In my post on Friday valuing hotel points, reader Alan asked:

Hi Lucky, would it still be reasonable to put $40,000 spending on the Citi HH Reserve card to have the diamond status? Or to just put the spending on AMEX SPG/Chase Sapphire Preferred to earns the regular points? (I have top tier with Hyatt and SPG already.)

I know, I’ve stupidly spent much of the past year trying to rack up Hilton points realizing what a great value AXON awards can be, only to be slapped with an unprecedented devaluation just around the time I wanted to start redeeming my points. While we still have till March 28 to make bookings at the old levels, I’m sure I’m not the only one in a position where I can’t lock in enough travel right now to burn all the points I’ve earned.

Part of my credit card spend strategy for this year was to put $40,000 of spend on the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card to achieve Hilton HHonors Diamond status. This card was introduced last year, and has quite a few unique benefits that make it one of the most rewarding hotel cards out there:

• Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card, which is one of the most valuable mid-tier hotel status levels out there given that it offers free internet and free breakfast/lounge access
• A free weekend night certificate for any year in which you spend $10,000 on the card, which can be redeemed at virtually any Hilton property
• Hilton HHonors Diamond status for any year in which you spend $40,000 on the card

So I figured I’d tackle under what circumstances this card still makes sense, given the devaluation. Please note that as we start talking about putting $10,000-40,000 of spend on the card per year, obviously this only applies to people that put a lot of spend on their cards, be it legitimate personal/business spend or manufactured spend.

Does it make sense to just keep the card for HHonors Gold status?

This is an absolute no brainer — YES. While the Hilton devaluation is causing me to focus less on earning HHonors points, I’ll continue to stay at Hilton properties. That’s because I’m primarily loyal to Hyatt and Starwood, and they just don’t have hotels everywhere. This year alone I’ve made about a handful of Hilton stays, and that’s even with doing my best to avoid them.

Hilton Gold status is the best “real” mid-tier hotel status (I exclude Marriott Gold from this group, given that it requires as many nights as top tier status with most other hotel chains), as it offers free internet and free breakfast/lounge access. The annual fee on the card is only $95, so after one or two stays per year the annual fee pays for itself.

Does it make sense to put $10,000 of spend on the card for the annual free weekend night certificate?

If you spend $10,000 on the card per year you get a free weekend night certificate, which I’d argue is becoming more valuable after the devaluation. It’s valid at even category 10 hotels, which cost up to 95,000 points per night. After the devaluation I value HHonors points at 0.4 cents each, and the card ordinarily earns three points per dollar on spend in non-bonus categories. That’s a measly return of 1.2% on credit card spend, which isn’t very good. But let’s conservatively value that free night certificate at 50,000 points, and you’re looking at an additional five points per dollar back on the first $10,000 you spend, for a total of eight points per dollar, or a return of 3.2%. Again, I’d say that’s definitely worth it.

Does it make sense to put $40,000 of spend on the card for HHonors Diamond status?

If you’ve put $10,000 of spend on the card you need to put another $30,000 of spend on the card to earn Diamond status. So assume my valuation 0f 0.4 cents per HHonors point and three points per dollar, for a 1.2% return on spend. Assume the alternative is the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, as I value Starpoints at 2.2 cents each. So we’re basically looking at a difference in “return” of 1% for $30,000 of spend, so you’re giving up $300 of “value” for putting that spend on the Hilton card vs. Starwood card. So you’d basically be spending $300 for top tier hotel status, which seems like an amazing deal… on the surface.

Is HHonors Diamond status worth $300?

Top tier hotel status for $300 sounds like a no brainer, right? In reality it’s a difference of $300 for Diamond status over Gold status, so is that worthwhile?

I dunno. I’ve been a Hilton HHonors Gold member for a long time, and without exception have received access to the club lounge, though have never received a “real” room upgrade.

The major distinctions between Gold and Diamond status are as follows:

• Gold members only get access to the club lounge if they get upgraded to a club room, while Diamond members are guaranteed lounge access (though it’s worth noting that if you don’t get upgraded to the club level as a Gold member you get restaurant breakfast, which many would consider superior).
• The terms & conditions of the program give Diamond members suite upgrades at the hotel’s discretion. This is different than Starwood where Platinum members get guaranteed suite upgrades based on availability at arrival, but instead with Hilton it’s entirely at the hotel’s discretion. I don’t think there are many Hilton Diamond members getting suite upgrades anywhere close to a majority of the time, though.
• As a Diamond member you earn an additional 25% points bonus on all Hilton spend.

So are those benefits worth $300? I’d say probably, if you make more than a handful of stays a year at Hilton properties. Getting Gold status for $95 a year is a no brainer, though I do think it’s worth “gambling” $300 for guaranteed lounge access and the occasional suite upgrade if you have at least few Hilton stays per year. So to answer Alan’s question, yes I think it’s reasonable, and yes, I’m still planning on going for Diamond through spend on the Citi Hilton Reserve Card.

Link: Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card

(In the interest of full disclosure, the above links earn me a referral bonus, and all are for the best available offers for each card — thanks for your support!)

I’ll admit that I spend well over $1,000 per year in credit card annual fees. Now, before you call me nuts, hear me out, because there’s an important distinction to be made.

I’m not spending most of that annual fee money in order to maximize category bonuses (like double points on dining, travel, gas, groceries, etc.), but rather am paying those fees for the annual benefits that come with a credit card. For example, here are the cards I’m gladly putting in my sock drawer and paying the annual fee on, without the intention of necessarily spending much money on them:

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
Reason I pay it: It gets me two elite stays and five elite nights towards Starwood Platinum status annually, which are nights I’d probably otherwise mattress run for.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Card from American Express
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
Reason I pay it: It gets me two elite stays and five elite nights towards Starwood Platinum status annually, which are nights I’d probably otherwise mattress run for.

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Card
Annual fee: $95
Reason I pay it: It gets me Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as I have the card, which comes with free breakfast and internet.

Chase Hyatt Visa Card
Annual fee: $75
Reason I pay it: It gets me an annual free night certificate good for any category 1-4 property, like the Andaz West Hollywood or Hyatt 48 Lex New York.

Chase Priority Club Visa Card
Annual fee: $49 (waived the first year)
Reason I pay it: It gets me an annual free night certificate good for any Priority Club property

The Platinum Card® from American Express
Annual fee: $450
Reason I pay it: It gets me a $200 annual fee credit ($400 the first year, as discussed here) which can be used to purchase airline gift cards, gets me lounge access which I’d otherwise pay for, and gets me access to Fine Hotels & Resorts.

US Airways Premier World MasterCard Card
Annual fee: $89 (waived the first year)
Reason I pay it: It gets me an anniversary bonus of 10,000 Dividend Miles annually.

Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage Visa Card
Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)
Reason I pay it: As discussed here, gets me a 10% rebate on award redemptions, up to 10,000 miles per year.

Now, I do try to get retention bonuses on these cards whenever possible (meaning when the cards are up for renewal I’ll give them a call and see if there’s any bone they can throw my way), but many times they don’t offer anything.

So am I crazy? I think not. For the ~$1,000 in annual fees listed above (not even factoring in retention bonuses) I’m getting 20,000 miles, a $200 airline fee credit, one of the most comprehensive lounge memberships out there, mid-tier status with Hilton, four stays and 10 nights towards elite status with Starwood, and two annual free night certificates for hotel stays.

And despite all that, I think I’m getting a great deal. Here’s where I think people go wrong with credit card annual fees. Lots of people will pay the annual fees on cards to maximize category bonuses, and in many cases that makes sense. But I don’t think enough people crunch the numbers on how much they have to spend to justify an annual fee before they come out ahead. Now there are some cards that are an absolute no brainer, though let me give an example of one that isn’t.

The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is the most rewarding card which accrues Membership Rewards points. I’ve had the card for several years now, and paid the annual fee without thinking twice about it. The card accrues points quickly — triple points on airfare, double points on gas and groceries, and 15,000 bonus points for any year in which you spend $30,000 on the card. That’s extremely rewarding if you spend a lot of money on airfare, gas, and groceries, and especially if you spend $30,000 on the card for the 15,000 bonus Membership Rewards points.

While the annual fee is waived the first year, it’s a steep $175 per year thereafter. I value Membership Rewards points at 1.6 cents each, so that means to break even I’d have to earn ~11,000 Membership Rewards points worth of “value” beyond the next best option.

For me there are a couple of cards that I’d argue are an extremely good value for just about everyone — the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Card and Chase Ink Plus® Business Card / Chase Ink Bold cards (see this post for the differences between the Chase Ink Plus and Chase Ink Bold cards). The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns me 2.14 points per dollar spent on airfare (double points plus a 7% annual dividend), and I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.9 cents each. That means with the Chase Sapphire Preferred I’m earning roughly 4.06% of “value” back on airfare spend, while on the Premier Rewards Gold card I’m earning 4.80% of “value” back on airfare spend.

On gas I earned double points using the Premier Rewards Gold card, though also earn double points on gas using the Chase Ink Bold, which accrues Ultimate Rewards points that I value higher than Membership Rewards points.

And that leaves groceries, where the next best alternative for me would be the Starwood American Express, which earns me one Starpoint per dollar spent. I value Starpoints at 2.2 cents each., compared to the 3.2% return I get on the Premier Rewards Gold Card due to earning double points.

So is a $175 annual fee worth a marginal return of 1% on groceries and ~0.75%? In my case it definitely wasn’t, so I’ll be canceling the Premier Rewards Gold card when the annual fee comes due again. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great card and it’s worth it at least for the first year given the waived annual fee and sign-up bonus, but the math on the annual fee doesn’t add up for me beyond that.

So what I’m trying to say is that I think we shouldn’t be scared to pay annual fees… but more so for the annual benefits than the category bonuses, with some exceptions which I’ll cover in a future post.

(Full disclosure: I earn a referral bonus for anyone that is approved through some of the above links. I’m very appreciative of your support, regardless of whether or not you use my links.)

Back in October I wrote about the increased sign-up bonus on the no annual fee Hilton American Express Card, which is valid through Friday, November 30 (today).

Through this increased sign-up bonus American Express is offering 40,000 Hilton HHonors bonus points after spending $750 within the first three months of card membership, and another 25,000 Hilton HHonors bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first six months of card membership.

That’s a pretty good sign-up bonus, though that’s not what makes this card great. Why this card is so valuable is that it gives you access to Hilton’s AXON awards, which I discussed in more detail in this post. Through AXON awards you can get four nights at Hilton’s top tier category seven hotels for just 145,000 Hilton HHonors points, compared to the usual cost of 200,000 Hilton HHonors points. In order to have access to those AXON awards you must have a co-branded Hilton American Express card. So while I don’t plan on putting a lot of spend on the card, it’s a card I’ll keep for as long as AXON awards are around, given that the card doesn’t have an annual fee.

Even though I’ve been getting into Hilton lately, I only got around to applying for the card about an hour ago, as I desperately want access to AXON awards thanks to the number of Hilton points I’ve racked up lately. Fortunately I got instantly approved.

This card is a fantastic complement to the Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Reserve Card, which offers Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card (which gets you free internet and breakfast, the two most important elite hotel benefits, in my opinion), Hilton HHonors Diamond status after spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year, and a free weekend night after spending $10,000 on the card in a calendar year. All of that is in addition to the sign-up bonus of two free weekend nights at any Hilton property after spending $2,500 on the card within four months.

This is an extremely reasonable annual fee if for nothing else than the mid-tier Hilton elite status, which is awesome.

But that’s why these two cards go so well together — the Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Reserve Card gets you the elite benefits and free nights, while the Hilton American Express Card gives you access to Hilton’s most valuable award redemption deals.

Now that I have full access to AXON awards I’ll likely be taking advantage of the Membership Rewards transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic, and in turn convert those points to Hilton.

Conrad Koh Samui, here I come!

(In the interest of full disclosure I earn a referral bonus for anyone that is approved through my Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve link, though don’t earn any bonus for those that sign up through the American Express link. Thanks for your support.)

This is the continuation of my post from yesterday about my most recent credit card churn.

The order of applying:

Having decided on the five cards I wanted to apply for, it was time to decide the order in which I wanted to apply for them. There’s definitely some strategy to this for me, and in the past I’ve even gone so far as to “abort” a few planned applications after not getting instant approvals on several cards in a row. If you don’t get instant approval and the card issuer doesn’t have a phone number where you can contact them to seek approval on the spot, it can often take one to two weeks for a decision to be made, and it’s possible that the inquiries from the previous applications are on your report by then, which may not be a good thing.

So I usually decide on the order for which I want to apply for cards in reverse order, and I think these five cards are a perfect example of my strategy.

Here’s the order I applied for the cards in reverse:

5. Bank of America Virgin Atlantic American Express Card

This was my “wild card” option, and it was also the card I was least concerned about getting. I decided that if I didn’t get an instant decision on any of my first four applications, I’d just let this one go till sometime in the future.

4. Chase Ink Plus® Business Card

My reasoning for applying for this card towards the end is the same as the Chase Hyatt Visa, so read about that below. I have two Chase Ink Bold cards (two versions of the same card, given that they changed the benefits around last November). I was hoping to close the original Chase Ink Bold card I had in favor of the new Chase Ink Plus card, and figured that shouldn’t be too tough of a “sell” for me to one of the analysts at the reconsideration line.

3. Chase Hyatt Visa Card

Chase is simultaneously the most strict and most generous bank for approvals, in my experience. It can be tough to get new credit with them, though if you already have credit with them they’re usually more than happy to switch around credit lines. In other words, if you have an existing Chase card with a $15,000 credit line, they’re usually happy to transfer some of that credit line over to a new card, or at worst close the existing account in favor of a new one. The best part is that they have a great reconsideration phone number, so if you’re not instantly approved you can call that immediately and be approved over the phone.

I happen to have the British Airways Chase Visa card that I planned on canceling, so as far as I was concerned the Chase Hyatt Visa was a near guarantee for approval, so I saved this for close to the end of my application cycle.

2. Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Card

I wanted to apply for this card towards the beginning because I have a bit of an inconsistent history with Citi, and if you’re not instantly approved I find it to be a pain to find a “human” at Citi that’s willing to reconsider your application.

1. Starwood American Express Business Card

I was fairly certain I’d get instantly approved for this card given that I have a legitimate business and only have one business credit card from American Express, which I’ve been using responsibly and also got instantly approved for at the time. This is also the card I wanted the most, given the increased sign-up bonus and also the two elite qualifying stays and five elite qualifying nights that come with the card, which would push me over the edge for Platinum renewal.

The results:

With the above strategy in mind, here are the results (in the order that I applied):

1. Starwood American Express Business Card — APPROVED with $10,000 credit line

I applied for the business card online, and upon completing the application received a strange error message saying to call American Express OPEN as my application hadn’t been received. I assume it was some sort of a technical glitch. The agent read back to me some of the key details of my application, and then congratulated me on being approved with a $10,000 credit line. She asked how soon I needed the card, and I told her there was no rush and that normal delivery would be fine. I guess she wasn’t listening, because she said “okay, we will have that overnighted to you then.” Works for me! I activated the card today, and the two elite qualifying stays and five elite qualifying nights towards Starwood Preferred Guest status already posted to my account. Talk about instant gratification!

2. Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Card — APPROVED with $30,000 credit line

This one was really straightforward. I applied online and was instantly approved for the card with an outrageously high credit line of $30,000.

3. Chase Hyatt Visa Card — APPROVED with $10,000 credit line

I also applied for this one online and received the dreaded “decision pending” message. I immediately phoned up the Chase personal reconsideration line (888-245-0625) and spoke to a pleasant agent who asked to place me on hold for a few minutes as she reviewed my application. She asked about my employment status, income, housing situation, etc. She then noted the other Chase credit cards that I presently have, and I proactively mentioned that I was looking to close the Chase British Airways Visa, so asked if she could just switch over the credit line from that card to the new one. She placed me on hold and came back a couple of minutes later and said “you don’t even have to close the British Airways one, we approved you for a $10,000 limit on this card.” Awesome!

She asked if I wanted to close my British Airways Visa card anyway and said she could do that for me, though I was thinking one step ahead and told her I’d rather hang on to it as I still value some benefits of the card. My logic was that I can use it as leverage with my next Chase credit card application, and then have them close the British Airways card in favor of the new one.

4. Chase Ink Plus® Business Card — APPROVED with $5,000 credit line

I also got the dreaded “decision pending” prompt after applying for the Ink Plus, though that was hardly a surprise as I already have two Chase business cards. I called up the Chase business reconsideration line (800-453-9719), and the agent also requested to place me on hold for a few minutes. He came back and said that he needed to transfer me over to a personal agent, since I had applied for a personal card. I explained to him that I had applied for both a personal and business credit card, at which point he put me back on hold.

He came back and asked me for my business’ income over the past three years, including both revenue and profit. He then asked me how much I was planning on spending on the card every month. I told him at least $2,000-3,000. He proceeded to mention that I already had two Chase business cards, and asked why I wanted this one. I said that the other two were charge cards, and that I really wanted a credit card instead of a charge card since I might want to finance some purchases in the future (hey, it’s what he wanted to hear — that’s how credit cards make money, not that I’m dumb enough to finance something at 13%+ APR).

I then told him I was actually interested in closing one of my two Chase Ink Bold cards since I no longer use it, and asked if there’s anyway he could close one of them in favor of the new card. He said he wouldn’t be able to. It never occurred to me until that point that because the Ink Bold cards are charge cards and not credit cards, they don’t have credit lines. Therefore there’s no credit line that could be transferred to the new card. Instead he asked if I would be receptive to transferring some of the credit line from my personal Chase British Airways card to this card, which worked great for me. In the end I had a net reduction in credit — I had a $15,000 credit line on the Chase British Airways Visa, and he offered to give me a $5,000 credit line on the Chase British Airways Visa and $5,000 credit line on the Chase Ink Plus). Again, I couldn’t care less. It’s all about the approval!

5. Bank of America Virgin Atlantic American Express Card — APPROVED with $10,000 credit line

Given that I was four for four, my “wild card” was a “go,” and I decided to apply for it as well. I got instantly approved with a $10,000 credit line!

Conclusion:

Once all is said and done I’ll have earned 30,000 Starpoints, 100,000 Hilton HHonors points, 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points (plus another ~50,000 Ultimate Rewards points for completing the minimum spend), two free nights at any Hyatt in the world, and two free nights at any Hilton in the world. Not bad for a handful of credit card applications!

I’ve had a lot of credit inquiries lately (not just from credit card applications but otherwise as well), and this just comes to show you that as long as you pay your bills on-time and have a reasonably low credit utilization you can be approved for just about anything. A credit inquiry will only hit your score a couple of points, while new credit cards with a high credit line and low utilization can help you a lot more than that.

Full disclosure: I earn a referral bonus for anyone that signs up through some of the above links. They’re all the best publicly available offers to the best of my knowledge, and of course I’m very appreciative of your support, regardless of whether or not you use my links.

Link: Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Reserve Card

There aren’t many things more exciting than a credit card issuer unveiling a new product, especially when it’s a good one. For those of us that have been playing the “game” for a long time it’s easy to feel as if there have been a lack of exciting offers lately, which makes new cards like this even more exciting.

It’s pretty funny because I had no prior knowledge that the card was on the way before Gary shared the details on Monday morning, but it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. As I posted a month ago, Hilton HHonors is seriously tempting me. It’s possible to earn Diamond status in their program with just $40,000 of spend per year on their Surpass American Express card, which is pretty awesome given that it’s their top tier status. None of the other major programs make it so easy to earn top tier status through credit card spend.

The other reason the program tempted me so much was because of Hilton’s AXON awards. If you have a Hilton co-branded American Express credit card, you can redeem four nights at any of their top properties for 145,000 HHonors points, compared to the usual 200,000 HHonors points, which translates to huge savings. Given that you can use points for properties like the Conrad Koh Samui, Conrad Maldives, etc., that’s an amazing value.

And that’s where the new Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa Signature card (which comes with a $95 annual fee) is awesome. The details are as follows:

Sign-up bonus

After completing $2,500 of eligible spend within four months of getting the card you earn two free weekend nights (defined as Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights) which can be redeemed at most Hilton family properties, including Waldorf Astoria hotels, valid for 12 months. Some Waldorf Astoria properties go for as much as 80,000 HHonors points per night, so that’s up to 160,000 HHonors points worth of “value” for the sign-up bonus.

That being said, I think it’s more fair to value the free nights at 50,000 HHonors points each, since that’s the cost of a category 7 hotel, and chances are that’s where most of us would redeem our free nights. So more fairly the sign-up bonus can be valued at 100,000 HHonors points, which is by far the best sign-up bonus I’ve seen on a Hilton branded credit card.

Redeem your free weekend nights at the Conrad Koh Samui

Generous points bonuses for each dollar spent

The card offers 10 points per dollar spent at Hilton properties, five points per dollar spent on airfare and car rentals, and three points per dollar spent on everything else. In my recent post on points valuations I valued HHonors points at 0.8 cents each, so at three points per dollar you’re looking at a return of 2.4 cents per dollar spent. While you should always use credit cards that earn you bonus points in select categories (like double points on dining with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, triple points on gas and groceries with the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card, and 5x points on office supplies with the Chase Ink Bold card), this is the next best thing. Many of us have spend that doesn’t fall in any “special” categories, and in those cases a return of 2.4 cents per dollar is pretty awesome. I would say the next best option for general spend is the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card, the points of which I value at 2.2 cents each.

HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card

The HHonors Surpass American Express only gives you Gold status for your first year, and every year after that you have to spend $20,000 on the card to get Gold status. With this card you get Gold status for as long as you have the card. And unlike other programs where mid-tier status doesn’t get you many benefits, Gold status with HHonors gets you free internet, free breakfast (or club lounge access if you’re upgraded to a club room), bonus points, and the occasional room upgrade. It’s really not that different than Diamond status.

HHonors Diamond status for any year in which you spend $40,000 on the card

This is the other awesome benefit. Just like with the HHonors Surpass American Express, you get Diamond status for any year in which you spend $40,000 on the card.

Annual free night bonus

For every year in which you spend $10,000 on the card you get a free weekend night, which can be used for some 80,000 points per night properties. If you were to just value the free night at 50,000 points (which I think is a fair valuation) you’re essentially earning five bonus points for the first $10,000 you spend on the card, for a total of eight points per dollar spent, assuming it’s not a category where you earn bonus points. That’s an amazing return on spend.

No foreign transaction fees

It’s always frustrating when it doesn’t make sense to use a hotel’s co-branded credit card at foreign properties due to the ~3% foreign transaction fee. Fortunately this card doesn’t have foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great option abroad.

The bottom line

What’s really awesome about the card is that it’s not just one you should get for the sign-up bonus like other cards. It makes sense to acquire this card under several circumstances:

• If you want it just for the sign-up bonus. This is a very generous sign up bonus, assuming you can travel on the weekends, and much more generous than any HHonors sign-up bonus I’ve seen lately.
• If you want to keep it for years and not put any spend on the card. $95 per year for HHonors Gold status is a steal. It’ll pay off after just one or two stays, given the free internet and free breakfast/club lounge access.
• If you want to spend $10,000 on the card annually for the free night certificate. There are several hotel credit cards that give free nights annually, like the Hyatt Visa card which offers a free category 1-4 night annually, or the Priority Club Visa card, which offers one free night annually as well. While this isn’t as generous under all circumstances, if not all of your credit card spend is going towards churning credit cards, this is a worthy card on which to place $10,000 of spend. Like I said you earn three points per dollar and you’re potentially getting a free night that’s worth 50,000 points, so you’re looking at the equivalent of eight HHonors points per dollar spent on your first $10,000.
• If you want to spend $40,000 on the card annually for HHonors Diamond status. My parents are a prime example of how awesome this card is. They own a business where they put well over $100,000 in expenses per year on credit cards, and all the spend is in categories that doesn’t earn bonus points with other cards. They also like to travel, though due to commitments don’t take more than a few trips a year. This is an awesome way for them to not only have their hotel nights covered on points, but also to be treated very well thanks to top tier status with Hilton.

In many ways this card isn’t radically different than the Surpass American Express given that both offer Diamond status after $40,000 spend and three points per dollar on everyday spend. The major advantage of the Surpass American Express card is that they offer six points per dollar spent on gas and drugstores and access to AXON awards. On the other hand, the benefits of the Reserve Signature Visa are Gold status for as long as you have the card, 10 points per dollar on Hilton spend, the annual free night after spending $10,000, and the fact that it’s a Visa, which is more widely accepted than American Express.

The other beautiful thing is how easy it is to earn Hilton HHonors points, so once you have Gold or Diamond status you can start enjoying your elite status on points redemptions right away. In this post I outlined how you can earn 390,000+ HHonors points in one credit card churn, and in this post I outlined how to favorably convert American Express Membership Rewards points and Starwood points to Hilton HHonors. I think those of us that haven’t been considering Hilton all that much have been missing out.

This card is just the push I needed to finally take action and go for Diamond.

Link: Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Reserve Card

In the interest of full disclosure, I do earn a referral bonus for anyone that signs up through some of the above links. They’re all the best available offers, and of course I’m very appreciative of your support, regardless of whether or not you use my links.