American Express offers a variety of travel credit cards, including three personal and one business Hilton Honors credit cards, as well as two personal and one business Marriott Bonvoy credit cards. Today, we will compare the top-tier cards from these leading hotel chains: the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card.
Both cards have substantial annual fees: the Hilton Aspire costs $550, while the Marriott Brilliant costs $650. Though these fees are high, they are offset by the numerous benefits each card provides.
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Which perks make these top-tier credit cards so attractive?
Welcome Offer
The standard welcome offer for the Hilton Aspire card is 150,000 Hilton Honors bonus points when you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. For the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card, you receive 95,000 bonus points when you also spend $6,000 within the first 6 months.
To compare these welcome bonuses, it’s important to consider the value of the points. Hilton Honors points are valued at approximately 0.6 cents per point, while Marriott Bonvoy points are valued higher at 0.85 cents per point.
Given these values:
The 150,000 Hilton Honors points equate to approximately $900.
The 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy points equate to approximately $800.
Although Marriott Bonvoy points are valued higher per point, the Hilton Aspire card offers a better standard welcome bonus in terms of overall value.
Several times a year, both cards feature limited-time offers that provide significantly more bonus points. Currently, the Hilton Aspire card offers an impressive welcome bonus of 175,000 Hilton Honors points. Last year, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card had an amazing welcome offer of 150,000 bonus points, plus an additional 50,000 points after 6 stays within the first 6 months.
When you click on the refferal link, you could earn a welcome bonus, and we could earn a refferal bonus. Terms apply:
Elite Status
Hilton Aspire Card: Hilton Honors Diamond Status, the highest elite status in the Hilton Honors program.
Benefits of Diamond Status:
- 100% Hilton Honors bonus points on each stay.
- Complimentary breakfast or Food & Beverage (F&B) voucher.
- Executive lounge access.
- Room upgrades if available.
- Early check-in or late check-out if available
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Status, the third highest elite status, below Ambassador and Titanium.
Benefits of Platinum Status:
- 50% bonus points on each stay.
- Complimentary breakfast at most Marriott Bonvoy brands.
- Executive lounge access.
- Room upgrades if available.
Overall, the Hilton Aspire card offers a higher elite status with more substantial benefits compared to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card.
Free Night Certificate
The Hilton Aspire card offers more opportunities to earn free night certificates:
- You get one upon opening the card and another every year, regardless of spending.
- You can earn additional free night certificates by meeting spending thresholds of $30,000 and $60,000 in a calendar year.
In contrast, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card provides:
- One free night certificate (up to 85,000 points) annually after (!) the first year.
- Upon spending $60,000 in a calendar year, you can select an award as part of the Brilliant Earned Choice Award, either 5 nightly upgrade awards or one free night certificate up to 85,000 points. You can also select $1,000 off a bed from any Marriott Bonvoy® retail brand, but this usually doesn’t make too much sense.
Overall, the Hilton Aspire card offers more straightforward and frequent free night certificates, while the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card provides a more flexible award option upon reaching a high spending threshold.
Other Benefits
Hilton Aspire Card
Annual Statement Credits:
- $400 Hilton Resort Credit (up to $200 semi-annually)
- $200 Flight Credit (up to $50 each quarter) on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com
- $189 Clear Plus membership credit (only useful to U.S. citizens and residents)
Additional Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Range of travel insurance
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card
Annual Statement Credits:
- $300 Dining Statement Credit at any restaurants worldwide ($25 monthly)
- 25 complimentary elite-qualifying-night credits per year, aiding in achieving higher status levels like Titanium
Additional Benefits:
- Priority Pass Membership
- Reimbursement for the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee (up to $100)
- No foreign transaction fees
- Range of travel insurance
From the comparison, it’s clear that the Hilton Aspire card provides more perks designed specifically for travel and use at Hilton properties, such as the substantial Hilton Resort Credit and the airline credit. On the other hand, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card offers more general benefits not directly tied to Marriott Bonvoy, such as the dining statement credit, Priority Pass Membership, and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee reimbursement.
While both cards come with no foreign transaction fees and similar travel insurance benefits, the Hilton Aspire card’s credits are more geared towards enhancing your Hilton experience, whereas the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card offers versatile benefits that can be utilized across various spending categories and travel needs.
Earning Points
The Hilton Aspire card offers exceptional earning rates:
- 14 points per dollar spent at hotels in the Hilton portfolio.
- 7 points per dollar on selected travel, including flights booked directly with airlines or through AmexTravel.com, and car rentals booked directly with select car rental companies.
- 7 points per dollar spent on dining at U.S. restaurants.
- 3 points per dollar spent on all other purchases.
In comparison, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card offers:
- 6 points per dollar spent at participating Marriott hotels.
- 3 points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines.
- 2 points per dollar spent on all other purchases.
This comparison shows that the Hilton Aspire card allows you to accumulate points more quickly than the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card due to higher earning rates, particularly for hotel stays and selected travel.
Conclusion: Our Personal Experience
As frequent Hilton travelers, the Hilton Aspire card is a must for us. It enables us to accumulate points more easily and use room rewards for expensive stays. Since last year, we also own the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card. We took advantage of the limited-time offer with 150,000 points as a welcome bonus and an additional 50,000 points for 6 nights at Marriott within the first six months.
We used a total of 223,400 points to book a 6-night stay at Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa in November this year, which was an incredible deal! For comparison, all Hilton properties in the Maldives start at 85,000 Hilton Honors points per night, with the potential for slight savings through their fifth night free offer.
Why did we decide to get the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card? For frequent travelers, it perfectly complements the Hilton Honors Aspire card. With the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, we enjoy Platinum status at Marriott hotels and access to airport lounges with Priority Pass. We also make good use of the $300 dining credit and the annual free night certificate.
Additionally, having both cards allows us to compare and choose the best offers from both hotel chains for each destination. We don’t limit ourselves to Hilton hotels; we always check the offers from both Hilton and Marriott, ensuring we get the best value and experience for our stays.
