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Painful Lesson I Learned That Applies to the Current Amex Hilton Limited-Time Offers

  • Meghan Hunter

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

    INSIDER SECRET: The easiest way to find a complete list of limited-time offers is to bookmark the Million Mile Secrets limited-time offers page.

    Back in early June, I convinced my mom to apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®, when you could earn a welcome bonus of 70,000 Arrival miles (worth $700 in travel statement credits) after meeting minimum spending requirements. She did so the last day the offer was available and is now thanking me profusely for the recommendation.

    Not only was the offer on this card insanely valuable, but also it disappeared with only about 24 hours notice. Lesson learned? Don’t pass up an opportunity when it’s staring you in the face.

    The good news is that we usually do know when a great offer is ending. For example, we know the limited-time increased offers on the Amex Hilton cards like the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, end on August 28, 2019.

    It’s important to watch those offer deadlines. (Photo courtesy of Yury Zap/Shutterstock)

    The biggest hurdle to earning a big welcome offer on a credit card is meeting the card’s minimum spending requirements. So it’s understandable that it may not make sense to apply for a card just because of an increased offer. You’ve got to have a plan for earning the bonus. If you know you have a big expense coming up, check to see if there are any limited-time offers out there to make the most of the money you plan on spending anyway.

    Many of the Amex Hilton cards are offering increased welcome bonuses through August 28, 2019:

    • Hilton Honors American Express Card – 90,000 Hilton points after spending $2,000 in the first three months of account opening (valid through August 28, 2019)
    • Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $4,000 in the first four months of account opening
    • The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – 130,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night after spending $5,000 in the first four months of account opening

    The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express offer is still the same as before, a 150,000-point bonus you can earn after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. But no one can guarantee this offer will be around forever, either. The information for the Hilton Aspire card and Hilton Surpass card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    Also, it’s important to realize there can be an opportunity cost if you’re always waiting for the absolute best offer. Is it really worth waiting for 20,000 more points if you can take a vacation now, rather than a year or two from now?

    You can learn from my teammate Joseph’s mistake. He hoarded his Hyatt points and then discovered that the hotels he wanted to book with points had gone up in price by more than 20%. Similarly, I put off applying for the Citi Prestige card, and by the time I got around to it, Citi had devalued one of the card’s most lucrative benefits – the fourth-night free perk.

    In the world of miles and points, nothing lasts forever. So when it comes to earning or redeeming travel rewards, there’s (usually) no better time than now. If you wait too long, the deal that’s there today might not be there tomorrow.

    For the latest tips and tricks on traveling big without spending a fortune, please subscribe to the Million Mile Secrets daily email newsletter.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)