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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® Luxury Credit Card from American Express
If you haven’t checked out our coverage of the inaugural TPG Awards, take a minute to read up on the event, which included tributes to Captain Sully and Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee, a performance by Bebe Rexha and the announcement of winners for awards for various airline, hotel and credit card categories. It was a celebration of all things travel and charitable giving — and a very fun night, to say the least.
One of the many honors handed out that night was Best New/Refreshed Card of the Year, defined as a card launched or refreshed between Sept. 15, 2017 and Sept. 14, 2018. After the initial round of voting, TPG readers narrowed the finalists down to five options, and the one to win big at the Awards was the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
It’s not hard to see what made the Aspire Card a winner: It offers top-tier Hilton Diamond status just for being a card holder; comes with up to $250 in annual statement credits for use at Hilton properties; earns 14x points on Hilton stays and more. It does have a $450 annual fee (See Rates & Fees), but if you’re able to put the card’s various statement credits and other benefits to use, it’s easy to recoup that.
Here’s how the other four finalists in the Best New/Refreshed Card of the Year category stacked up in terms of number of reader votes, in descending order:
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card
- Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card
- The World Of Hyatt Credit Card
As you can see, all the finalists are cobranded airline or hotel cards. One high-profile card launch of 2018, the American Express® Gold Card, is conspicuously missing from this list, but that’s because the card launched after the cutoff date, in early October.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Aspire Card, please click here.
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This card is currently offering a welcome bonus of 150,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months.
- Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express after you use your new Card to make $4,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Plus, enjoy a free Weekend Night Reward within your first year and every year after renewal.
- Earn 14X Hilton Bonus Points when you make eligible purchases on your Card at participating hotels or resorts within the Hilton Portfolio.
- Earn 7X Bonus Points for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com, on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies & at U.S. restaurants.
- Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- Enjoy up to $250 in Hilton Resort Credits on your Card each anniversary year, when you stay at participating resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
- Enjoy complimentary Diamond status with your Hilton Honors Aspire Card.
- $450 annual fee.
- Terms Apply.
- See Rates & Fees
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
