessarily a bad deal, but the best ever is 50%. Unless you’re desperate to redeem your Amex points at an uber high end Hilton property, this deal probably doesn’t make sense. Remember, throughout the year Hilton will sell their points for 1/2 a penny.
In order to dissect the deal and determine I’m going to break down the underlying valuation of each currency.
Amex to Hilton 30% transfer bonus runs until 12/31/23
What is a Hilton Honor point worth?
Hilton Honors are given a fixed price if you redeem them on anything other than standard rooms. That is pegged at roughly $0.004 per point.
However…I don’t advise you redeem if you can’t land a room at a higher valuation than that. For instance, many hotels will release standard rooms for a point redemption when the points needed for the redemption give you a valuation in excess of $0.004. I did this a couple years ago for a New Year’s at the Waldorf Hilton in London. I redeemed 320k points (80k/night with a 5th night free ) when rates average $600 a night. We got $3000 in value for 320k points ( which we purchased for $1600 – read below ).
Throughout the year, Hilton will sell their points for roughly 1/2 cent. If you can buy it for that much during a sale then I’d say that’s a good benchmark. You can also combine Hilton Honors points from multiple accounts so you can almost always purchase enough points for a redemption you have in mind.
What is an American Express Membership Reward point worth?
If you carry any American Express card that earns Membership Rewards you have the option of redeeming for a cent per point. That’s on hotels, flights, etc.
If you carry an American Express Business Platinum card then you have the option to redeem those points within Amex Travel on your selected airline or premium flight with a 35% refund ( that’s roughly 1.55 cents per point ). I think that’s a fair valuation, although for my intents and purposes I throw a higher valuation on it at 2 cents. Why?
I tend to transfer points into programs and redeem for last minute flights at a valuation in excess of 2 cents.
When does it make sense to transfer points?
If Hilton points are typically worth 1/2 cent then you could extract 1.34c in value via this transfer, can potentially much more if you’re strategic.
Let’s take an extreme example and you can apply the principle to a redemption you may have in mind.
Waldorf Astoria Pedegral – Cabo, Mexico
This is one of the most expensive properties in Hilton’s portfolio and goes for a stunning 120k points per night. With this current transfer bonus, 47k Amex. Remember…If you carry an Amex Platinum then you are Hilton Gold, and if you are Hilton Gold, you get a 5th night free on point redemptions.
Here’s a look at Pedegral
Rates are sky high and make sure you factor In taxes and fees – $1300/night base room
That means that you could stay for 5 nights with 184k Amex points which would be 480k Hilton honors.
- 47k Amex = 120k Hilton
- 5 x 120k = 600k
- 5th night free ( 120k )
- Total = 480k
The value of your 184k Amex points would be nearly $6500 or a smashing 3.5 cents per point.
Is that valuation really fair?
Well…you could also buy 480k Hilton points for $2400. That’s a big if, and if you did…then you’re getting $2400 of value for your points or roughly 1.5c. That’s less than I’d peg an Amex point to be worth.
Stacking with an Amex Hilton Aspire
If you carry Amex’s premium Hilton card the Aspire, you are given top tier Hilton status…diamond + a free night + $400 annual Hilton Resort credit ( divided into 2 semi annual credits of $200 ). Diamonds get free breakfast which I would imagine is roughly $35-40 per person per day.
If you found the availability…you could book a free weekend night via your Aspire, then use the points accrued from your other Amex card to transfer to Hilton and stay 6 nights for 160k Amex Points. 6 x$70 in breakfast credits and another $200 in resort credit means an additional $620 in Hilton credits for a whopping ( 6 x $1300 + $670 ) $8500 in value. Of course you’d need the Aspire.
- hilton Diamond status
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Points Earned
Hilton Honors
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
Hilton Honors Diamond status, annual night anywhere in the world, $400 Hilton resort credit, $200 airline credit, Priority Pass select… this is one bad mamma jamma of a card
Welcome Offer
175k Hilton Honors after $6k spend in 6 months + Free Night Certificate
Annual Fee
This is hands down the best hotel card available.
Not only do you get top tier Hilton Honors Diamond status, but you get an free night certificate that you can use anywhere in the world, $200 Hilton Resort credit Jan through June and another July through Dec, $200 airline credit broken into $50 quarterly credits, and the list goes on.
If you’re at all thinking of staying at International Hilton properties, get this card ahead of time to enjoy the executive lounge access and free breakfast that comes along with Diamond Status.
This is a card we’ve had since it debuted and we get a lot from the annual night cert and top tier status to recoup the $550 annual fee.
- Free night certificate after hitting minimum spend + on your account anniversary every year
- Diamond status, top tier, as long as you maintain the card
- Up to $400 resort credit
- ( not good on prepaid rates)
- Semi Annual – $200 January to June another $200 July to December
- Up to $189 Clear® Plus Credit
- Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com using your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Book a 2 night minimum stay at hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com and get up to $100 in credits for qualifying charges at participating Waldorf Astoria® Hotels & Resorts and Conrad® Hotels & Resorts
- Priority Pass select
- 14x points at Hilton Hotels
- 7x points
- U.S. restaurants,
- airfare booked directly with the airline/Amex travel, select car rental agencies
- $550 *Rates and Fees; terms apply
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
Recap
Is it worth it? It very well could be if you’re looking to redeem at some fantastic resorts that ordinarily cost a fortune. The example I used is taking it to the extreme – although maybe not as extreme as Bora Bora or the Maldives because Cabo is very easy to get to and requires none of the crazy resort transportation costs.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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