These 6 Benefits Make the AMEX Hilton Honors Business Card One of the Best Hotel Credit Cards for Businesses

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If you’re in the mood for free hotel nights, access to comfy airport lounges, and free breakfast, the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card could be just what you’re looking for!  With this card, you’ll  Earn up to 180,000 bonus points. Earn 130,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend a total of $10,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months.

The AMEX Hilton Business card’s benefits and perks make it one of the best hotel credit cards for small business spending and can make your business expenses work for you.  What’s even better, you don’t have to be running a full-time business to qualify for a small business credit card.

I’ll explain.

The AMEX Hilton Business Card Is One of the Best Hotel Credit Cards for Businesses

Before you apply for the AMEX Hilton Business card, you’ll want to make sure you’re eligible for it and its 180,000 Hilton point welcome bonus. Earn 130,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend a total of $10,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months. When it comes to AMEX cards, you are ineligible for the welcome offer if you’ve ever had that specific card and earned the bonus before at any point in your life.  The nice thing is that AMEX will let you know during the application process – before doing a credit check – if you don’t qualify for the bonus.

Also, just because you don’t run a full-time business doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from applying for business credit cards.  Part-time freelance gigs or side hustles can qualify you for small business cards.  Plus, if you’re a sole proprietor you can use your own name as the business name on the application and you can use your social security number as your business tax ID.

One of the advantages of AMEX business cards is that they don’t show up on your personal credit report.  That means they won’t add to your Chase 5/24 count.  So you’re not locking yourself out of opening valuable Chase cards in the future by opening an AMEX business card.

Let’s take a look at the numerous benefits of the AMEX Hilton Business card.

1.  Automatic Hilton Gold Status

The AMEX Hilton Business card comes with complimentary Hilton Gold status.  Unlike other mid-tier hotel chain elite statuses, Hilton Gold gets you decent benefits, like free breakfast!  Joseph believes it’s the best mid-tier hotel elite status and I agree.

In addition to free breakfast at all Hilton hotels, you’ll also earn an 80% bonus on the base points you earn for Hilton stays.  You’ll also have access to upgrades when they’re available.

As a Hilton elite member, you can take advantage of Hilton’s 5th night free on award bookings, too.  The discount is based on the average cost per night for the stay.

This is an amazing perk because you’ll get each 5th night free on stays of up to 20 nights.  That’s up to 4 free nights per stay.  You can use this benefit an unlimited number of times per year.

You can also earn Hilton Diamond Status with your AMEX Hilton Business card when you spend $40,000+ in eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year. Enrollment required for select benefits.

2.  Priority Pass Airport Lounge Access

Having airport lounge access is a game changer when it comes to dealing with long connections or delays.  It’s hard to put a value on amenities like a comfortable chair, complimentary food and drinks, free (speedy!) WiFi, and clean bathrooms.  Especially when it comes to surviving extended periods of time in an airport.

The AMEX Hilton Business card comes with a Priority Pass membership that grants you 10 free visits per year.  You can bring guests with you, but each guest will count as a visit.  After your 10 free visits, you’ll pay $32 per person per visit.

Some credit cards come with unlimited access to Priority Pass lounges, but they also come with much bigger annual fees than the AMEX Hilton Business card’s $95 annual fee (See Rates & Fees).  I think for many travelers, 10 lounge passes per year will cover the majority of trips.  Even for a couple that’s 5 trips to the airport lounge per person. Enrollment required for select benefits.

3.  Earn Hilton Points Faster

When you open an AMEX Hilton Business card you’ll earn a bonus of up to 180,000 bonus points. Earn 130,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend a total of $10,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months. But the opportunity to earn points doesn’t stop there.

You’ll also earn bonus points for certain purchases, like:

• 12X Hilton points at Hilton hotels and resorts
• 6X Hilton points on select business & travel purchases (including wireless phone services from US providers, US restaurants, US gas stations, car rentals, airfare booked directly with the airlines, and more)
• 3X Hilton points on all other eligible qualifying purchases

It’s easy to see how your Hilton points balance can grow quickly, especially if you travel a lot for business.

4.  Free Weekend Nights

In addition to earning lots of Hilton points you can use to book free nights, the AMEX Hilton Business card also allows you to earn free weekend night awards.  These awards can be used to stay on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night at any Hilton hotel except for these few exclusions.

You’ll earn one free weekend night after making $15,000 in eligible purchases with your card in a calendar year.  And you’ll earn a 2nd free weekend night after making an additional $45,000 in eligible purchases ($60,000 total) in the same calendar year.

These certificates are very valuable and can be used to book some incredibly expensive hotels, like the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

5.  Access to AMEX Offers

AMEX Offers are special discounts targeted to AMEX cardholders.  This includes discounts for all sorts of purchases including restaurants, subscriptions, cruises, hotels, airfare, and many more.

This year I’ve used AMEX Offers to save on insurance payments, groceries, Uber & Lyft rides, and hotel stays.

The best thing about AMEX Offers is that they are easy to stack with other deals and discounts.  Because you add AMEX Offers to your card through your AMEX account, they are applied after the purchase.  That means you can apply promo codes or make a purchase through an online shopping portal and still qualify for the AMEX Offer without negating the other discount.

To learn more about AMEX Offers check out our guide here.

Eligibility for Amex offers is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.

6.  Complimentary Extended Warranty & Purchase Protection

The AMEX Hilton Business card is a good card to use when you need to buy expensive items.

When you purchase an item with your card, American Express will extend the original manufacturer’s warranty up to 2 additional years, on US warranties of 5 years or less.  It’s an automatic benefit that’s easy to forget about but incredibly useful when you need to take advantage of it.

With this benefit, your purchases will be protected from accidental damage or theft for up to 120 days, up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per calendar year.  This coverage is secondary. Enrollment required for select benefits.

If you want to learn more about this card, check out our complete review of the AMEX Hilton Business card.

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