Compare the Features and Benefits of Hilton Honors American Express Card and
United℠ Business Card

The Hilton Honors American Express Card is the entry level Hilton card in a family of three Hilton credit cards for individuals including this one, the Hilton Honors Surpass® Credit Card ($150 annual fee), and the Hilton Aspire® credit card ($550 annual fee).

(All information about the Hilton Honors Aspire® Credit Card ahas been collected independently by Your Best Credit Cards.)

If you stay with Hilton frequently and simply aren’t willing to pay an annual fee, this isn’t a bad card. With 7X earned at Hilton portfolio properties (we value that at 3.5% worth of points back since we value Hilton points at 0.5 cents each), you’ll certainly do well when you pay with this card at Hilton family hotels and resorts.

5X Hilton Honors points at US restaurants, US gas stations, and US supermarkets on a no-annual fee card isn’t bad either, with a 2.5% effective return on spend assuming a value of 0.5 cents per Hilton point).

However, if you do step up to the annual fee cards, you do get more. The Surpass comes with automatic Hilton Gold status instead of Hilton Honors Silver status, which adds a breakfast or meal voucher credit to your benefits along with room upgrades and gives you the opportunity to earn a Free Night Reward valid on any Standard Night Reward after $15,000 in spend on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.

And the Aspire, despite its heft annual fee, provides come crazy benefits like Diamond elite status.

However, you are probably reading about this card because you want a no annual fee Hilton credit card and this one is pretty strong for a new annual fee hotel card. Not to mention the shopping protections like Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection as well as no foreign transaction fees.

Rates and Fees for the Hilton Honors Credit Card from American Express

If you’re a business owner contemplating on getting a personal United credit card, it’s worth taking a closer look at the United Business Card first.

Cardholders earn 2x unlimited miles on a diverse range of bonus categories, including United purchases (which includes United flights, seat upgrades, wifi or onboard purchases), dining including eligible delivery services, gas stations, office supply stores, and local transit and commuting. All other purchases accrue 1x miles. And don’t forget, beyond the initial hard inquiry when applying for a business card, it won’t report to your personal credit as long as you remain in good standing.

The annual fee is $150 (occasionally waived for the first year, based on the bonus offer being offered at the time, although the offers that waive the annual fee the first year also generally offer less miles.)

Fortunately, maximizing the card is effortless thanks to its number of tangible benefits. You can get every first checked bag free on United flights and even earn an annual $125 United credit after purchasing five United flight purchases. Coupled with the opportunity to enter the United Club twice per year ($59 value each time), that’s roughly a $200+ value off the bat toward travel.

Then you have the rideshare benefits ($8 back as a statement credit each month from January through November and up to $12 back for the month of December. Yearly opt-in is required.) for up to $100 a year back and then perhaps less commonly used perks like the credits for FareLock, United Hotels, JSX, and Instacart.

Other non-tangible, yet equally useful, benefits that the United Business Card provides include priority boarding, a 25% discount on inflight purchases, and the ability to earn Premier Qualifying Points every year from spend (see the next paragraph for details). Depending on how often you’re flying United every year, these perks offer elite-like benefits just by holding this card.

And don’t forget the ability to earn PQPs towards elite status from spend. You’ll earn 1 PQP for every $20 you spend on purchases with your Business Card – up to 4,000 PQPs per year.

If you were purely looking to earn United miles, however, you might well do better with the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card which would earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the first $150,000 spent on all travel purchases, has similar trip protections, and its points transfer 1:1 to United – but also to more than a dozen other airline and hotel partners.

We have a detailed comparison of the United Business Card vs. the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.

Chase is the issuer of this business card and is quite generous when it comes to providing travel and purchase coverages with high limits. Plus, Chase tends to offer partner benefits exclusively for cardholders.