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I’m going to offer a contrarian and controversial take, but I believe it’s a bit of truth-telling regarding the refresh of Amex’s main consumer Hilton co-brand credit card.
American Express has raised the annual fee on the Surpass by $55, offset that with a $50 per quarter Hilton statement credit, and eliminated the benefit of 10 Priority Pass lounge visits annually from the card. This used to be one of the best value ways to access Priority Pass-participating airport lounges.
The card also has added 4x earning on U.S. online retail purchases, but given the low value of Hilton points in my view that’s less of a return than you’d get with a Venture or Venture X card which doesn’t bonus the category.
And they’ve also added National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status which is alright, better cars to pick from when you rent from National, but not something I’d bake in as high value.
Card earning is now 12x on Hilton purchases; 6x on U.S. restaurant, supermarket, and gas station purchases; 4x on U.S. online retail purchases; and 3x on all other purchases.
The card comes with Gold status for being a cardmember and an upgrade to Diamond for $40,000 spend on the card in a calendar year (but Diamonds aren’t promised suite upgrades or even guaranteed late check-out). Spending $15,000 on the card in a year earns a free night award.
There are folks who will come out ahead – those who already have unlimited Priority Pass and will get the full $200 per year value out of the statement credits – but overall judging the pure value of the card I don’t think this is a net improvement. It’s still a good value product but I don’t see this refresh as an improvement.
Your take isn’t contrarian–it’s a clear downgrade. Another dumb coupon to clip.
I don’t think your view is contrarian at all; the Surpass changes make the no-fee Hilton Amex look really good. Gold (and for that matter Diamond) is not much of a value proposition anymore, in the US anyway, and I resent being forced into more Hilton stays — at increasingly shabby properties — if I want to offset the jacked-up annual fee.
As for the loss of Priority Pass: that benefit didn’t work reliably; PP is a dog’s breakfast of garbage lounges and nicer ones; and Amex-affinity members are (were) second-class PP citizens, ineligible for the airport-restaurant comps and other illusory benefits. Nevertheless, it worked for me two or three times per year, and it’s a still a net devaluation of the Aspire / Surpass products.
(It should be noted that although your Amex-affinity PP card may bear an expiry date in 2025 or 2026, Amex is now reneging on that promise: unless you signed up within the last year or so, the access party ends January 31. (Recent recruits get a few more months.) Just another reminder that any and all benefits of this nature are nothing to count on.
Frankly I disagree – this is a great change! I have the Amex Platinum and CSR so priority pass (including restaurants which were never covered by the Surpass PP) are covered. I stay at Hiltons a lot so will get the $200 credit.
Did anyone really keep this card for 10 weak PP visits? Doing away w that is nothing IMHO and I gladly pay $55 more to get the credits. Even if I use only on quarter it is a push and anything else is a profit.
@AC “Did anyone really keep this card for 10 weak PP visits?” most people don’t need unlimited, and getting 10 off a much lower annual fee card was a real value.
You don’t actually disagree with what I wrote though, right? “There are folks who will come out ahead – those who already have unlimited Priority Pass and will get the full $200 per year value out of the statement credits” i.e. your use case.
So glad I downgraded this card to the free version in January.
I have the Surpass (and will keep it) plus added the no fee last years for a 100,000 SUB plus a $100 credit. Also considering the Aspire as, while I am a 23 year Diamond, I only have 1.7 million points (and 800 nights) so would lock in Diamond without the $40,000 in non-bonuses spend I put on the card now (retired and don’t travel as much) before Amex groups them all together and only allows a SUB for one card like with others recently.
@Gary – read what you printed and agree I’m in the class that would likely benefit. I’m just not sure why anyone would see this as a material downgrade unless using the weak PP visits 10 times. Math on increase versus credit (similar to Aspire which I agree is better now) seems to work if you can use the credits
Definitely a downgrade. I’m shopping for a replacement
Certainly a downgrade, Surpass was a great card for the light to mid traveler. At a $95 fee it provided good value with just the right amount of PP lounge visits. Raising the fee and removing the PP perks will have many questioning the need for the card. The Gold status and quarterly credits are OK but maybe not at the new price point.
The target market for the Surpass card does not read a flying blog. The target market didn’t need PP because they didn’t use it when they took their road trip to Columbus and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn. The Surpass card is designed to capture the everyday spend of normal people that travel domestic and take driving trips. Those people like the breakfast credit, but aren’t fixated on the other trappings of status — Gold fits them.
For the frequent traveler, they offer the Aspire card. But they refreshed that card to also privilege spending (with the 30k FNC) and with the quarterly airline credits. It is clear Hilton wants you to use the cards, not keep them for a free vacation once per year, uncapped (especially with multiple FNCs from multiple Aspire cards). They want to be your main travel card, especially if you travel a lot, and they are willing to give you an extra free night in a Waldorf Astoria if you do what they ask of you.
The priority pass benefit is useless to me, they don’t have a lounge anywhere I go and they seem to be awful anyway.
The $50 credit would be easier to use if it could be applied toward hotel restaurant purchases not connected to a stay. But it’s not clear from the terms whether this is the case.
I usually fly business internationally which comes with lounge access.
The Surpass was perfect for me for the fewer than 10 domestic airports with lounges I typically visit in a year. Time to cancel once I work through this last batch of 10 lounge visits.
This card was worth it to me for gold status & the 2-3 times I could use the lounges. This card goes when it renews. The breakfast use is so minimal it’s hard to count that part as any king of benefit
Spot on assessment Mr. Leff, i am a light traveler (2x visits to europe per year, and a couple domestic weekend getaways in addition), and the surpass seemed pretty perfect for me.
Will now have to look at high end cards when all I really ought to need is a mid-level. C’est la vie.
Thanks so much for posting this! First I’m hearing of it. I’m a casual traveler (2-3 days a month) with the free Amex Hilton card. I got Gold last year from base points but since they’re back to pre-pandemic thresholds I was going to lose it end of this year so I’ve been thinking about upgrading to Surpass come January.
I’m exactly the exception case you mentioned: I have a Venture X (side note: thanks again for lounge updates — I went to the IAD one for the first time the other day, made me very happy) so PP was never part of the equation for me. When the Surpass annual fee was $95 I figure I could make that up solely in food credit (I mainly travel domestically and stay at HGIs, DTs, and Hiltons) in a few months. Now that they removed PP benefits and added statement credit I think it’s perfect for someone like me.
Maybe I’m missing something but if you don’t stay at Hilton properties enough to make it worth it on statment credit alone, why have a Hilton card in the first place?
Forgive the ignorance of my last comment, given the overcrowding at PP lounges I thought there were a lot more better cards to get PP access — didn’t realize this was one of the most cost effective ways to get it until re-reading. Still though, the statment credit threshold doesn’t seem high at all, one stay/night a quarter — seems like it’ll be worth it for a whole new audience of customers, PP or not