The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card review

Featuring many of the same perks and features as the personal version of the card as well as good business benefits, the Hilton Honors Business card is a standout option for business travelers thanks to its high rewards rate, terrific welcome bonus for new cardholders and solid travel perks.

High earnings rate on travel

The Hilton Honors Business card offers the greatest rewards to cardholders who spend a lot of money on hotels and travel. You get 12 points per dollar directly with stays at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio and 5X points on other purchases made using the Hilton Honors Business Card on the first 100,000 in purchases each calendar year, 3X points thereafter. You’ll also earn up to $240 back each year for eligible purchases made directly with Hilton.

Altogether, it amounts to a high rewards rate with more flexibility in how you earn rewards.

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – which features many of the same benefits for a $150 annual fee – offers a 6-point per dollar bonus on purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets. Groceries constitute one of the largest spending categories for many cardholders. If you find that you spend more on groceries than on select business and travel purchases, the Surpass card may be the better way to go.

Solid introductory bonus

The Hilton Honors Business card recently switched its introductory bonus back to the typical offer: You can now earn 130,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $6,000 in the first six months of membership. This is a drop from the card’s previous intro bonus, a limited-time offer of 175,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of membership. The current offer is still a quality value, though, and the lower spending requirement may be more manageable for some small businesses.

In assessing the value of the bonus, it’s worth keeping in mind that based on Bankrate’s latest hotel point valuations, we estimate Hilton points are worth about 0.6 cents or half that of the average rewards program point. This gives the bonus an estimated value of around $780 0n Hilton stays, which is certainly competitive for a business hotel card. There are higher-value intro offers available, but they may require you to spend $8,000 or more within a potentially tighter three-month window.

Flexible redemption options

The Hilton Honors program is by far one of the most flexible hotel rewards programs, guaranteeing that you can use your rewards at any Hilton location where a standard room is available. Your points don’t expire as long as your card is active, there’s no limit to how many points you can earn and – if you don’t have enough points to cover a rewards stay — you can pay for rewards with a combination of points and cash without losing value on your points.

The program even gives you additional ways to redeem points, including for car rentals, merchandise and gift cards or as a transfer to a large number of airline partners. However, most of these options give you a very poor return on your points, so it’s best to stick to redeeming them for hotel stays.

Good travel perks

The card comes with decent additional perks, like car rental insurance and many other travel and purchase protections. Your Gold status in the Hilton Honors program also entitles you to a plethora of hotel privileges, such as a fifth night free on rewards stays, late checkout, free room upgrades and more. However, you won’t enjoy lounge access with this card.

Furthermore, the card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, which means you can use it freely while traveling outside the U.S.

Benefits for business owners

The Hilton Honors Business card comes with business perks and features to help manage your expenses. The American Express® Business App is a mobile app that lets you – or an account manager – manage your account on the go, uploading receipts, labeling transactions and adding them to Quickbooks. You can also track employee spending from the app and create individual spending limits for each employee card.

Why get the Hilton Honors Business card?

• You or your employees stay frequently at Hilton hotels and resorts.
• You can offset the high annual fee consistently with rewards.
• You’re looking for a card with a large introductory bonus.

How to use the Hilton Honors Business card:

• Consider booking with Hilton’s “Points & Money” option – you can stretch your points further at a good value.
• Look for rewards bookings within the 5,000- to 20,000-point range – these offer the best value.
• Stay away from redemption options that aren’t hotel stays since the value per point is low.

Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, please click here.