New offer. Hilton Hotels and American Express have co-branded credit cards with special perks for Hilton customers. Each person can only get one welcome offer, per card in your entire lifetime, so it’s best to apply during a temporary bump-ups. Right now, the sweet spot might be this no annual fee card that can easily get you over $500 of value towards Hilton hotel stays.

Hilton Honors American Express Card

• Up to 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points. 80,000 points after $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Additional 50,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 6 months.
• 7X Hilton Honors points on purchases at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio.
• 5X Hilton Honors points on purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
• 3X Hilton Honors points for all other eligible purchases.
• Free Honors Silver status (5th standard reward night free, 2 bottles of water in your room).
• Spend $20,000 in a calendar year on this card and get Honors Gold status through the end of the next calendar year.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• No annual fee. (See Rates and Fees)

Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

• 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• Additional $150 statement credit after your first purchase of any amount within the first 3 months.
• Earn a Weekend Night Reward certificate after you spend $15,000 on purchases in a calendar year.
• Earn another Weekend Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend an additional $45,000 in purchases in the same calendar year.
• 12X Hilton Honors points on purchases at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio.
• 6X Hilton Honors points on Select Business & Travel Purchases (ex. U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants, flights booked directly with airlines)
• 3X Hilton Honors points for all other eligible purchases.
• Free upgrade to Honors Gold status (free breakfast, room upgrades based on availability, 5th standard reward night free).
• 10 free airport lounge visits each year once enrolled in complimentary Priority Pass™ Select membership, which offers access to over 1,000 lounges in over 120 countries.
• $95 annual fee. (See Rates and Fees)

What are Hilton Honor points worth? The best value is from booking free hotel nights or using their “Points & Money” option where you pay with a combination of Hilton points and cash. Hilton has some really nice properties, but the value varies from hotel to hotel. I just ran a search and for the same 60,000 Hilton points, I could book rooms that cost $320 or $532 cash. I’ve seen some valuations around 0.6 cents per point, which I think is fair on average, but I would be more conservative at 0.5 cents a point. That would make 150,000 points = $750 value and 100,000 points = $500 value towards Hilton hotel stays.

The good part of Hilton points is that they have so many different hotel brands, from business-class DoubleTree to luxury Waldorf Astoria. Hilton also lets you transfer and pool points with other with other family or household members. As long as you keep them active (once every 12 months), I do like to keep some around. These credit cards are good at creating activity, but here’s another tip on how to keep Hilton points active.

Bottom line. Hilton American Express cards offer regular Hilton customers a good opportunity to earn additional points towards free Hilton hotel stays as well as additional perks like status upgrades. The best time to apply for a Hilton co-branded American Express card is during a limited-time increase to their welcome offers. This is because American Express has changed their policy to only allow each person to get a welcome bonus once per card per lifetime.

Due to this excellent limited-time offer, I will be adding this to my Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The newly-launched United Quest Card is a new premium travel card that offers a lot of added perks on United Airlines for a higher annual fee. As part of its initial launch, they have a 100,000 United miles bonus offer. Here are the highlights:

• Up to 100,000 bonus United miles. 80,000 bonus miles after $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Plus, an additional 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 in the first 6 months. (That works out to about a $1,700 per month average.)
• First AND second checked bags are free for both you and a companion (a savings of up to $320 per roundtrip) when you use your Card to purchase your ticket.
• $125 annual United purchase credit. Automatically receive up to $125 in statement credits as reimbursement for United purchases charged to your United Quest Card each account anniversary year.
• Two 5,000-mile anniversary award flight credits. Starting with your first anniversary, you’ll automatically get 5,000 miles back in your MileagePlus® account after you take a United® or United Express-operated award flight booked with your miles – up to 2 times every anniversary year.
• Up to $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit
• Priority boarding.
• Expanded award availability and free upgrades. Having this card makes it easier to find that saver award economy ticket.
• $250 annual fee.

Here are the ongoing rewards on purchases:

• 3X miles on United® purchases
• 2X miles on all other travel.
• 2X miles at restaurants.
• 2X miles on select streaming services.
• 1X on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• 25% Back on United inflight purchases (Wi-Fi, Food and Drinks).

The United Quest card is considered a new product, which means you can get this new bonus even if you’ve had other United card flavors in the past 24 months:

This product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

This card is very focused on making it a better experience for regular United customers. You have the first and second checked bag for free on United flights, both for your and a companion traveling on the same reservation. The bag fees are $35 + $45 per person, each way, so that adds up to $320 each roundtrip. After each card anniversary, you get $125 back on your United purchases, which already covers half the $250 annual fee. You save another 5,000 points (up to twice a year) when you book an award ticket with miles. You also get Priority Boarding, and while onboard, you get 25% back on your inflight purchases of WiFi, food, and drinks.

If you are trying to make Premier status on United, this card offers the ability to earn up to 3,000 Premier qualifying points (PQP) per year by just spending on your card.

Expanded award seat availability. You earn United miles for all your purchases, but then they also make it easier for you to redeem those miles on Saver level tickets with no blackout dates. Expanded award seat availability is another of the top perks from this card, and I’ve found a very significant difference when searching. If you’re constantly trying to find economy tickets for the entire family like me, this is a big deal. Saver Award ticket redemptions start at 12,500 miles one-way within the continental U.S. and Canada.

If you are a Premier® status member and traveling on an award ticket, with this card you can take advantage of Premier Upgrades on United-operated flights.

Another unique feature of this card is that it offers primary coverage on the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. On most other consumer cards, this coverage is offered as secondary coverage, meaning it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance has been exhausted.

Bottom line. The United Quest Card offers a long list of special perks for folks that fly United on a regular basis. For the right person, the benefits can be worth much more than the annual fee. During the initial launch, there is a 100,000 mile bonus opportunity.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

New limited-time offer. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card is a travel rewards card that arose from the merger of Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott hotels. Here are the highlights:

• 100,000 bonus points after you $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
• Additional Free Night Award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary.
• Up to 17X total Bonvoy points per $1 spent at over 7,000 hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy™.
• 2X Bonvoy points per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Automatic Silver Elite Status each account anniversary year. Gold Status when you spend $35,000 on purchases each account year.
• 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.
• $95 annual fee.

Keep in mind the following:

The bonus is not available to you if you:

(1) are a current cardmember, or were a previous cardmember within the last 30 days, of Marriott BonvoyTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express);

(2) are a current or previous cardmember of either Marriott Bonvoy BusinessTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy BrilliantTM American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card), and received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus in the last 24 months; or

(3) applied and were approved for Marriott Bonvoy BusinessTM American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy BrilliantTM American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card) within the last 90 days.

That’s a lot of long card names, but note the different 30-day, 90-day, and 24-month waiting periods that may now include Marriott business cards. (See my Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card Review.) This is why you should be looking to get the best possible bonus (like a limited-time offer) if you do apply.

The Marriott and Starwood merger is now complete, and you can use these points at either Marriott properties (Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites) or former Starwood Properties (Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, St. Regis, Le Méridien, Aloft).

Here’s the new award chart information:

50,000 points will get you a free night at a Category 5 hotel (any time including peak), Category 6 hotel (off-peak or standard), or Category 7 (off-peak). A sample Category 5 hotel is the Courtyard Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. A sample Category 6 hotel is the Sheraton Kauai Resort or Residence Inn Maui Wailea. A sample Category 7 hotel is the Westin Moana Surfrider in Waikiki, Honolulu or the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas.

Points can also be transferred to airline miles with a bonus. 60,000 Marriott points = 25,000 airline miles. Similar to the old Starwood bonus structure, they will add 15,000 points for every 60,000 points you transfer to airline miles.

Finally, Marriott points are also convertible to gift cards, but it takes 60,000 points to redeem for a $200 gift card for Marriott or retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, or Nordstrom. That ratio isn’t all that great so you’ll definitely get the most value via hotel night redemptions or airline miles transfer.

Free Night Award. At your card anniversary (when you pay the annual fee), you will receive a Free Night Award that is good for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) at a participating hotel. This excludes the very top properties, but for regular travelers it will be very easy to get your $95 value. Many W Hotels, Westin, and even some Ritz-Carltons worldwide are included. Here are some sample hotels that qualify under the 35,000 point limit:

• Sheraton Kona Resort (Big Island, Hawaii)
• Westin Hapuna Beach Resort (Big Island, Hawaii)
• Courtyard Waikiki Beach (Honolulu, Oahu)
• Sheraton Kauai Resort (Kauai, Hawaii)
• W Atlanta
• New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
• Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile
• W Chicago
• The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing, China
• The S. Regis Bangkok, Thailand

No annual fee alternative. The Marriott Bonvoy Bold card is also running a limited-time offer of 50,000 bonus points after $1,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening, all with no annual fee (but lesser ongoing rewards).

Bottom line. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card (formerly the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card) is currently offering 100,000 bonus points for new cardholders. As with all hotel cards, the value is dependent on your unique travel preferences. If you stay at Marriott/Starwood properties regularly, the free annual night award should easily cover the annual fee.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.