Hilton Amex Launches in Canada With 70,000 Points + Free Night Reward

American Express Canada is launching a brand-new co-branded card: the Hilton Honors American Express Card. I can’t contain my excitement, as Marriott was the only hotel chain with co-branded credit cards available in Canada until now.

While the premium Aeroplan co-branded cards act like pseudo-Hyatt cards with Aeroplan’s latest Hyatt partnership, it’s still a monumental day that an actual Hilton co-branded card is launching north of the border, so let’s take a look at all the details.

Hilton Honors American Express Card

• Annual Fee: $150
• Welcome Bonus:
  • Up to 70,000 Hilton Honors points + Free Night Reward
    • 60,000 Hilton Honors points  + Free Night Reward upon spending $3,000 in your first 3 months of Cardmembership
    • 10,000 Hilton Honors points upon spending $500 in your 13th month of Cardmembership
• Earning Rate:
  • 6X Hilton Honors Points on eligible purchases made at Hilton properties
  • 4X Hilton Honors Points on eligible gas, grocery and dining purchases in Canada
  • 2X Hilton Honors Points on all other eligible purchases
• Other Key Benefits:
  • Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status
  • Earn 50,000 bonus Hilton Honors points annually upon spending $12,000 in a calendar year
  • Upgrade to Hilton Diamond status upon spending $40,000 in a calendar year
  • Free Supplementary Cards to help earn points faster

Analyzing the Hilton Honors American Express Card

Welcome Bonus

The welcome bonus is enough reason to sign up for the card: full-stop.

Hilton’s Free Night Reward is the best hotel certificate in the business, as it allows members to redeem nearly any participating hotel with standard reward availability, regardless of what that standard reward costs. This is worth as much as 250,000 points, as that’s the current price ceiling for Hilton redemptions.

Hilton’s partnership with SLH also opens up redemptions at places like Calala Island, Hermitage Bay, and Canaves Oia Suites. Of course, the Waldorf Astoria and Conrads of the world also make for fantastic redemptions and I’m partial to the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal and Waldorf Astoria Osaka myself.

Redeem your Hilton Free Night Reward at Canaves Oia Suites (photo credit to Canaves Oia Santorini)

Since Hilton started selling points at 0.45 cents (USD), it’s pretty straightforward to value the 60,000-point sign-up bonus earned in the first year as $270 USD. That’s a very good return for $3,000 CAD in spending over 3 months. Getting the last 10,000 points, worth $45 USD, means renewing for a second year and paying another $150 annual fee.

Earning Rate

The earn rate is not anything to be particularly excited about. A 6X return on spending at Hilton hotels is decent and makes this card the best option for Hilton spending, and that’s basically its only use case (aside from spending towards the 50,000-point bonus, more on this below).

I would not recommend using your Amex Hilton card for gas, groceries, or dining, even though it earns 4X Hilton points. Keeping in mind Hilton sells points directly through frequent promotional offers for $0.0045 USD each or about $0.0063 CAD, let’s run some numbers based on a $100 grocery purchase, considering only cards with a comparable or lower annual fee:

• The Amex Hilton card would earn 400 Hilton points, worth $2.52
• The Amex Cobalt would earn 500 Amex MR, worth at least $5 (more like $7-$10 depending on how you value MR)
• The RBC Ion+ would earn 300 Avion points, worth at least $3 (more like $5-$7 depending on how you value Avion)
• The Capital One Quicksilver earns 3% cash back, worth $3
  • In the first year, you get 6% back, equivalent to $6

Don’t buy groceries with your Amex Hilton card

Therefore, you’re better off putting your grocery spend on any of the other cards mentioned and purchasing Hilton points outright. This example applies only to groceries, of course, but the same concept applies to gas and dining (use other cards with a better return and buy Hilton points directly).

With Hilton points valued at $0.0063 each, 2X Hilton points on non-categorized spend is equivalent to 1.26% cash back, which is also surpassed by many other cards.

Amex Hilton Card Perks

Complimentary Hilton Gold Status

The perks are decent, especially complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status. Gold comes with complimentary breakfast (or a daily food and beverage credit, depending on the brand and region), which is one of the more useful perks a hotel loyalty program can offer.

For what it’s worth, even Diamond members get the same food and beverage credit if that’s what Hilton offers, so it’s not that Gold members are getting stiffed.

Spend $40,000 for Hilton Diamond

You can earn Diamond status by spending $40,000, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so. Diamond does come with suite upgrades and lounge access, but overall comes with fewer perks than, say, Marriott Platinum or Hyatt Globalist. For example, Diamond members do not get guaranteed late check-out or suite upgrade certificates.

Spend $12,000 for 50,000 Hilton Points

This perk isn’t fantastic, but it could be decent. Hilton is offering 50,000 points for spending $12,000 per calendar year.

50,000 Hilton points are worth $315 CAD based on the same $0.0063 valuation, which is equivalent to a 2.63% return on $12,000 of spending. Of course, you have to consider regular daily spending, so let’s generously assume all $12,000 is in the 4X category, which earns another 48,000 points on $12,000 in spend. The total is now 98,000 Hilton points, worth $617.40, for a 5.15% return.

Again, it’s decent, but not fantastic. Per our analysis in the Earning Rate section above, you should use a different credit card to earn better returns in all 4X categories, so putting it on your Amex Hilton instead creates a significant opportunity cost. For comparison, $12,000 in groceries on your Amex Cobalt would earn 60,000 Amex MR.

Should you spend $12,000 on your Amex Hilton card to earn 50,000 bonus points?

If all $12,000 is non-categorized spend, you’d earn 74,000 Hilton points total, including the 50,000-point bonus, for an overall return of 3.89%.

That’s a lot of writing to basically say: do the $12,000 spend if it’s easy for you and collect a 50,000-point bonus. If you have to put in significant effort or have to divert a large portion of your daily spending from better-earning cards, just buy 50,000 Hilton points for $315 directly from Hilton instead.

Takeaway

I’m genuinely excited to see Hilton launch a co-branded credit card in Canada, and the welcome bonus alone makes a compelling case for signing up. A Hilton Free Night Reward can unlock incredible properties worldwide, and getting one alongside 60,000 Hilton points for just $3,000 in spending is an excellent deal. I’d strongly recommend taking advantage of the offer.

Whether the card is worth keeping beyond the first year is a different story. The everyday earning rates aren’t particularly competitive, and the $150 annual fee becomes harder to justify without the opportunity to earn another Free Night Reward. For Hilton loyalists who regularly benefit from Gold status, or big spenders who can comfortably unlock the annual 50,000-point bonus, renewing could still make sense.

Ultimately, the bigger win is seeing another hotel co-branded credit card enter the Canadian market. Between Marriott’s existing Amex cards, Hilton’s new offering, and the Hyatt benefits available through premium Aeroplan cards, Canadians now have access to meaningful credit card benefits across three major hotel loyalty programs. That’s a fantastic development for Canada’s miles and points landscape.