Verdict: The Hilton HHonors Platinum Card from American Express is a better choice than the Citi HHonors Card and is a great card to have if you travel a lot or go on vacation because of the solid rewards system and bonus points you earn for frequent card use. Make sure you pay attention to the low APR rate for 6 months, however, as after that you’ll be paying a much higher interest rate. Don’t get surprised!

The Hilton HHonors Platinum Card from American Express gives you rewards points that you can redeem for free hotel rooms and airline miles. The rewards are based on a point system. For example for every dollar you spend at supermarkets, gas stations and drugstores you earn 5 Hilton HHonors points. I personally have this card because I travel and go on vacation a lot, and since I use this card to pay most of my bills and overall expenses when I go on vacation to Florida I am able to redeem my points for hotel rooms and stay free most of the time.

How it Works

The Hilton HHonors Platinum Card from American Express works on a rewards points based system. You get 5 Hilton HHonors points for every dollar you spend at the supermarket, gas stations, drugstores, select restaurants, Hilton Hotels, and on your wireless phone bill. You automatically earn 10,000 Hilton HHonors points on your first purchase and you get 15,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 during your first five months of card membership (30,000 total). There is no annual fee with this card.

Fees

Initially, you get an attractive 2.90% introductory APR for 6 months after signing up for the card, which is good, but after that period is up, the APR after 6 months is then 17.49%, which can be a little steep if you have a balance for any length of time. You can transfer balances of other cards to your Hilton HHonors card and receive a 2.9% APR for the first 6 months. After that the standard purchase APR will apply.

Pros

• Assured Reservations – This is a great travel benefit to have. If you use the American Express card to book your hotel room, that room will be waiting for you guaranteed even if you arrive late. There have been times where I have been stuck with flight delays and when that happened I didn’t have to worry about if I would have a hotel room or not that night.
• Buyers Assurance Plan - American Express matches the manufacturers warranty of any products bought with the Hilton HHonors card up to an additional one year. This is great for buying electronics.
• Return Protection - If you try to return a product you buy with your card within 90 days and for some reason the store won’t take it back American Express will refund the purchase price to you, up to $300 per item (maximum of $1000 annually)
• Emergency Card Replacement- If your credit card is lost of stolen American Express provides Emergency Card replacement services that will assist you in replacing your card immediately.

Cons

• After the introductory period with a low APR, it shoots up to 17.99% or more, which could catch you off guard if you’re not prepared for it.

Conclusion

Overall the Hilton HHonors Platinum Card from American Express is a very good card to have especially if you go on vacation or travel a lot. The rewards points system is pretty easy to understand and if you use the card frequently in the first 5 months you can get an extra 15,000 reward points (assuming you spend over $5,000). I will be heading back down to Florida this spring and I’m looking forward to using some of my rewards points up.

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