American Express Hilton Honors Card
American Express, American Express, no annual fee. Earns Hilton Honors, valued at 0.40¢ a point.
Rates checked against the issuer 2026-08. Foreign transaction fee: none.
The short version
- Best at: nothing in particular — no category puts it in the top three of the catalogue.
- A year's rewards: about $409, with no fee to pay.
Is the annual fee worth it?
No annual fee, so everything it earns is kept: about $409 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which puts it number 28 of 59 the no-fee cards in the catalogue. All of them, ranked.
Price its credits, perks and sign-up bonus your way — tick what you would use and say what it is worth to you.
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What it earns, category by category
| Earns on | Rate | ConditionsWhat the issuer attaches to this rate: a spending cap, a category you have to switch on, or a booking you have to make through its travel portal. |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels | 7x | Hilton only. Hilton properties only |
| Restaurants & Bars, Food Delivery, Groceries, Gas Stations | 5x | US merchants only |
| Everything else | 3x |
Where a year's rewards come from
| Spending on | Earns a yearWhat this card earns on each kind of spending over a year, for the illustrative household on the method page. Before the annual fee. |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $120 |
| Everything Else | $72 |
| Restaurants & Bars | $72 |
| Gas Stations | $36 |
| Online Shopping | $22 |
| Utilities | $22 |
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
Protections and travel benefits
From the issuer's own benefit summary as of 2026-09. These are read from summaries rather than the full guide to benefits, which has the exclusions — check it before relying on one.
- Purchase protection — up to $1,000 per claim, 90 days
- Extended warranty
- Hotel elite status
What the issuer lists besides rewards
- Automatic Hilton Silver status
- No foreign transaction fees
- Purchase protection up to $1,000 per claim for 90 days after you buy
- Extended warranty adds a year to manufacturer warranties of five years or less
Similar cards
- Chase IHG One Rewards Traveler — annual fee none
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold — annual fee none
- Chase Bonvoy Boundless — annual fee $95 a year
- Chase World of Hyatt — annual fee $95 a year
- Every hotel card, ranked
- The best two- and three-card combinations
Point values: published industry valuations, read 2026-09. How every number here is worked out.