There is a 100,000 point offer that I have been waiting for, and I finally got it this weekend!
100,000 point upgrade offer for Hilton Surpass
American Express has two Hilton cards and both are currently offering high welcome offer:
- Hilton Surpass card with 100,000 Hilton points and a free weekend night
- Hilton Amex no-fee card bonus up to 75,000 points
Both of these offers can be found on our top credit card offers page. Neither of these two offers has any use for me. I am currently holding the no-fee Hilton card, and I had the Surpass card in the past. And since American Express will only give one signup bonus per card per lifetime, I would not get the sign-up bonus on the Surpass card again so it makes no sense to apply and waste a hard pull.
But according to Doctor of Credit there is a targeted upgrade offer for Hilton Surpass card from the no-fee Hilton card and the offer comes with 100,000 points! I have checked many times to see if I was targeted, but unfortunately I wasn’t since I my card wasn’t a year old yet. I know I need to keep an eye out for the offer.
With a busy schedule lately I completely forgot that my no-fee Hilton card just turned one-year old! This weekend when I logged into my account, I finally saw what I have been waiting for, displayed right above all the Amex offers! The upgrade offer is only good through 10/4/17, same day the current Hilton card offers expire.
I clicked “Learn More” and it took me to the next page. As you can see, to earn 100,000 points, I need to spend $3,000 within the first 3 months.
I clicked on “request an upgrade” and almost instantly, I was upgraded, without a hard pull!
What to do with 100,000 Hilton points
Hilton points get a bit of a bad rap, and it’s true that Hilton point is worth much less than other points (like Hyatt or Starwood), but I would say it’s comparable with IHG, Marriott or Choice points. Here’s an idea of some of the 5 best uses for Hilton points that we came up with
- Stretch your points at low level hotels (PwaC stayed at a Doubletree for 10,000 points that was AMAZING!)
- High-end hotels like the Grand Wailea in Maui and Conrad Maldive
- Expensive destinations.
- Special events (Super Bowl, College football weekends, Times Square at New Year’s, etc)
- Don’t forget – 5th night free!
If you are looking for a Hawaii vacation, 100,000 points is enough for two nights at some Hilton properties on Waikiki or the Big Island (Hilton Waikoloa Village costs just 50,000 points a night). A new Hilton Garden Inn on Kauai cost just 37,000 points a night.
My plan for the 100,000 points and the Surpass card I just upgraded
Personally, I would just use my Hilton points where I need a room, forget about fancy Wailea or Maldive. My family goes to Napa Valley quite frequently, but finding a hotel that allows one-Saturday night stay is often next to impossible. Even if a room is available it often costs well over $500! Surprisingly, sometimes the Embassy Suites Napa Valley is available for 70,000 points for Saturday night. So just last week, I booked two single Saturday night stay for a winemaker’s dinner in August 2018 and annual harvest in September 2018, each for 70,000 points! The rooms are fully refundable as long as I cancel 72 hours prior. Even after this recent redemption, I still have over 400,000 Hilton points left. The 100,000 point upgrade offer will add to that big stash, which I promise you, I will get great value out of it!
My card numbers will stay the same. Since the Surpass card has an $75 annual fee, I will be assessed a time-adjusted annual fee. My plan is to keep the Surpass until annual fee is due, then downgrade to the no-fee card. Hopefully a year later get the same 100,000 upgrade offer again!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
So how do you know for certain there wasn’t/won’t be a hard pull?
Amex typically does only soft-pull for product upgrade or credit increase. When I click “upgrade my card” it literally took 1/100 of second to reach the next page “you have been upgraded” instead of the normal “we are processing your request” when you apply a card.
Thank you!
I had no hard pull getting my last two (totally new) Amex cards, including the Surpass. I think this has become standard for current cardmembers since Amex is pulling the report monthly for the free FICO anyway.
Second time I’ve upgraded to the Surpass for the 100K points offer. Last time I did the minimum spend in a couple weeks and quickly downgraded, prior to being charged the fee, so I wasn’t even charged. Decided to pull the trigger again, but those terms are worrisome with the wording of downgrading like this. We’ll see what happens!
do you get the free night when you pay the $75.00 at renewal or is that not in the language. Does your spending immediately count towards the min. spend or do you have to wait for a new card.?
For the upgrade offer I got, there is no free night included. I think spending counts from the moment upgrade is approved, but I usually play safe and wait until new card arrived and activated before I go out and spend $$$.