Are the new Hilton Honors debit cards right for you? Your questions answered

This is Part 2 of my focus today on the new Hilton Honors Debit and Plus Debit cards.

Part 1, which is a factual look at the new Hilton Honors debit cards, is here.  The main marketing and application website for the cards is here.

In this article I want to discuss who should be applying for these cards.

As a reminder:

The premium card – Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card

Unlike most of our card content, I don’t need to quote an APR interest rate because there isn’t one. This is a debit card, with the money taken straight from your existing bank current account.

This is what you get (full details are on the application website here):

• £150 annual fee
• Gold status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card
• 0% FX fees when spending in foreign currency
• 1.5 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in the UK
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties in the UK
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in foreign currency
• 4.5 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties outside the UK

There is a sign-up bonus of 12,000 Hilton Honors points if you apply by 30th November 2024. You need to spend £2,500 in foreign currency in your first six months to receive the bonus.

You can apply for the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here.

The basic card – Hilton Honors Debit Card

Again, unlike most of our card content, I don’t need to quote an APR interest rate because there isn’t one. This is a debit card, with the money taken straight from your existing bank current account.

This is what you get (full details are on the application website here):

• £60 annual fee
• Silver status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card
• 0.5% FX fees when spending in foreign currency
• 1 Hilton Honors point per £1 spent in the UK
• 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties in the UK
• 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in foreign currency
• 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 spent in Hilton properties outside the UK

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,500 Hilton Honors points if you apply by 30th November 2024. You need to spend £1,000 in foreign currency in your first six months to receive the bonus.

You can apply for the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

Your questions answered ….

Here are answers to some of the questions you may have about the cards. Please post any others in the comments and I will do my best to get them answered.

Which card is best for Hilton status?

The Plus Debit Card lets you ‘buy’ Hilton Honors Gold status

There is one group for whom the Plus Debit Card is a slam dunk: those who are happy to pay £150 per year for Hilton Honors Gold status.

This could be you!

Hilton Honors Gold is generally seen as the best mid-tier hotel status to have. This is mainly because of the free breakfast benefit, covering two people per room. In the United States, this is replaced by a cash credit which can be used against ANY food or drink purchase, although often it is not enough to pay for a full breakfast.

If you and your partner are doing 5+ nights per year in Hilton Honors hotels, paying £150 for Gold to get free breakfast on your stays is a good deal.

This is before you factor in the value of the 80% points bonus on each stay and any upgrades you may receive.

Silver status with the basic Debit Card is less valuable

Whilst the £60 Debit Card comes with Hilton Honors Silver status, this is less valuable. There’s nothing to get excited about in terms of benefits, although it is clearly better than having no status at all.

The only exception would be if you were planning a 5-night Hilton Honors points redemption. Silver status activates ‘5 nights for the points of 4’ (all Silver, Gold and Diamond members get this) which could lead to a substantial saving on your booking.

Does Hilton status from the card get me nearer to the next status level?

Annoyingly, no. You are given the status directly and do NOT receive the equivalent number of elite nights.

This means that if you receive Silver status you will still need to do the full 20 stays or 40 nights or $7,500 of pre-tax spending to become Gold.

Similarly, if you receive Gold status you will still need to do the full 30 stays or 60 nights or $12,000 of pre-tax spending to become Diamond.

This is the opposite of how the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card works. Instead of giving you Silver Elite status, it gives you 15 qualifying nights. This automatically gets you Silver Elite but ALSO puts you 15 nights nearer to Gold or Platinum status, and has become the key selling point of the card.

How does the earning rate compare to an airline credit card?

For UK spend:

If you have an airline credit (British Airways American Express, Barclaycard Avios, Virgin Atlantic Reward) you will have spotted that the return offered by these cards is not comparable.

1 Hilton Honors point per £1 spent in the UK is far less valuable that 1 Avios or 1 Virgin Point per £1 spent. You can’t argue with that.

However, Hilton is pitching this card slightly differently:

• as a debit card, people can apply even if they would fail to hit the income requirements for a travel rewards credit card

• there are a lot of business travellers in the UK who are not regular flyers (the HfP audience is not typical) and these people will value a hotel card over an airline card

For foreign currency spend:

This is where the new Currensea-powered Hilton Honors Debit Cards look most attractive.

If you do not currently have a payment card offering 0% foreign exchange fees – or you have one but it offers no rewards – the Hilton cards are worth a look.

• the £60 card has a 0.5% FX fee and offers 2 Hilton Honors points per £1 for overseas spend (3 per £1 in Hilton properties)

• the £150 card has a 0% FX and offers 3 Hilton Honors points per £1 for overseas spend (4.5 per £1 in Hilton properties)

If you have a lot of annual foreign currency expenditure then there can be real value here, especially when you add in the value of Hilton Honors Gold status on the Plus Debit Card.

What is the ’round up’ feature?

Both cards have a novel added feature which you should ignore!

You can voluntarily opt to round-up each transaction to the nearest 10p and receive 1 additional Hilton Honors point per 1p added on. This goes onto your statement as part of the transaction.

Someone with the £60 card who spends £7.11 would be charged £7.20 and would receive 16 Hilton Honors points for the transaction – 7 base points and 9 points for the additional 9p added on.

This means that you buying those extra points for 1p each. This is not worth it, given that for at least half the year Hilton is selling its points for 0.41p when a ‘buy points with a 100% bonus’ offer is running.

How do the cards work on a day to day basis?

Here are the questions I had for Hilton about the practical aspects of how the cards work. Please post any additional questions in the comments.

Can I use my Hilton Honors debit card with any UK current account?

Virtually all of them, yes. It currently doesn’t work with Metro Bank, Co-op bank and Chase as these banks have limited support for Open Banking.

As long as I have a suitable current account, will I automatically be accepted?

There is a soft credit check which leaves no trace on your credit report. However, getting a Hilton Honors debit card will still be subject to eligibility.

Based on other Currensea products, the company expects to approve 95% of applications. This compares with a 50% UK-wide approval rate for credit cards, although I know from Barclaycard, Virgin Money and Amex that their approval rates for HfP readers are substantially higher than average.

Can I apply if I currently have a standard Currensea debit card?

Yes. Your existing Currensea card will remain open unless you choose to cancel it.

Can I apply if I have the (closed to new applicants) Barclaycard-issued Hilton Honors credit card?

Yes. You can hold both cards if you wish.

What happens if a hotel or car rental firm tries to take a pre-authorisation on my debit card?

Your Hilton Honors debit card comes with its own pre-authorisation limits. Crucially you won’t see any money ring-fenced in your current account so there is no risk of other regular payments failing. However, there needs to be a sufficient balance on your underlying account for the pre-authorisation to be accepted.

How do transactions show on my current account statement?

Each bank account will show the card transactions slightly differently. It will typically show a reference to ‘Hilton” (eg. HLTN) and a reference to the merchant where the transaction was made. Here is an example:

How quickly is my Hilton Honors status updated after applying?

Your Hilton Honors status will be updated once you activate your Hilton Honors debit card. A reader report we received this morning said that it was done instantly.

How quickly do I receive Hilton Honors points from my spending?

Your Hilton Honors points will be credited 14 days after the transaction takes place.

Do the cards work with Apple Pay and Google Pay?

Yes. This isn’t mentioned on the website, but they do.

Do I receive monthly statements?

You will see your Hilton Honors debit card transactions as part of your current account bank statement. They will look like the screenshot above.

However, you can also download your transactions via the card app using the date range filter. You will also receive a daily transaction summary email as well as a weekly email which summarises your points earning and FX savings, if relevant.

Can I use my Hilton Honors debit card to withdraw cash from ATMs?

Yes, you can use the Hilton Honors debit cards at ATMs abroad.

With the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card, there are no fees for the first £500 per month of cash withdrawals and a 2.5% FX fee thereafter. The withdrawal is processed at the mid-market exchange rate.

With the Hilton Honors Debit Card (£60 version), there is a 0.5% FX fee for the first £250 per month of cash withdrawals and a 2.5% FX fee thereafter.

UK ATMs are not supported.

What happens if I have a dispute about a transaction?

Section 75 protection does not apply as this is a debit card. However, you are protected by Mastercard’s chargeback protection which covers you if (for example) a retailer goes into administration, you receive goods which were defective or not as described, goods do not arrive, your bank makes a processing error on your transaction or you were the victim of card fraud.

Is the annual membership fee refundable?

No. It is an upfront annual payment.

The £60 fee on the basic card is refunded pro-rata if you upgrade to the Plus card – see the next point.

Can you upgrade from the £60 card to the £150 midyear if you decide you want Hilton Gold status?

Yes, you can upgrade your plan.

Cardholders of the basic Hilton Honors Debit Card can upgrade to the Plus card at any time.

You will be charged the full annual fee for the Plus card, but you will receive a pro-rata refund of the fee on the basic card. Your membership year will reset to the date of the upgrade.

You will not receive a sign-up bonus on the Plus card if you upgrade.

Conclusion

A new co-brand travel rewards payment card is a rarity in the UK, and Hilton should be applauded for finding a structure which works given the strict interchange fee caps in place.

The ‘no brainer’ group who should sign up immediately are those who will get clear value from having Hilton Honors Gold elite status and will see the £150 fee for the Hilton Honors Debit Plus card to be a bargain.

(If you currently pay £650 per year for the American Express Platinum card partially to get Hilton Honors Gold status, you may now decide to switch and save.)

The other group who should look carefully at this are people with a lot of overseas spend who are still paying 3% FX fees on their existing credit or debit card.

These new cards will also be of interest to people who have a 0% FX credit card which doesn’t give any rewards. Switching to a Hilton Honors debit card may be worthwhile.

It may also be of interest to people who have a rarely used 0% FX credit card and would like to free up some credit by replacing it with a Hilton Honors 0% or 0.5% FX fee debit card.

It will also be of interest to people who don’t meet the income requirements for some of the travel rewards cards we cover. Students, the retired and other groups may not have the £20,000 income required for an American Express card for example.

If you don’t fall clearly into one of these groups, you need to weigh up:

• how much you spend each year in the UK and abroad
• how much you spend in Hilton properties and
• whether you value Hilton Honors elite status

Because the sign-up bonus is relatively modest, there is no value in getting the card for a year for the bonus alone. The bonus does, of course, offset part of the fee in the first year and makes it easier to get value.

You can apply for, or find out more about, the new Hilton Honors debit cards here.