Couple of days ago I was given some info on Hilton Ascend and I’ve been pondering on how accurate this info really is and if I should post this or not. But after thinking for a while I felt like the given info made enough sense to share.
- Hilton Ascend card will be available in January 2018.
- You will earn 12x Hilton, 6x U.S. Supermarkets, U.S. Gas, and U.S. Restaurants, 3x Other eligible purchases
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status
- Diamond status after spending $40,000 in a calendar year
- No Foreign Exchange Fees
- Priority Pass with 10 free visits
- One Weekend Night Reward after spending $15,000 in a calendar year
- This card has annual fee of $95
In essence, for an increased $20 annual fee from Hilton Surpass, the upcoming Hilton Surpass card gives you #6, and #7 benefits. This card should be a good pick over Surpass if you:
- MS a lot. If you already MS in Surpass, then you might as well MS in Ascend for a freebie night.
- occasionally visit Priority Pass lounges but not more than 10 times a year.
Amex buys Citi Hilton Portfolio?
An important thing to note is that the Ascend card resembles the discontinued Citi Hilton Reserve in a few ways. The annual fee for Ascend is the same as that of Reserve. Additionally, Ascend provides an annual free weekend certificate for a specific spend threshold just like Reserve (Reserve had $10k threshold) did. Oh and Reserve, just like Surpass, provides complimentary Gold status and complimentary Diamond status for $40k annual spend. If Amex, like rumored, is going to buy the Citi Hilton card portfolio then the likely scenario is that Citi Hilton Reserve will be turned into Amex Hilton Ascend.
Summary
On January 1st 2018, Amex will be the sole issuer of co-branded Hilton cards. It makes perfect sense to celebrate a new beginning with a new card. It may likely be the time when Citi Hilton cards will be converted to Amex Hilton cards.
