After redeeming over 1 million Hilton Honors points, I finally made a video showing why I’ll never cancel my Surpass card.
My wife and I have both carried the Hilton Surpass card for years, and between us we’ve redeemed well over a million Hilton Honors points and have close to that sitting waiting to be deployed again.
Looking back, I realized the points themselves aren’t really what I remember.
It’s the experiences they created for our family.
One of my favourite examples was last summer at Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia.
We used:
- 360,000 Hilton Honors points
- Hilton’s 5th Night Free benefit
- Two Free Night Certificates we’d earned through Surpass spending
That gave us a full 7-night stay at what was probably the nicest resort we’ve ever visited as a family.
The rooms were selling for around $850/night, we were upgraded to a King Oasi Garden Suite, breakfast was included every morning thanks to Hilton elite status, and one evening the hotel left little stuffed animals and handwritten notes for our kids. They still have them today.
That’s when it really hit me, this whole collecting Hilton points game I was playing was more to do with giving my family better experience on things we wouldn’t normally be spending.
I know there are plenty of people who can calculate redemption values down to the decimal place. I enjoy that side of the hobby too, but that’s not really why I stay loyal to Hilton.
For me now, the value is being able to take my family on trips I’d probably never justify paying cash for.
I actually just finished making a video walking through why the Surpass has stayed in my wallet for years, how we’ve used the points, and why I think the Free Night Certificates are the most underrated benefit on the card.
If anyone is interested, here’s the video link here
https://youtu.be/2PbhTX_V2BE?si=ntICJ16CxB_X0RX_
I’d also love to hear from other Hilton families and their experience using either Surpass or Aspire Card.
What’s been your favourite Hilton redemption or Free Night Certificate use?