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American Express Hilton Honors Surpass

American Express, American Express, $150 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

Is the annual fee worth it?

It earns about $462 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which is $312 once the fee is paid. The best card with no fee, American Express Blue Business Plus, nets $1,058 on the same spending — so this card is $747 a year behind. On earning alone it does not catch up at any level of spending this looks at — its credits and perks have to make up the difference, or the fee is not paying for itself.

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 onRateConditionsWhat 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 12x Hilton only. Hilton properties only
Restaurants & Bars, Food Delivery, Groceries, Gas Stations 6x US merchants only
Online Shopping 4x US online retail
Everything else 3x

Where a year's rewards come from

Spending onEarns 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$144
Restaurants & Bars$86
Everything Else$72
Gas Stations$43
Online Shopping$29
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.

What the issuer lists besides rewards

Similar cards

Point values: published industry valuations, read 2026-09. How every number here is worked out.