I have Bilt, CSP, Amex gold, and just got the VX. I’m very likely getting Amex plat soon as I can naturally make the money back from the af (I live in nyc and the credits appeal to me)
I’ve been on the Hyatt train for 2 years because of how great the point redemptions are. However, Hilton is catching my eye because Amex transfers to them 1:2, they give auto gold status on the plat, they do 5th night free awards, suite upgrades when available, and sometimes Amex does transfer bonuses to them.
I go on vacation 2-4 times a year and cannot make Hyatt globalist naturally which seems to be the appeal of Hyatt. Additionally, CSP and Amex overlap in the categories of spend and I find myself spending more on Chase because of Hyatt alone, and it’s also the only reason I got the card. I am wondering if it’s worth going with Hilton loyalty and just downgrading/cancelling my CSP as I don’t really make back the AF naturally on this card.
I’m open minded to getting more cards, and/or waiting to see if Hyatt launches a better card or if CSR gives Hyatt status upgrades.
Does it make sense to shift from Hyatt to Hilton Loyalty given my situation?
byu/Ok-Nefariousness7429 inCreditCards
Posted by Ok-Nefariousness7429
4 Comments
Go to Hilton.com and see the redemptions for yourself. The spoiler is the redemptions suck. You’re going to average about 0.8 cpp for your Amex points. Do you really want that? Save your Amex points for flights.
Hilton points are extremely low-value as credit card transfers. The Hilton program makes up for it on volume if you actually pay for stays, since you can earn 34 points per dollar on stays with the Aspire card’s Diamond status, the card’s 14x earning, and Hilton’s base earning rates. However, the Amex 1:2 transfer is seductive but still pretty poor; 1 Hyatt point is worth probably 3-4 Hilton points.
If you have ways to earn both, like you do, use your Chase points for Hyatt (and probably BILT points too, although they have some unique airline partners).
Use your Amex MR points for flights.
The only caveat being if you’re not in a mode where you can get good value for MR points on flights, 5 night Hilton stays where you can get > 0.5¢ per Hilton point are sometimes possible.
One issue I found with Hilton is that on points sometimes only some room type is available. For example, at their hotel at the Whistler ski resort it was just the smallest room with one queen bed, so too small to be usable.
Rumors I’ve read online are also that now that anyone can get Diamond with a quick credit card application for an Aspire, half the guests in the hotels are diamonds, so it might not provide upgrades like they used to offer.