Summary - The Hilton HHonors® Platinum Credit Card from American Express is one of two Hilton HHonors credit card (the other being Citibanks' Hilton HHonors Visa. The American Express version is actually the better one as it allows you to earn more points than the Citibanks' Visa version. Find out more about this card.

Reward Formula - The Hilton Honor Platinum Credit Card allows a frequent traveller with Hilton Hotels to earn faster Hilton Honor Points. You earn 6 points when you charge your Hilton Honor Credit Card at participating Hilton®, Conrad®, Coral by Hilton, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations Club®, Homewood Suites by Hilton® and Scandic hotels.

Best of all, you will also earn 6 Points for every dollar you spend at supermarkets; drugstores; stand-alone gas stations; and home telephone, wireless, cable, satellite TV, and internet service providers.

You earn 3 points for every dollar you spend on other purchases. The points that you earn from using the American Express Hilton Honor credit card is on top of the points you earn from staying at participating Hilton hotels. You can earn unlimited points.

Bonus Points - New card members can earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $750 within 90 days (ie three months)
 

Hilton HHonors have the distinction of having both Amex and Citibank issue their cards (at the same time). So a comparison has to be done before we can make a verdict on this card.

Against Citi Hilton Hhonors Visa - Hilton Hhonors also has a Visa issued by Citi, so this is the most natural comparison. Like this Amex version, the Citi Hilton Hhonors Visa has no annual fee. The Citi Hilton HHonors Visa also allows you to earn 6 points on Hilton Hotels. But the Amex version beats it out in other areas. Firstly, the Visa version only allows you to earn 3 points for supermarket, drugstore and gasoline whereas the Amex version allows you to earn 6 points on these plus a few other categories.

For regular purchases, the Amex version lets you earn 3 points while the Citi version only allows you to earn 2 points.

Hence, I think the Amex version beats the Citi version, though some folks may simple prefer to have Visa than an Amex.

Versus Amex Hilton HHonors Surpass Card - The Surpass Card is the elite and upper tier version of the Hilton series of cards. It is also issued by Amex. This card has a $75 annual fee. But you can earn 9 points instead of 6 points for Hilton Hotel stays and bookings. But best of all, Surpass Card holders get a complimentary first year Gold Elite Status which can be maintained the subsequent year if they spend $20,000 on the card.

Verdict - The Hilton Honor program is one of the best hotel programs around. You can earn both hotel points and air miles (with partner airlines) when you stay at the Hilton Honors hotel. You are given three choices of accumulating your points. You can either just earn hotel points, air miles or a combination of both. A frequent traveler who stays regularly at any Hilton Honor hotels should consider the Hilton HHonors® Platinum Credit Card from American Express as a means of earning faster hotel points.

If you are concerned about having an Amex card and would prefer a Visa, Hilton also has a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa which is nearly identical to this card.