Hilton and American Express are introducing a “newly refreshed” Hilton Honors American Express Business Card with a higher annual fee than its current card but accelerated points-earning capabilities, the companies announced.
The new business card has an annual fee of $195, compared with the previously listed fee of $95, and earns more points on non-Hilton purchases than did the previous card. With the new card, members earn five times the Hilton Honors Bonus Points for the first $100,000 in purchases not made directly with a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio per calendar year, and the earning rates drops to three times the points for purchases beyond $100,000. That is a “simplified” structure compared with the previous structure, in which members earned three times the points for purchases and six times in certain merchant categories.
Purchases at Hilton properties continue to earn 12 times the Hilton Honors points, as they did in the previous version.
The new annual fee goes into effect on Thursday, but current card members will keep the old annual fee if their anniversary date to renew the fee comes before July 1. Regardless, all members will start getting the new benefits as of Thursday.
The new card also adds the capability to earn up to $60 in statement credit on eligible Hilton purchases per quarter, up to $240 per year, according to Hilton and Amex. It also adds complementary Emerald Club Executive status with National Car Rental.
As with the previous version, the new card provides users complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status, with an upgrade to Diamond after $40,000 in eligible purchases per calendar year. It also continues to provide the capability to add employee cards that allow spending limits, enable alerts and provide summary reports as well.
[email protected] (Michael B. Baker)
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