Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline with Pixie Dust PhD. In various videos across the channel I
have briefly mentioned several times that my partner and I use a Hilton Honors American
Express credit card pretty frequently when we travel. We got this credit card several years
ago for the overall benefits, but it's definitely been working out for Disney World for us. In this
video we'll go over all of your basic need to know information about the Hilton Honors American
Express Aspire Credit Card and how my partner and I utilize it for Disney World--stay tuned!
Thanks so much for being here, I really appreciate the support. If you are new, please subscribe to
the channel and you can ring the bell icon to receive notifications whenever I post new
videos. And thanks so much for leaving a like on the video too. Alright, let's get into it. There
are several different tiers essentially of Hilton Honors American Express credit cards; the Aspire
Credit Card is that highest tier and it does come with a $450 annual fee. Prior to applying for this
credit card though my partner and I did the math and felt like it would work out in our favor,
and I'll show you how that's worked so far. And in good news, even though you are paying that
large annual fee there is no additional fee for more card users. So I am the primary card holder,
and then we opened up another card for my partner--there was no fee for that. When making
purchases with the Hilton Aspire AmEx you're going to accrue seven Hilton points on dining
and travel, and then 14 Hilton points directly at Hilton. All purchases outside of these categories
you'll gain 3X points for. The Hilton Aspire AmEx comes with a bunch of benefits, but we're just
going to go over the primary ones in this video today. I think these are the ones you need to
know about. You get one free Hilton hotel reward night every year, and you can earn one additional
night if you spend $60,000 in one calendar year. My partner and I never do this, so we just count
on getting that one night per year. There's a $250 airline credit, a $100 property credit, and a $250
resort credit; we'll get into the details of these momentarily. And having the Hilton Aspire AmEx
credit card automatically gets you Diamond status with Hilton, even if you aren't doing enough stays
to qualify for Diamond status. There are a bunch of other benefits, this is not an exhaustive list,
but here are some that I find useful. There are no foreign transaction fees on the credit card, so
that's great if you travel overseas. You also get Priority Pass select--Priority Pass is a program
that lets you go into various lounges at airports across the world. Then you have more standard AmEx
benefits that aren't really restricted to travel type credit cards: you can call the AmEx concierge
if you ever need to talk to anyone--you don't have to wait on hold forever, which is super nice;
you get access to AmEx experiences; and there's a pretty good return protection policy. Let's dig
into details of some of those primary benefits. First, the airline credit. In January of each
calendar year you get to select one airline carrier for that airline credit. You cannot change
this throughout the year, so for one calendar year it's only one airline. This airline credit that
comes with the Hilton Aspire AmEx credit card is $250 of reimbursement for incidentals. This does
not include the cost of the airfare itself, so don't think that this $250 will get you a free
round trip ticket to Disney World--it won't. You are still paying the cost of your airfare,
but remember that if you charge it to your Hilton AmEx then you get 7x points, so at least there's
that. But you do get this $250 credit for other fees--things like checked baggage, food, drinks,
etc. If you like to work on airplanes notably the inflight internet does not count towards this $250
reimbursement. Even though you aren't saving on airfare, it definitely can still be money in
your pocket for your Disney World trips. If you routinely fly the same airline down to Orlando,
then pick that as your airline every year. Then instead of bringing your own food from home or
buying meals in the airport, you can enjoy meals on the plane, charge them to your credit card,
and they'll be reimbursed. And you also don't have to worry about squishing all of your stuff
just into carry-ons--you can check a bag and get that cost reimbursed as well. For us specifically,
we actually don't end up using this perk for Walt Disney World because we typically fly
Southwest Airlines down to Disney World. Southwest Airlines does not have actual meals on board;
they do have snacks and some alcoholic beverages, but it would take a lot of drinks to get up to
$250. And on Southwest Airlines you typically get two free checked bags, so then there's no
charge. But we do still use this every year; we just select a different airline. If we know we
have international travel coming up, or travel around the country for weddings, family events,
just non-Disney World things, we'll select the airline we think we're going to fly on the most.
Then typically between checking bags, food, and drinks we recoup about $200 a year out of
this $250 credit. Next, let's go over the $100 property credit. This specifically applies to
hotel bookings at Waldorf Astoria’s or Conrad hotels for a minimum two night stay. Again,
this $100 credit cannot be applied towards the actual cost of the stay--the room rate.
For the most part, this credit is going to apply to all of your dining done on property:
food and beverages. It may also apply to other fee, things like spa services; you'll want to
check what the exact hotel you booked at to see what would count for them. The Waldorf Astoria
Orlando, which is pretty close to Disney World, does count for this $100 property credit perk.
If you're going to stay there for at least two nights anyways, now you have a $100 to spend on
property on food and beverage. For my partner and myself, we've actually never used this perk
of the credit card. Waldorf Astoria’s and Conrad hotels are generally pretty expensive, so we don't
really find ourselves staying there. If you do tend to stay at these properties though, it's a
great perk for you. For myself and my partner though, we just count this as a loss. Next,
let's go over that $250 Hilton resort credit. You have access to up to $250 credit per card year, so
not calendar year--it's based on the anniversary of when you open the card, and this only applies
to Hilton resorts. Hilton branded hotels are basically everywhere, but Hilton branded resorts
are a really small minority of their properties. But excitingly, this $250 Resort credit does apply
to the room rate. It will not work for advanced purchase rates or non-refundable rates, so you'll
want to book a semi-flex or flexible rate. And even though there aren't very many Hilton resorts
around the world when you're comparing to Hilton hotels overall, actually there are a ton of Hilton
resorts in the Disney World area. All pretty close to Disney Springs, you have the Waldorf Astoria,
Hilton Bonnet Creek, Hilton Lake Buena Vista, Hilton Buena Vista Palace, and the DoubleTree.
Additionally, a little bit further away from Walt Disney World itself but still in central Orlando,
you've got the Hilton Orlando, the Embassy Suites, and DoubleTree at SeaWorld. Plus
there are four Grand Vacations Club properties that do count as Hilton Resorts. Grand Vacations
Club is Hilton's timeshare. Again, all these are a little bit further away from Walt Disney World,
but could be great hubs if you want to do a bunch of attractions in the central Florida
area. My partner and I use this $250 resort credit perk of the Hilton Aspire AmEx routinely at Walt
Disney World specifically. Like I said, there just aren't a ton of other Hilton resort properties,
so using this perk in the Walt Disney World area makes a lot of sense for us. $250 that
applies to the room rate can easily get you one to two nights basically for free. Typically,
you are actually charged for the room and the reimbursement is supposed to come within the
next one to two months. I will say that I'm very grateful that in the past I've had really
good luck getting my reimbursement within one week--it tends to come pretty fast. And some
of these Hilton resorts that qualify for this $250 credit are Walt Disney World Good Neighbor hotels,
so you may get some perks--there may be a shuttle, etc. That being said, some of them are not good
neighbor hotels. And all of them obviously you are staying off property. It is not a Walt
Disney World owned and operated hotel; so you are a little bit outside of that Disney bubble, which
I know some people don't prefer. That being said, I think using this credit at an off-site Hilton
resort hotel is fantastic for arrival or departure day. Additionally, if you are traveling with
friends and want to save some money, staying off site--specifically at a place where you can apply
this credit--will definitely make Walt Disney World more affordable. This is what we did in
2019 when we traveled with friends down to Disney. The $250 resort credit works really well at Walt
Disney World. But the biggest overall benefit, in my opinion, might be complementary Diamond
status. Some of the Diamond status perks are applied at lower tiers, such as Gold or Silver,
but in my normal travels it was even difficult for me to get Silver most of the time--much less Gold
or Diamond. One perk of course is reward stays. Once you've racked up enough points, it's time to
put them to use. When you book a reward stay there are no resort fees charged to you, which makes the
value of those points a little bit higher than you may be thinking. Additionally, for a standard room
reward stay: if you book five nights you're only paying the point amount for four nights and you
get the fifth night free. Let's look at some Walt Disney World based examples of reward stays. Here
I pulled a two queen room at the DoubleTree near Disney Springs, and it would be about $1,200 to
stay January 12th through 17th. The same room for the same dates had a rate of 50,000 points
per night, and because you get that fifth night free it would only cost 200,000 points. That's a
value of about six cents per point, which I know isn't super good compared to some credit cards,
but for a travel credit card it's not bad. One more relevant example for Disney World is the
Hilton Bonnet Creek. Here we're looking at a two queen bedroom from February 16th through 21st,
and it would cost about $2,000 after all of your taxes and fees. When I was looking at the same
room for a reward stay it had a rate of 60,000 points per night, but again you're getting that
fifth night free as long as you are staying five consecutive nights. So 240,000 points instead
of about $2,000 means your points are valued at about eight and a half cents per point. Obviously,
this is 200,000 to 240,000 points though, which is quite a lot. Fairly frequently, the Hilton Aspire
AmEx has a reward sign up bonus of 150,000 points, so that already gets you a large chunk of the way
there. In general for rewards nights, they can cost as little as 5,000 points per night and up to
95,000 points per night, so it is quite the range. Most of the Orlando area hotels relevant to Walt
Disney World tend to be about 45,000 to 65,000 points per night. That's for a standard room,
not a premium room. And some of the bougier hotels like the Waldorf Astoria surely cost a lot more
points. Moving back to Diamond status perks, other than reward stays you also get two free bottles of
water per stay at most locations, which is nice. You're eligible for space available room upgrades;
so these are never guaranteed, but it does happen more frequently than I thought it
would. We actually had this happen last time when we were down in Disney World; we had booked like a
standard king room and they upgraded us to king suite, it was pretty cool. And you get a daily
food and beverage credit if you're in the US, or outside of the US this becomes continental
breakfast. For that food and beverage credit, it ranges from about $10 to $25 per registered
guest per day, up to two guests in the room. The value amount depends on what brand of hotel
you're staying in--so for example, Hilton propers usually have larger food and beverage credits than
a Hilton Garden Inn--and it also is influenced by the area of the country you're in--so for example,
in New York your food and beverage credit tends to be a little bit higher than it would probably in
Orlando. These do expire each day, you can't add them up to use all in one lump sum. For example,
if you have a five night stay at a resort with a $10 food and beverage credit and there's two of
you, you get $20 to spend per day and you have to spend them each day. You couldn't spend $100 all
in one go and call that your food and beverage credit. Given that $10 is the low range though,
if you aren't traveling alone this means you're pretty much guaranteed, within the continental US,
to get $20 per day in food and beverage credit that you can spend on snacks, drinks, food,
whatever it is you want. If you tend to try to get some work done when you're traveling,
or you just want to stream some shows, you do get premium Wi-Fi as a Diamond status member. Though
it's still not great Wi-Fi. It's definitely better than the normal Wi-Fi, but don't expect anything
crazy here. And Diamond status members get access to the Executive Lounge even if you aren't paying
for an executive level room. I love being able to use the Executive Lounge while I'm paying
for a standard room. Unfortunately, for Walt Disney World, there are no Executive Lounges at
any of the hotels in the Orlando area. But when you're traveling elsewhere it's a really nice
perk. There's pretty much beverages available all the time, and then they do put out light
snacks at various times throughout the day too. Another perk of having Diamond status is that
you get 100% point bonus on Hilton stays. As a Diamond member, you get 10 base points per stay,
and then with that 100% extra you get an extra 10 points. Now if you have the Hilton Aspire AmEx,
you should be charging your Hilton stays on that credit card. Additionally, you may remember from
the beginning of this video that you get 14x points from Hilton charges on that credit card.
This means when you're staying at Hilton's and putting it on your Hilton AmEx you are getting 34
points per dollar. I know it can be intimidating to look at points cost for Hilton hotels in the
Walt Disney World resort area, as you do need at least tens of thousands of points--if not hundreds
of thousands if you want a longer stay. But every time you're staying in a Hilton and charging it to
your Hilton Aspire AmEx you're getting 34 points per dollar, so the points do accrue faster than
you think most likely. Overall, for the major benefits there's that $250 airline credit per
calendar year. And for your card your you get the $250 resort credit, as well as one free rewards
night. From the fine print it seems like the $100 property credit may be unlimited, so if you have
a bunch of different Waldorf or Conrad stays coming up I would look into this. And as long
as your credit card is active and you're in good standing you have Diamond status with Hilton. But
this does cost $450 a year. It is a very large fee for a credit card. In theory, if you're perfectly
using your credit card--if you are getting that one free reward night, and you are fully using
the $250 resort credit, $100 property credit, and $250 airline credit, plus you have access to
that variable food and beverage credit at Hilton Hotels in the US, you're given a complimentary
membership to Priority Pass--so your use of that in airport lounges across the world will determine
how much that's worth to you, and again with the credit card you get 34 points per dollar spent
at Hilton’s. The reality is though most people are not going to use the card perfectly and take
advantage of all these fully. For my partner and myself, we tend to spend our one free reward night
in an expensive market like New York. There, this usually means we're saving around three
or four hundred dollars by using the reward night instead of paying the cash rate. We always fully
use that $250 resort credit; like I said, it works fantastic for Walt Disney World. And then we don't
typically end up spending the full $250 airline credit, but we always get over $180 per year.
It's really nice to be able to stuff all of our dirty laundry in one bag and check it, and
not worry about it when we are flying home. As I mentioned previously, thus far we have never used
that $100 property credit for Waldorf Astoria’s and Conrad hotels. And the food and beverage
credit is extremely variable across the United States, but generally speaking we recoup about
$200 there. For the most part we end up spending this on coffee, small snacks, and cocktails. We
do use the Priority Pass to gain access to airport lounges when we travel and have time, but it's not
a huge perk to me personally. If this didn't come complimentary with the Hilton Aspire AmEx I never
would buy a personal membership to Priority Pass, so to me this doesn't hold much, if any, monetary
value. And I don't know exactly what the monetary value of racking up 34 points per Hilton stay is,
but it's certainly helpful in racking up a lot of points and being able to use them for meaningful
reward stays. We do also have the Disney Rewards Visa by Chase credit card, though we only have the
free version--not the paid one. I use it when I'm on Disney property and get discounts at various
restaurants, which are few and far between but it's better than nothing. And it's a zero dollar
annual fee credit card, so really no harm, no foul in having it. But I definitely rarely use
it. My partner and I together have a bunch of credit cards, but the primary ones we charge
on are this Hilton Aspire AmEx, and we also have the Venture Card from Capital One. We have a heavy
preference of our credit card use to go towards making travel more affordable, more convenient,
and more accessible for us. The Venture Card Rewards help out with flights, and the Hilton
card helps out greatly with hotels. Between the Hilton points themselves for reward stays, that
$250 resort credit that we do use down in Walt Disney World, the $250 flight credit that we don't
really use at Walt Disney World but we definitely use every year when we travel elsewhere, the free
room upgrades, the 5th night free on standard room reward stays, and that food and beverage
credit or daily continental breakfast, I feel very strongly that we easily make up this [$450] fee
every year. This credit card has worked out great for us for travel down to Disney World, as well
as travel overall. Of course, if you are willing to pay a $450 annual fee for a hotel credit card
you may also want to look into Marriott. The Swan and Dolphin hotels are owned by Marriott,
and those are extremely close to EPCOT, so that may work out well for you. We went with this
Hilton credit card over Marriott for two primary reasons. The first is just personal preference.
We generally like Hilton’s. In particular we really do like Hilton’s for airport days;
especially the DoubleTrees near airports tend to be extremely consistent. The second was that
we based a lot of this choice around a trip we took back in 2019 to London. We were looking at
locations of the hotels relative to where we wanted to be in the city, and the Hilton ones
just made more sense for us. If you are getting a branded hotel credit card specifically for Disney,
Marriott may make more sense for you. I encourage you to look at the details. But for us, since we
travel more elsewhere than we travel to Disney, we felt that the Hilton credit card was a great fit.
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Credit Card does have great benefits for Disney World,
and there are tons of other perks we use for our travel elsewhere. I hope you found this helpful,
and made the rest of your day be magical. We'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!