Citi Hilton HHonors 60,000 Point Card & 50,000 Points AMEX Business Gold Rewards

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Update:  These offers have expired, but check the Hot Deals for the latest offers!

1.   Citi Hilton

Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, there’s a new offer for the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature card that gets you 60,000 Hilton points after completing minimum spending.  And with this card, there’s no annual fee!

Is This a Good Deal?

Link:   Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature 60,000 Point Card

If you apply for the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature card before August 31, 2014, you’ll get:

• 60,000 Hilton points after you spend $1,000 in the 1st 4 months
• 6 points for every $1 you spend at Hilton hotels
• 3 points for every $1 you spend at supermarkets, drug stores, and gas stations
• 2 points for every $1 you spend on everything else
• Free Hilton Silver Elite status (15% points bonus on Hilton points earned, 2 free bottles of water, late check-out)
• Free Hilton Gold Elite status (free breakfast and internet) after staying at a Hilton 4 times in the 1st 3 months
• $25 statement credit after spending at least $200 on a National, Alamo, or Enterprise car rental in the 1st 4 months
• NO annual fee

This is a better deal than my link, which is for only 40,000 points and doesn’t have a statement credit.  This is also the highest offer I’ve seen on the no-annual fee Citi Hilton card.

Note:   You’ll get the $25 statement credit only if you book a car rental directly through National, Alamo, or Enterprise.  And it has to be in the US or Canada.  This is the 1st time I’ve seen an offer like this, but it pays to shop around.  There are lots of ways to get cheap car rentals and you might get a better deal booking elsewhere.

That said, I still prefer the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card.  Even though it has an annual fee of $95, it’s well worth it because of the 2 free weekend nights at any Hilton (after meeting minimum spending), gold elite status, and $100 Hilton statement credit.  You can read my review of the card and see which 1 you prefer!

What Can You Do With 60,000 Hilton Points?

Link:   Hilton Award Chart

60,000 Hilton points can get you up to 12 nights in a Category 1 hotel.  But there aren’t many of them and few are in desirable vacation spots!  I’d much rather use the points for a middle category hotel, which cost 20,000 to 60,000 points per night.

Because this card gives you Hilton silver elite status, you’ll also get a free night on a stay of 5 nights or more.

Hilton also lets you book Points and Money awards, which allow you to book rooms with a combination of points and cash.  Sometimes this can be a very good deal!

For example, the DoubleTree Orlando Universal Studios costs 20,000 Hilton points a night.  So you could get a 3-night stay with the sign-up bonus on the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature card.

But by using Points and Money, it only costs 8,000 points plus $40 (still quite reasonable) per night.  You could stretch out the sign-up bonus and stay for a whole week!

And if you’re planning to complete a Hilton stay by July 31, 2014, you can earn double Hilton points on room charges that include the hotel’s restaurants.

2.   AMEX Business Gold

Per Online Travel Review, you can get 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points with the Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months.

This is much better than the previous offer, which is for only 25,000 points after spending $2,000 within 3 months.

Here’s a post on what to do with Membership Rewards points.

You can get at least $500 in air travel when you use 50,000 Membership Rewards points to book travel using the “Pay with Points” option.

You can transfer Membership Rewards points to airline partners and then redeem for flights within the US, to Hawaii, and the rest of the world.  The bad news is that most partners charge fuel surcharges on international awards which vary by the partner airline you fly on.

Membership Rewards airline and hotel transfer partners often have transfer bonuses, so you may be able to transfer your points to, say, British Airways and get 40% more points.

Bottom Line

You can get 60,000 Hilton points after completing minimum spending on the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature card.  But you have to apply by August 31, 2014.  You’ll also get a $25 statement credit if you spend $200 renting a car, and there’s no annual fee.

If you need Hilton points, this could be a good card for you.  But I much prefer the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card because you get gold elite status (free breakfast and internet!) and 2 free weekend nights at any Hilton.

The 50,000 points offer on the American Express Business Gold Rewards card is much better!