Like many of you, last year I’ve signed up for Amex Hilton Surpass offer that came with free weekend night upon first renewal. The offer is no longer available, and you can read about the current Amex Hilton cards’ line-up in this post. I got my Surpass (recently converted to Ascend) at the end of March of 2017, and the terms indicated that it would take 6-8 weeks for the certificate to be deposited. So, I really wasn’t expecting to get it untill May.
To my surprise, this is what popped up in my inbox yesterday:
Interestingly, my annual fee wasn’t yet billed to the credit card. However, I don’t plan to cancel my Amex Ascend till later in the year. There are a few reasons for that. First, I’m generally happy to pay the renewal fees as long as they provide me a valuable perk. I think it’s only fair to the bank. Second, my card comes with complimentary Gold status which will give me free breakfast (for two people) and a possible upgrade in Hilton Moorea. Airport lounge passes may come in handy as well.
I was glad to get the cert because I wanted to replace my Friday reservation (via points) in Hilton Auckland. The certificate would save me 49,000 points, a substantial amount.
Attempting to redeem the certificate
There was a reward ID attached, and I had to call in order to redeem my certificate. Unfortunately, there was no way to do it online. I called the number, and the rep had no clue what I was referring to. She said she could not see the certificate in my account and kept telling me I had to use points. I tried to explain what it was, but she was totally clueless. Finally, she decided to transfer me to another department. Yes!
I waited and waited, then waited some more. After about ten minutes, I got disconnected. Fail. I seriously debated if I should even bother calling and thought about reaching out to their Twitter team. I had really good success with this method in the past and recommend you go this route if you need to take care of Hilton Honors related issue ASAP.
I thought about it and decided to call just to test it out. This time, the rep seemed to know what I was referring to. Apparently, it’s a complicated procedure where they have to borrow points (if you don’t have enough in your account) and then deduct them. It required help from the supervisor, so once again, I was put on long hold. But at least this time the issue was taken care of before I was disconnected.
Bottom line
Redeeming free weekend night from Ascend card is no easy task. I recommend you block off at least half an hour for it, if not more. I assume the same type of process is involved with Aspire card. But as long as you have patience and as long as standard award is available, you should be able to do it. Keep in mind, if you are logged in to your account and don’t have enough points for an award, Hilton website will not show any availability. It’s a weird quirk of the program. So log out first.
And be prepared to play HUCA.
Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
I also found this to be a huge nuisance! I got my cert from the Aspire last month, and I was on the phone for 45 minutes, and was transferred to 3 people. At one point, I was told I had to call the actual hotel I wanted to book (wrong). I really wish they would make this a little less painful.
@Andrea It’s totally unacceptable! I sent a tweet to Hilton about this issue, but so far, they haven’t responded. I recommend you reach out to them as well. It should NOT take 45 minutes to book this cert.
I just received mine, too! I plan on keeping the Aspire card (probably forever!) so will be cancelling the Ascend – do you know if you *have to* pay the renewal fee to use this cert? It just doesn’t make sense for me to keep both Hilton cards and I’d like to cancel the Ascend before the second year’s fee hits… 🙂
@Army I believe you will keep the cert even if you cancel the Ascend card, but don’t quote me on that. You may want pay the renewal fee, though. Amex keeps track of stuff like that, and it could make it hard for you t get approved in the future. But I’m not judging, so do what you are comfortable with.