Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Last week, I did a credit card App-O-Rama and applied for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card. The credit card has a $450 annual fee, but comes with a 100,000 Hilton points sign up bonus ($4,000 spend in 3 months), Hilton Diamond Elite Status, $250 airline travel credit, $250 Hilton resort credit, 1 free weekend night certificate and a few other benefits (read Doctor of Credit’s full review). It sounds like a great deal, at least for the first year, so I applied for the credit card.
Unfortunately, my application went pending and I decided to wait for a call or letter in the mail from American Express. I felt pretty confident that I could get approved for this credit card because I had an existing American Express SPG Business Credit Card and an American Express Hilton Honors Ascend Credit Card that I could use for leverage to get approved for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long to hear from American Express…
A few hours later (3:16pm PT on Thursday), I received a call from American Express. The rep wanted to confirm that I applied for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card (yes, that was me). She told me that I had 6 credit card accounts currently open and that I would need to close 2 credit card accounts to get approved for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card. Not a problem, I told her she could close both of my American Express SPG Business Credit Card and my American Express Hilton Honors Ascend Credit Card. I asked her if she could move the credit limits from those 2 credit cards over to the new American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card, but she said that was not possible, but I ended up getting a fairly high credit limit anyway. I asked her if she could expedite the new credit card to me and she said she would request that it be sent via UPS Next Day Air (but I still haven’t received the credit card by mid Sunday). I thanked her for the call and hung up.
4 hours later (7:03pm PT on Thursday), I received an email from Hilton with the subject line, “Grant, you’ve been upgraded to Diamond status!” Sweet, that was fast!
I then checked the Hilton app to confirm that my status was upgraded. Unfortunately, both the Hilton app or Hilton website showed me as a Hilton Honors Gold Elite Member. The next evening (Friday), I remembered to check the Hilton app and that is when I saw that I was upgraded to a Hilton Honors Diamond Elite Member. I am not sure what time on Friday my status changed, but I would say ~24 hours after getting the “you’ve been upgraded” email, my elite status was upgraded. I look forward to my next Hilton stay.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Thanks for this post! It answers exactly a question I’ve had for some time. I have 7 Amex cards (2 Ascend, Everyday Pref, Delta Gold, Delta Plat, Plat Bus, and SPG Bus), but I’d really like to get the Aspire in time for two upcoming Hilton stays. Would you recommend that I close two cards (maybe 1 delta and 1 hilton or the 2 hiltons?) before applying, or wait for that phone call after applying? I’m concerned that they may just decline the application for having so many cards.
I would apply and then wait for AMEX to call you. Then I would close both of the Hilton Ascend CCs. There is no reason to keep those 2 CCs if you have the Hilton Aspire. Good luck on your application.
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I came here for this very question. Upgraded my Aspire care to Ascend via the AMEX website two days ago (July24th in anticipation of traveling to Europe next week. Still hadn’t received anything via email about the upgrade so I called today. The AMEX rep shows my Diamond status request had been sent to Hilton but that it still only showed Gold like I saw. She put me on hold and called Hilton. They told her it would take 7-8 weeks to process. Sheesh. Told her in 2018 that was unacceptable and would call Hilton myself and if they told me the same thing, I would be cancelling the card, which she completely understood. Called Hilton and the call center rep said the only thing he could do was to send a request to another department but that would take 5-7 days to hear anything back. So frustrated I am cancelling my week long reservation for next week and booking somewhere else.
I think you mean you upgraded your Hilton Ascend CC to the Hilton Aspire CC. I’m sorry the status upgrade did not post as fast as it did for me. It might be due to the fact that I applied directly for the Hilton Aspire CC and the status upgrade posted much faster.
How long did it take for the 100.000 points to hit your account?
The 100,000 Hilton Points post 4 days after meeting the minimum spend requirements. Check out this post for more info: https://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2018/08/07/100k-hilton-points-post-4-days-after-meeting-minimum-spending-requirement/
My experience was closer to yours. Applied at 7pm, Email from Hilton at 9pm, Diamond on my account by 10pm.
Maybe because we already had other Amex Hilton cards the communication stream from Amex to Hilton was already established? Seems like the process was mostly automated.
Yes, it seemed very efficient and automated. Glad you got your Diamond Elite Status very quickly :)
Is the Complimentary Diamond Status just for the first year and then downgraded later based on stay or do we get diamond status every year with the card?
You get Hilton Diamond Elite Status as long as you are an American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card holder.
Hi there. Do you know how lomg does it take to get $250 hilton resort credit back on room charges?
I haven’t used my $250 resort credit yet, so I’m not sure.