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Amex Hilton Aspire

Sandy VDH

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I can confirm that Bay Club did post and I received the 15X points for my MF. I already received by Resort Credit for this anniversary year, but I would expect it NOT to work for Bay Club.
 
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I can confirm that Bay Club did post and I received the 15X points for my MF. I already received by Resort Credit for this anniversary year, but I would expect it NOT to work for Bay Club.

May well be right for Bay Club MF. Bay Club spend might work inasmuch as the billing goes through the same front desk as Kohala, and that does work for MF. But not sure if it ends up showing up differently when charged.

My card cycle closes on the 21st, so might as well push this one out until after then. Also, mrs. brp's Aspire resets on early Feb so she'll pay part as well. Mine is mid-March, so we'll just use it for something else, or MF next year (last year it was the aforementioned Kohala stay).

Cheers.
 

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Question: Do we know if an activation fee (the $609) triggers this rebate? We have some HOA dues that do (Flamingo), some new HOA dues that likely will (Boulevard) and some HOA fees that don't (W. 57th). We also have the activation fee on the new Boulevard. Do we expect that to work, i.e. has anyone done this?

Cheers.
 

1Kflyerguy

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Question: Do we know if an activation fee (the $609) triggers this rebate? We have some HOA dues that do (Flamingo), some new HOA dues that likely will (Boulevard) and some HOA fees that don't (W. 57th). We also have the activation fee on the new Boulevard. Do we expect that to work, i.e. has anyone done this?

Cheers.

I don't have any recent experience, but my guess is that any activation or transfer related fees are charged by HGV corporate and will not trigger the rebate. Probably not what you were hoping... but do report back if they do work.
 

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I agree. But anytime I buy anything Hilton related, I use the card at the very least to trigger the bonus points for the Hilton spend.
 

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Don't forget to check for Amex Offers when you are paying maintenance fees. I was able to save an additional $100 since I have two cards and each had 50 off 250.

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I agree. But anytime I buy anything Hilton related, I use the card at the very least to trigger the bonus points for the Hilton spend.

One problem here is that things don't trigger the credit may not post as Hilton spend. For example, W. 57th MFs don't post as Hilton, so no resort credit and no bonus points.

Don't forget to check for Amex Offers when you are paying maintenance fees. I was able to save an additional $100 since I have two cards and each had 50 off 250.

Fabulous suggestion! However, the only Hilton promotion I see for the Aspire is for spend on Hilton brands in the UK (and we were there in November, so we probably missed adding this to mrs. brp's card at the time as she paid :(). Nothing relevant to other Hilton spend that I can see.

My Amex Platinum has more Hilton stuff, but still nothing that seems it would generate the $50 for any MF spend.

Cheers.
 
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One problem here is that things don't trigger the credit may not post as Hilton spend. For example, W. 57th MFs don't post as Hilton, so no resort credit and no bonus points.



Fabulous suggestion! However, the only Hilton promotion I see for the Aspire is for spend on Hilton brands in the UK (and we were there in November, so we probably missed adding this to mrs. brp's card at the time as she paid :(). Nothing relevant to other Hilton spend that I can see.

My Amex Platinum has more Hilton stuff, but still nothing that seems it would generate the $50 for any MF spend.

Cheers.
Yes, I own at Craigendarroch so that was the one I was able to use.

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CalGalTraveler

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One problem here is that things don't trigger the credit may not post as Hilton spend. For example, W. 57th MFs don't post as Hilton, so no resort credit and no bonus points.

Cheers.

I knew W57 did not trigger the resort credit. Just tested again with a small payment. Paradise LV works though.

Are you saying W57 does not trigger the Hilton cc bonus points as well? If so I will pay via chase Sapphire reserve and get 3x.
 

brp

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I knew W57 did not trigger the resort credit. Just tested again with a small payment. Paradise LV works though.

Are you saying W57 does not trigger the Hilton cc bonus points as well? If so I will pay via chase Sapphire reserve and get 3x.

Aarrgh! I don't remember! I'm pretty sure that it didn't show up as Hilton at all...and that that's the reason it didn't trigger the resort credit. I seem to recall calling and not having success. But I really don't remember.

Maybe I'll pay part of W. 57th with Sapphire and part with Aspire as a test. Figure that Boulevard will trigger as well as Flamingo.

Cheers.
'
 

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NYC properties are not on the list of resorts that receive the $250 credit. It should get the Hilton cc bonus points...or so I thought. Will test.
 

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I find the card very worth it for paying mf and airline charges. So good that I have 2 of them and wife has one. How can you go wrong when you are paid $150 every year ($50 per card) and get 3 free weekend nights to use for any standard room rate. Great use for Grand Wailea whena room is 95k points per night. Actually are waiting for another upgrade offer to upgrade her Amex Surpass card to Aspire.

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how did you get 2 Aspire cards for yourself ?
 

Sandy VDH

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Could be worth a try. Would love to see someone test it. :)
I paid my MF with it and received the credit. That along with airline fee credit pretty much pays for the annual fee but I would get it just for diamond status. Great card, I recommend it highly even though I already have some of the other benefits witht he platinum card.
 

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The other great benefits if you travel are the Priority Pass membership and free weekend night. If you can use the credits, this card is a no brainer.

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I paid my MF with it and received the credit. That along with airline fee credit pretty much pays for the annual fee but I would get it just for diamond status. Great card, I recommend it highly even though I already have some of the other benefits witht he platinum card.

For us the airline fee is becoming harder and harder to use. We don't have any of the usually-covered fees and there have always been tricks on one airline or another to get it to apply to gift cards or certain ticket purchases. They're doing a better job of cracking down, so this is becoming a non-benefit for us. And, with two Aspire cards and one Amex Plat between us, that hurts :)

The other great benefits if you travel are the Priority Pass membership and free weekend night. If you can use the credits, this card is a no brainer.
Consider, though, the the Priority Pass from Amex is the neutered variety that does not include any restaurants. Still a good deal for the lounges, but not as good as it once was, or non-Amex cards.

Cheers.
 
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frank808

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how did you get 2 Aspire cards for yourself ?
Had an ascend and applied for the aspire. Got the aspire and about 14 months later, got an email to upgrade the ascend to aspire for 150k hh points with $4k spend in 90 days. No brainer for me to upgrade and got the 150k points a few days after spending the $4k.

Now I move most of my spend to the 2 business amex for the free night cert after $15k spend. I spend up till $14.5k each account and then in Dec I spend the $500 each to get 2 free night certificates valid until Dec of following year. That way I have 3 certs that expire in middle of the year(when my aspire AF hits) and 2 more certs for use 6 months later.

Forgot to mention, you can only have 6 active credit cards at one time from Amex directly. Other issuing Amex banks don't count like Wells Fargo, etc.

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CalGalTraveler

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@brp We use Southwest for the airline credit and it is still easy. Although gift card purchases do not work anymore any ticket under $100 - think Bay Area to LA, or reduced via a gift card to < $100 works. See flyertalk for details.
 
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brp

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@brp We use Southwest for the airline credit and it is still easy. Although gift card purchases do not work anymore any ticket under $100 think Bay Area to LA, or reduced via a gift card to < $100 works. See flyertalk for details.

Interesting. We had been doing that for Alaska, but I just tried and it did not work. And Flyertalk seems to be talking of the demise of this for Alaska.

We tend to prefer Alaska over Southwest, but if a ticket < $100 works, then likely this ticket, cancelled like 23 hours later would also work. it did for Alaska when that still worked. Will check it out !

Cheers.
 

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@brp We use Southwest for the airline credit and it is still easy. Although gift card purchases do not work anymore any ticket under $100 - think Bay Area to LA, or reduced via a gift card to < $100 works. See flyertalk for details.
I can confirm this worked late December. BNA-ATL on southwest. I canceled a few days later and used the travel funds for another flight. 2x$98+$47.
 

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I can confirm this worked late December. BNA-ATL on southwest. I canceled a few days later and used the travel funds for another flight. 2x$98+$47.

I was thinking about the < 24 hour cancel so that we got the money back since we don't fly WN very much.

Cheers.
 

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I had not thought about booking and cancelling since we fly SWA often so we can use with reg use and early birds on long hauls.

That's a great strategy if it appears we have left over credits near the end of the year because it sets the expiration date on travel funds as of the date of purchase giving you funds into the next year.
 

brp

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I had not thought about booking and cancelling since we fly SWA often so we can use with reg use and early birds on long hauls.

That's a great strategy if it appears we have left over credits near the end of the year because it sets the expiration date on travel funds as of the date of purchase giving you funds into the next year.

There is some thought in the flyertalk Amex/WN thread that doing this (buy, <24 cancel) is a bad move and increases the chances of being caught and having the account cancelled. Others simply think it is tantamount to fraud and I can see that argument, even though I've done it.

A number of stories over the past year point to the Amex RAT becoming hungry...

I did just book a couple of $69 SJC-SAN tickets that we'll actually use (and it was a a good bit cheaper than AS), so we shalle see.

Cheers.
 
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CalGalTraveler

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There is some thought in the flyertalk Amex/WN thread that doing this (buy, <24 cancel) is a bad move and increases the chances of being caught and having the account cancelled. Others simply think it is tantamount to fraud and I can see that argument, even though I've done it.

A number of stories over the past year point to the Amex RAT becoming hungry...

I did just book a couple of $69 SJC-SAN tickets that we'll actually use (and it was a a good bit cheaper than AS), so we shalle see.

Cheers.
IMO Perhaps it could trigger an AMEX review but it would be difficult to prove an honest to goodness flight cancellation from a fake one. Because there are no change fees I sometimes book multiple flights in the same timeframe and decide on the final schedule, cancelling others when the plans are known.

The other allegations are a stretch because you only end up with a flight credit and travel funds expire.
 
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