🤔 I just may need to join the Hilton ecosystem. This video is packed with value! I didn’t know I can get airport lounge access with some of the Hilton cards. You really have me rethinking my Hyatt strategy for the year. Darn it Matt!! 😂😂 Great video btw!!
Definitely agree. Hilton credit cards are definitely hard to beat. I think people get too hung up on CPP when it comes to hotel points. Yeah, you may need 2-3X less points to book similar rewards with Hyatt, but if I can earn points 2-3X as fast with Hilton, then it kinda negates that advantage. It gets even better if you focus your spend on Amex cards and transfer MR to Hilton points when there’s a bonus. Yeah, my CPP isn’t as flashy with Hilton, but I’m earning free nights at a similar or faster rate, so I could care less. I’m more concerned with how much spend it takes to earn those nights instead. Gold and Surpass will continue to be my setup until Hilton nerfs their program, which I don’t see happening for awhile
Completely agree with you Royce!! I’m sure people will post things about how Hyatt’s redemption value is much better than Hilton, but really when Hilton Cards are doing so much more in earning categories, Free Nights, Statuses etc, Hilton is still #1. Thank you for watching!
Been doing the Hyatt Bilt Challenge in Asia. Mostly Thailand. Only one loser hotel of the bunch and I think I just got a bad room. Have one more night to reach Globalist with Hyatt. That being said . Hilton Hua Hin has award nights for 26k. Pretty nice property. Great staff. Right in the middle of the nightlife district. Which really isn’t much for a Thai red light district. But fun enough for an old guy like me. Have 35k in Marriot points. Haven’t really used them here. But I stayed at a Marriot in Tokyo for a few nights. Hotel wasn’t much to brag about. But clean and close to the train. Hotels in Tokyo are pricey. Used my Hilton FNC at the Conrad Tokyo. Which was amazing.
2-3x? Try 6-8x. Hilton point redemptions are ridiculous. You also aren't taking into account the Chase UR ecosystem to earn points that can be transferred to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.
I am currently a holder of the Hilton Honors Surpass for the 130k bonus since last year. The rewards system is generous despite the amount of points needed to get a free night at one of their hotels. There are plenty of Hilton hotels at vacation spots I want to travel to. I stayed at a few before and enjoyed the stays there. I considered getting a Marriott credit card for the bonus but, I thought things through and decided not to get it. To name a few, there are very few Marriott properties at vacation spots I am looking forward to going to. I had some pretty bad experiences with Marriott hotels in the past when I was a kid. I can only shudder at how difficult it would be to amass enough points for a free night with such a terrible earning system. Therefore, I agree Hilton is far better than Marriott with credit card rewards. You've just earned a subscriber in me with this video alone.
I'm not loyal to any business but, the Aspire is by far the best Hotel card and one of the best cards period. When paired with the Surpass, Hilton Honors card or Hilton Business card, it's hard to beat. (I've have or had all of them). Great breakdown Matt Oh yeah, although the Aspire gives you 14x pts, having Diamond status gives you a 100% bonus on points, giving you 28pts per $1 spent!
Actually its 34x Thats why hilton loyalists are mostly americans. Because they have access to the aspire. For me Asians, we prefer Marriott. In asia pacific, Marriott has better footprints and properties. Hilton presence here kinda limited and lots of misses
@@mintico appreciate that info. What do you think are the best Marriott properties. In the US, the Ritz Carlton is actually my favorite property. Not that I can afford to frequent it but none the less, it's still my favorite
@@SledgeIncTeam for Marriott I like St Regis Bali, St Regis Bangkok, JW Marriott South Beach Singapore, W Hong Kong is great too Accor i love SO/ Bangkok, Raffles Jakarta, Raffles Singapore, M Gallery hotel de la coupole (very good) I prefer Asia destination because normally we get much much better soft products here compared to US & Europe
Hilton's status is so much better with Hilton Gold or higher getting you a DAILY breakfast credit and Marriott Platinum or higher getting you only a singular breakfast credit. Super lame! For me, Marriott has a bigger footprint though so even though Hilton has better credit cards, I stick with Marriott. Also, want to mention that the Bonvoy Brilliant card multipliers do kind of suck, but the Bonvoy Business card has much better multipliers by comparison! Great rundown of the Hilton cards Matt!
Yeah definitely a fair point there. Especially if traveling to locations with higher Marriott footprint over Hilton, that could definitely be a reason to stick with Marriott. I haven't actually looked into the Bonvoy Business Card, but good to know! Thanks for watching Stan!
The best thing about the breakfast credit is that even if you miss breakfast, you can still use the credit throughout the day as long as you charge anything from a restaurant or bar to your room... Marriott does have a larger footprint but you can get a Hilton, just about anywhere you can get a Marriott. As for. Hyatt, their footprint is way to tiny
Great video Matt! Glad you made all of these points as I just got the Hilton Honors card when the 100k SUB was going on! Looking to get the Aspire this year as well! Thank you for the great content as always brother! 👍🏻
I have the Hilton Honor thinking about the Hilton Business card . Only had the honors almost a year coming up . Great video Matt Can’t for your next one
Absolutely!! Even though the Hilton Aspire Card is talked about it a lot, I still do think it's somehow still undervalued just given how insanely valuable the Card is! Thanks for watching Manny!
Just got the business Hilton card. I feel like it has the best spending categories of all the Hilton cards. The aspire is attractive, I do worry about them changing annual fee on the aspire, however.
Yeah I love the Hilton Honors Business Card so far. Really excited to get another FNC with that Card. Yeah I have my eyes on the Aspire but like you said will be keeping my eyes peeled for any changes in the annual fee. Thanks so much for watching Gabriel!
Yeah the Hilton Aspire is dope. We stack Brilliant, Aspire, Delta, Amex platinum. All these cards pay for themselves and allow you to travel with status
Hilton cards are the best hotel cards in the market and is not even close 💪 Hilton Surpass and Business 10 priority passes are great because you can bring 5 people each way in a round trip.
Absolutely!! Great point Cesar! Yeah as you know from my stance, completely agree with you that Hilton has the best hotel cards and it ain’t close! Thanks so much for watching!
Agree with the Hilton Aspire card being OP. However, I disagree with the Rich Dad Poor Dad book in the background. Robert Kiyosaki is a terrible person. Plus he supports scam MLMs. Switch that book out with something else.
Ritz Carlton Credit card also has the best priority pass with unlimited guests and $28 per person food credit. It’s a J.P. Morgan card though not regular chase. It comes with the same concierge service as the J.P. Morgan Reserve
People don’t realize that the 4pm late checkout with Marriott Platinum Elite status is like getting an extra day. This allows my wife and me to stay 1 night but get a full 24-hours
That’s a great point Derek! Having 4 pm late checkout can definitely still allow for a lot of relaxing & potential activities without spending more haha. Thanks for watching!
The Hilton ecosystem is the easy winner for hotel card redeemers/collection. Easy to use and the annual fees are justified with the credit credits. I have the no annual fee card and plan to get the surpass, and aspire in the near future.
The IHG Premier is a solid mid-tier option as well! The footprint is just a lot lower than Marriott or Hilton in terms of available properties. Thanks for watching Eric!
My experience with Hilton rewards is they by far have the least amount of Hotel availability. Hyatt has all sorts of hotels available in Paris next May. Hilton everything sold out. Same with Aruba. Easy to book Hyatt and Marriott.
That’s totally a fair point and yeah I’ve heard that as well, that sometimes there’s more Marriott properties available especially internationally. Thank you for watching!
I did go over the Point Multipliers! And yes you can get a significant multiplier automatically for being a Hilton Member, but focused on the specific points that the Cards themselves would give you back. Thanks for watching!
The Hilton card is a great card, I’ve never had an Amex card before, but I have been pondering about picking up the Hilton Surpass 🤔 I wish it was like chase though , that you could get the yearly free night credit without the 15k yearly spend requirement. But I do like that it’s uncapped when using that credit . Hmmm your video is slowly convincing me more and more to get it in the future lol thank you for all this info ! :)
Of course!! Thank you so much for watching! Speaking from experience, the Surpass Card is a very good option and I was able to get my FNC to $900 in value!
Think of it this way; Using it as a daily driver and 15k spend gets you the free night, but it will likely get you Diamond status as well (which upgrades instantly). So after the first year (or less depending on your spend) you're basically going to be diamond status forever for $95 if you keep using it.
I had that happen to me on the AMEX Gold :/ Amex Can be weird sometimes, but I was able to get out of pop up jail (being ineligible for welcome bonuses) by putting a lot of spend on my other Amex cards.
I have been a Hilton Diamond for 3 years and let me tell you Hilton status is a joke when compared to Hyatt. By paying $95, you get the second-highest status. Do you know what that means? It means you have no status since everyone staying in Hilton has the same status
Thank you for your comment Kelvin! Totally understand your point. However, I’ve actually been treated really well with Hilton Gold Status including multiple room upgrades. Thanks so much for watching!
The cards may be better in Hilton, but the Hyatt program is way better than Hilton. Hilton hotels are lower quality, food is not as good, upgrades are worse. I generate Hyatt points via Chase as a transfer partner. Chase cards are better than Hilton cards.
Great cards for earning but I haven’t seen the room upgrades yet as a 💎 Loyalty program needs some adjustments IMO. Cards need a facelift. My aspire looks like the cheapest card in my wallet
Hey John thank you for watching! What properties are you typically staying at! I’ve heard great things about room upgrades with diamond and have been consistently upgraded even with Gold status.
Can you answer the question about the Diamond status. It indicates you can receive a 1 yr extension if you been Diamond for 3 yrs or stayed 250 nights. So does the diamond status expire with this card or is it as long as you own the card?
Great video, I have a INC. I’m thinking about getting the Aspire card for just the diamond status and using my Hilton business mainly. How do you think I should use these cards effectively? Also should I stagger out my application for these cards for the anniversary purpose? I also have the AMEX PLAT BUSINESS. TIA
Hey John! Thanks for watching and good question! I think staggering applications depends on a couple factors. If you are able to hit 15k in spend on the Hilton BIZ this year then get it now. If not wait till next year to get a full year to hit that. That way you can get the FNC with the BIZ plus the Automatic FNC with the Aspire.
Usually hilton loyalists do most of their stays in the states. If you travel internationally often especially to asia pacific region, Marriott is way way better choice. Better off with Marriott and Accor. This review seems bias towards hilton 😂
Hilton killing the competition by offering substantially worse point redemptions for lower priced room rates than the likes of Hyatt… Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana - 35k points/night (normally $711.00 cash) Hilton La Romana - 65.5k points/night (normally $357.00 cash) Nearly 2 for the price of one night at a better resort… No amount of status/perks can make up that difference
Hey Mac, completely understand your point there and yes Hyatt does have a better redemption value. BUT, Hilton’s point earning categories are simply so much higher, in the sense that you will earn 65k Hilton points at the same rate if not higher for Hilton as earning 35k Hyatt points. So it negates the difference. Thank you for watching!
@@MattWelterOfficial While that’s true, if your goal is to optimize Credit Card points, the points earning potential of these cards shouldn’t be factored in given you’d receive better value by putting the majority of your spend on cards that earn a more flexible points currency such as UR or MR.
Hilton only wins in the credit card segment. The program is bad bad bad. Especially bad in the united states. The hilton points are bad value. Take a look at asia pacific region, their points redemption value and hotel footprints/brands are inferior compared to Marriott & Accor. Most hilton loyalists/fans are americans. In Asia, many choose Marriott and Accor Quick example, St Regis Bangkok needs 40k Marriott Points while Waldorf Astoria Bangkok ask for 80k points 😂 garbage hilton points
Definitely a fair point! Yeah like you said a lot of Hilton loyalists are in America which is my core audience. But definitely makes sense to choose Marriott if you are frequently traveling internationally to Asia. Thank you for watching!
Have had the aspire for a few years now it's pretty meh. When I stay on points or free nights, the front desk has to announce it loudly as if to shame me. Never gotten an upgrade in the US based on diamond status. I got one upgrade in China to a suite which was notoriously easy to get. When everyone's a diameter nobody is a diamond. So far hyatt globalist beats the pants off of diamond. I have had multiple confirmed upgrades to suites at booking with my upgrade certificates which doesn't even exist with Hilton. The free nights will just get you a room which is fine unless you have kids. That's when suite upgrades matter. I'd rank Hilton 3rd behind hyatt and Marriott. I've been debating just canceling my Hilton aspire and just be happy with gold I get from Amex not much difference in real world treatment.
Hey Mark, thank you for your comment! Always good to hear from a different perspective, and if Hyatt makes the most sense for you then by all means go there. Personally, I’ve consistently gotten upgraded even with just Hilton Gold at US properties.
