A Great Reward Card!
Written: Apr 23 '03
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Pros: Great Customer Service, No Annual Fee, Variety of Rewards
Cons: High Interest Rate, High Reward Points, "Grace Period" VERY short!
The Bottom Line: Highly recommend to those with good payment habits which can reap good rewards.
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| majesty8's Full Review: Hilton Credit Card (American Express) |
I've had my Hilton HHonors Optima Card now for over 5 years and love the benefits of it. I was given the card simply because American Express wanted me back as their customer (I cancelled the regular Amex card I had). With the benefits of this card far outweighing the regular American Express card, I signed up simply for the following reasons:
- No Annual Fee.
- Earn Points Toward Rewards.
- Great Customer Service
I didn't pay too much attention with the benefits and rewards the card came with, but as I racked up more points and learned more about the rewards program, I was rather impressed with what they offered.
The Hilton HHonors Optima card is designed for travelers with travel related rewards. You earn 1 point for every dollar earned, and redeem the points for the rewards offered. A lot of times, they have promotion periods where you can earn double, even triple for the promotional period.
To redeem your points, its a good idea to register at the Hilton HHonors website. Note that its also a good idea to get email statements and forego the paper statement they send you every month. Why? I'm not sure how things work there, but their "updated" statements are usually 1-2 months old when you receive them. So its best to check your statement online for accurate point earnings. Besides, do Mother Earth a favor and save the poor trees that end up giving you outdated information! But I digress...
The Hilton HHonor website is a great one-stop-shop and has a plethora of travel rewards to choose from. It offers from hotel rooms, rental cars, golf packages, exchanging points for airline miles... to buying a diamond ring!
Like many good things, there are also disadvantages. Here are the disadvantages of owning the card:
- High Interest Rate. Their 20% APR is very steep compared to other cards, but if you pay your bill on time and in full, what's to bother?
- Short "Grace Period". This by far is the biggest stickler for me. Their 20 day grace period is more so cut in half as I usually have only 10 days to pay the bill from the day I receive it.
- High Reward Points. Points needing to redeem your rewards is pretty steep. You need to do a lot of charging and/or take advantage of double/triple bonus points to earn their rewards.
*As a caution, its good idea to read the fine print when redeeming your points for hotel stays. Hotels will only participate in the rewards for certain periods.
On the whole, I would recommend this card for those who are good at paying bills in full and can take advantage of the variety of rewards offered.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
majesty8
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Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 1 member
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