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The card got better for fewer people. People who travel a lot or are loyalists. But a lot of people had this card simply for the status and for the free night and it got worse for most of us.

As an Aspire cardholder, I’m looking forward to the changes because my spending varies. It will allow me to test it to see if it continues to fit my needs. I’m not one of those that immediately go negative when changes happen without testing it first. I always appreciate Sebby’s straightforward facts to help me assess and form my own opinion.

I do not mind losing priority pass at all. Not a fan of $200 split into 4 $50 credits for flights. $400 bi-annually may be okay but the real value regardless is Diamond status and the free night. If I can use at least $200 in resort credits and $50 airline I should still come out ahead. I just far prefer credits not broken up.

☂️ I have the Surpass and love it! Gonna keep it because I mostly drive for my trips and vacations and the priority pass wasn’t a big loss for me. The online retail multiplier was a bonus as well!

🏖️ I personally think any kind of couponing and breaking credits down to quarters is always a bad thing. The Aspire went from a “great if you travel at least twice per year” to “have to travel every quarter” for those who are obsessing with min/max. Every business/entrepreneur, by principle, just wouldn’t be happy with more restrictions along with price increase. I do agree with you it’s not that bad and for some people they can see the benefits, but in principle, it’s just not a great change. This becomes “the new norm” one which I’m not really liking at all and one which I hate to see trending.

Correct me if I'm wrong but we can always find a pretty cheap flight on Southwest like around $50 and book them and then cancel them for a credit.

I hate that Amex is now splitting up these credits, too 😣

Hey Sebby, I always love your videos I've been watching for years now! Friendly suggestion that would help folks like me who keep multi-tasking while watching your videos: put a running list of features of each card as you are talking about them, and maybe the name of the card on the screen. Sometimes I switch away and feel like I have to scrub back in the video because I got lost and wasn't sure if you moved on to talking about a different card or what. Cheers!

For Hilton Timeshare owners this card is a must. Now with the upgrade in resort credit to $400. The annual maintenance fees give 14x in points. Totally worth the annual fee increase

I think you're overstating the value of the resort credit for many people who aren't beach people. I travel a lot, but I don't do beach resort vacations, and I hate Vegas. I sepnd time in Europe and Asia or even domestically in places like Seattle, Boston, etc. and there are very few Hilton resorts in those places. It's still a keeper for me based on the free night, plus the airline credts, and diamond alone. But that resort credit is very low value.

🏖️ Thanks for sharing your endgame Amex setup Sebby! It’s nice to compare. Mine is the BCE (oldest card can’t cancel), Bonvoy Brilliant, Bonvoy Business, BBP, and Aspire. I was going to get 2 Aspires like you, but I have a lesser tolerance for statement credits so after the change, Idefibitely going with just 1. Curious to know your thoughts! Thanks for your commentary on this news!

🏖️ For the Surpass specifically, before these changes, I saw no reason for me to personally get it considering I have other cards giving me Priority Pass access already. While a lot of people may be mad about the Aspire changes, I think these changes actually made it into a card I want to apply for. Considering I don't have the Platinum right now, the Clear credit on the Aspire is actually a nice change. Great video as always man!

well, I have the surpass card . Only reason I got it is because it's the cheapest annual fee card that has priority pass. Now that its gone, will be downgrading it to the no fee Hilton card

0.8 cpp for a hilton point seems aspirational. TPG still has them at 0.6 cpp and even that feels high from what myself and my friends have observed on redemptions. That said... still into the Aspire update.

Clear used to be great but now Random ID check comes up at least 25-33% of the time if you fly frequently. So you have to take out your ID anyway and show it to the TSA agent.

Awful changes

Am I the only one who would trade the $400 resort credit on the Aspire for the $200 hotel credit on the Surpass? Any tricks for getting more value out of the resort credit?

I am happy! Between my husband and I we have 1 Aspire and 3 Surpass accts. Our plan this year was earning FNC in multiple Surpass accts to use next year. So well have 4 total FNC coming to us. With all the extra resort credits ill be bringing all these cards with me on our trip next week to a Resort in Mexico. Going to have the front desk apply charges to each card to get all those credits. We travel 3x a year and sometimes 4. So these charges are Aok for us.

Surpass is a great card to have for gas and supermarket. It's very easy to meet that $15k spend requirement to get the free night.

I originally got the Hilton Aspire because it came with the Priority Pass and many more benefits. I finally took a flight out of LAX and no Priority Lounge was available. So I guess I don’t mind AMEX taking the Priority Pass away. Should I pay for Priority Pass direct, or should I apply for the Platinum AMEX?

Does the diamond status with this card count toward lifetime diamond status? So say you keep the card for 10 years plus the spend?

Personally I travel a lot, but I’m not a Hilton loyalist and don’t want to track quarterly credits, but the welcome bonuses and free nights are pretty hard to complain about!

🏖️ I have some thoughts on the Surpass. Although I’m going to miss having Priority Pass, I have to say the card got more practical with the $200 Hilton credit. Since we mostly travel within the US and the main benefits of the card stayed intact, I’m keeping it. We generally prefer to stagger our vacations throughout the year anyway (taking one long trip and then waiting 12 months for the next one sucks) and since I’m from Florida, there’s no shortage of quick weekend getaways I can make to snap up the rest of those credits and have a nice time.

🏖️ do we know if the quarterly $50 airline credit will work with United Travel Bank?

I need to do more research but it looks like downgrading to surpass card. I use the priority pass a lot. The full resort credit. Diamond is good but gold is just as good. Luckily I have until June to make my decision.

The resort credit is easy for us, because we have an every-other-year Hilton timeshare (got off Ebay), and we fly from Las Vegas. Sometimes we stay at Virgin to be slightly off strip anyways. Endgame setup: Hilton Aspire, Hilton Business, Delta Business Platinum, BBP, BBP

I chose the no fee Hilton card. The multipliers are not much different for gas, restaurants and groceries between the no fee and the Surpass and between those two, online retail would be 4x on Surpass would be 3x on the regular. Restaurants is 1x differential between all 3 cards at 5x, 6x and 7x respecially. They are all 3x on everything else. Their multipliers are weird. Its at Hilton hotels obviously where you obviously gain the most at 7x, 12x and 14x respectively.

The new airline credit of $200 ($50 per quarter) is a loss for me. I already have Clear with my beautiful Platinum. The $400 Resort Credit ($200 semiannual) will force me to give one of these credit to a family member in Puerto Rico ( so it is also kind of a loss for me). Having said all that, we will still stay together till death do us apart. Your $12 (cash) Barber ($16 with tip) still doing a great job! 👍

🏝️ for me the aspire changes are great. And I just paid my annual fee last month. So I’ll be getting those improvements at the old fee! The biggest downside is losing the $250 incidental credit as it was a great use for us with United 😉. But I can use the $50 every quarter.

⛱️Sebby, I’d love a video from you sharing your top 10 Hilton properties. More appropriately, the top 10 Hiltons to target for your free night stay (or for point redemption). This couldn’t be a video stating the best thing for your buck since that can change, but maybe it could be the properties with the best amenities, best rooms, best food, etc. Maybe this can be a running series with all of the different hotel brands.

The Aspire was definitely nerfed I don’t consider it as a keeper card anymore, you have to at least travel twice a year for it to become a keeper. Sad since I was planning on getting it. Thanks for the update!

I can't wait to watch this. I've been waiting for Sebby's take. #squuuuuuuuuad

@askSebby have you heard if they still offer upgrade bonuses? I'm holding on to an Surpass to maybe go to Aspire but haven't seen any offers 🏖️

Horrible changes for Aspire with price increase and lost of priority lounge, and quarterly credits for airline ! I have global security and don't need clear. Smh

🌂 ⛱️. I have the 0AF HH. I travel less than I used to, but here in the Midwest, I get room upgrades like 90% of the time.

I think Hilton is my favorite cobrand portfolio. I was going to downgrade my surpass and keep my aspire but I think I can make it work keeping both of them. Honestly, if I didn’t have guaranteed 4pm checkout as a Globalist, I’d be all in on Hilton.

Called Amex and confirmed, for existing card holder, you will still have your incidental airline credit plus the new $50 airline credit for the remaining days in this year. They were generous enough to change my airline selection for my upcoming trips in December 😊

Currently own the Amex Gold. I travel 3 weeks a month and mostly stay in Hiltons. I’ll hit my SUB total in about a month so my original plan was to sign up for an Amex Platinum. The question is do I grab a Surpass or Aspire now to maximize Hilton points until I hit the SUB total for Gold then get the Platinum for the trifecta.

🏖Pleased by the new "midway point" on the aspire having a 30k reward night. Previously had been running two Hilton Business (6x shipping) also hitting the 15k on each was easier that the 60k needed on the Aspire...worked out with business staying untouched! (for now)

Data point -flight credit - seems to work with the AA Miles multiplier. I had multiplied the miles on one of my trips just before these changes. And I'm showing the $50 airline credit.

Did clear increase prices ? Now the credit doesn’t cover that full cost of member plus one.

The surpass is even better for me now than it was before.

Hopefully we get some data points on how the flight credit can be used in those unintended ways lol

First off, is 0.8cpp for Hilton Points insanely aggressive? Seems like that might be good for the high end properties but not overall to deduce value and ROI? Second, does anyone do an analysis of whether it’s a keeper card for overall spend based on the free night and free nights based on spend? That is, do the free nights juice the return on spend appreciably to move this card up the hierarchy? Just curious.

Do a video about doubling up on cards. Having 2 Aspires seems crazy to me.

The Aspire breaking up of credits is a negative no matter how you look at it. The reason why most cards are breaking up these credits is that very few will be able to utilize all. And the banks save money. Its a little insulting that the top fee card Aspire is breaking up more of their credits. I think top fee cards like Aspire should keep it as one credit like the travel credit on the CSR. And breaking up the credits would be for mid to low tier cards. It should be a benefit of paying so much in annual fees to keep the credit as one sum.

Breaking up the credits is annoying but I think it’s still a keeper card. Seems like they’re trying to get people to do at least 2 stays per year instead of just 1 with the free night.

🏖️ Just upgraded my Surpass to the Aspire last month. Wish they would've included all Hilton properties in the credit for the Aspire.... that would've made it a keeper for me based on how I travel. I'll likely downgrade back to the Surpass next year

The Hilton Surpass seems like a no brainer vs the Amex gold with the 6x on grocery, gas and dining. 4x on online and 3x on everything else. Even if I don’t stay at a Hilton isn’t this better than the gold? Maybe I’m missing something?

☂ is the 5 amex card limit real? I currently have six amex cards, Gold, Plat, Aspire, Surpass, Delta Reserve and Marriot Bonvoy. I was unaware of the 5 rule when applying and now just have 6. Wondering if I'm the only one. Also for myself the new changes are nice, but only because I'm not relying on either cards for the priority pass.

So far, every review I’ve watched failed to mention that the new Aspire is METAL. (According to the Hilton site when I ordered my replacement/update.)

Thanks for the video I imagine you can use the airline credit at Southwest. Just buy a one way ticket to To los angeles each quarter. And then cancel the flight and get credit. For the amount.

⛱️ Another great review. I've been waiting for this video from you😊!

Silly question, Sebby: for those of us with both Surpass and Aspire cards, do we just ask them to charge $50 to the Surpass and the rest to the Aspire on checkout?

I work for an airline and already get free personal flights through my company. I also already have Dimond status with high chance of lifetime Dimond in the next few decades. Not sure if the Aspire is worth it in my case considering I already have so much of what the card offers provided. Thinking I should go Surpass. I really like the idea of getting a free night and while the Aspire does that automatically I am not so sure 30k in a year to get the next free is in the cards. Although the 15k needed for the Surpass will easily happen.

Great video, thanks for the update!

Like the strategy with the surpass. They pretty much turned it into a keeper card for folks with moderate travel and loyalty to Hilton.

have a feeling if I get the Aspire, I will try the Southwest hack of buying a cheap flight to get the $50 credit activated and then cancel the flight to save it in my Southwest account for a future flight

Just take a trip from around June 29th to July 2nd or so each year for the resort credit and use it all at once 🧠 💡

🏝️ 🏖️ thanks as always for your content. I agree that the aspire card is as good if not better than before but a bummer for those that relied on the priority pass benefit. Safe travels!

🏖️ Dude are you very thorough but informative - meaning the language/narrative is so easy to understand and useful!!

Are you able to use the free night from holding aspire and $200 of the semi annual credit on the same stay? For example booking a 2 night stay, using your free night to cover one of the two, and then paying for the second night minus $200 effectively in the form of the statement credit?

I will miss having the second Priority Pass card. I am frequently connecting at DFW with long layovers. It's nice to stack two hours of Minute Suite time together to get some much needed rest.

Personally I'm super happy about the changes to the Aspire Card! I have a similar setup with 3X Aspire and 1X Bonvoy Brilliant and I think the increase to the $400 annual resort credit makes up for the annual fee and then some! While the $50 quarterly flight credit is a bit more niche, I think there'll be use cases that already have been working out. Priority Pass can always be supplemented with other end game cards like the Capital One Venture X!

I just got an email about this card. Seems better value, for me, than the gold.

🏖️ if you have 2 aspire cards, can you use the Hilton resort credit for each card on one stay? How do you go about that?

🏖️ Really thinking about the Amex Hilton Surpass. Mid-level game I guess. 🤔🤷‍♂️ Was offered 170k bonus points!

Wanted to add a data point here that for the aspire, it looks like the $200 flight credit that is split into $50 quarterly, is already in affect. I bought a flight this month with the aspire and I received a $50 flight credit from Amex already.

If I buy something internationally, would it get 3x on everything else with the Hilton cards?

They should've went semi annual with the flight credit on the Aspire

I'm curious about which hotel you stayed at while in New Orleans? My go to is Hilton Riverside.

Sucks for me, last year for this card.

The Aspire changes definitely make me less likely to get that card, as someone who isn't going to take quarterly trips. Higher AF, credits are broken up on both Resort credit and the airline credits.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a premium business card offered next year (The Hilton Perspire!), with boosted small business travel perks, and spend thresholds. I just hope they don't cut shipping like the Amex Business Gold!

Thanks for the updates Sebby, personally I hate that they got rid of Priority pass on the Aspire but that gives me an incentive to finally get the Platinum. Its also a huge pain to use the $50 coupon credits as a person who doesn't travel every quarter its wasted credits and there is nothing cheap worth flying to from my city. Can we use the new credits now or do we need to wait until a specific date? I may have missed this but did the card design for the Aspire change? It's trivial but I wish the card was metal and even more so because its $550 AF now!

When is the best time to sign up for the Aspire card? Is it like the Amex Platinum where signing up in the second half of the calendar year gets you double the benefits on the first year, or since the Aspire breaks it up into quarters/semi-annual, it doesn't matter?

You can match your Hilton diamond status with national executive elite status, fyi. I'm sad for the changes.. on the fence boys.

Tried to get hilton aspire and kept getting pop up so i called in to apply and they said no sign up bonus because i have a delta platinum card and they group their airlines and hotel cards in the same family 🤦🏾‍♂️ that doesn't even make sense. I have perfect history with amex since 2007 with platinum, gold and delta platinum so i have no idea why im getting rejected for this sub

I got lucky, just got charged $95 annual fee this week. 🎉 🥃🥃🥃

What’s the “Coupon Book”?

🏝️ Not really a fan of the quarterly coupons. Really annoying to keep track of as I already have other coupon cards to track. I don’t think you mentioned the new SUB’s available on these cards. What do you think of them? To me, the Surpass sub looks like the best one.

To me this sounds better. $200 per quarter in Hilton resort fits my family annual plan. I don’t care priority pass because chase side covers it better. Unsure if I can use the CLEAR credits for my parents. If works, that gives us additional savings. The only catch here is how would they categorize the airline spending. We do biz trips through concurs, not sure if those count. But overall, I’m happy with the new benefits. Good video. Thanks!

Hilton management is really bright. They just made the card even better for their loyal customers as opposed to their rivals, Marriott and IHG.

🌂 Can you use the statement credit from the Surpass card to buy points?

I’m curious if chase reserve will see a change. The 300 travel credit is fantastic but some of the other draws like dash pass, Lyft pink and instacart+ all expire soon.

I already have a Hilton but would like to upgrade, can I apply and grab the sign on points reward bonus? will AMEX allow?

Question: Do I get the Resort Credit if I book for friends/family?

It's several years away, but if I don't upgrade to the Surpass I may have to cancel the Honors when my physical card expires, I just hate the new look that much.

🏖Most people I know don't even go anywhere when they take time off of work, so asking them figure something each quarter just isn't going to work for them. I think what makes more sense is if you value what you get otherwise enough to offset the annual fee like you were talking about at the end

These changes for the Surpass is negative for me. I only got it because of the Priority Pass, which I haven't been able to use since lounges are always full. plus I already have the Venture X for Priority Pass. Probably will downgrade to a 2nd Hilton Honors card. If they kept the Hilton credits together rather than split it quarterly, then I may keep the card.

Yeah, I think the changes are a net positive for both the Aspire and Surpass. I do find it annoying that for a "travel" card with a $150 AF, that the Surpass earns at ONLY US gas, dining, groceries and online retail.

Can the 400 Hilton resort credit be used all 400 at one time? U made it sound so in this video

The Surpass is a mixed bag for me. I like most of the changes except the addition of the Clear credit for the Priority Pass membership. As a holder of the Green card, this would cancel out the credit. Still happy to see the free night after 15k spending was retained.

So…what counts toward those $50 quarterly credits? I have the Apsire but am confused. Paying for baggage on flights won’t count anymore right?

Has anyone experienced this? I just got approved for the Surpass card and now they are telling me to get the 170k intro bonus I have to spend 6k, not 3k. They said it’s split up and you get 95000 after the first 3k and the other 70k after 3k more. This doesn’t seem right to me as I did not see this at all on the terms anywhere. I can easily hit the 6k but still that isn’t what I signed up for. Any suggestions on what I should do? Love your videos too buddy. Thanks for all the info.

The quarterly credit will make me have to get rid of my Surpass. Should I cancel it or downgrade it?

like your long term plan; its basically my current set up

Surpass cardholder here. These changes seem like a big win. They've gotten rid of priority pass which is all but worthless and they've added 4 x $50 credits, by which the card pays for itself. Also important is that unlike the Aspire, these credits are good over their entire portfolio. Also the multiplies are very good.

🏖 Haha I love the 2Chainz adlib