Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
American Express · Amex · $195/yr · Earns Hilton Honors
The refreshed earn table is only two lines: 12x at Hilton, and a flat 5x on every other eligible purchase for the first $100,000 each calendar year — 3x thereafter. There is no longer a 6x category list. SwipeCaddy ranks the 5x; the post-cap 3x can't be modeled, so treat rankings as the pre-cap answer.
Rates verified August 8, 2026 · Issuer source: americanexpress.com
Rewards by category
| Category | Rate |
|---|---|
| Everything else | 5x |
Our take
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card has been refreshed, and the new earn table is only two lines: 12x Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, and 5x on every other eligible purchase for the first $100,000 in a calendar year, dropping to 3x after that. The old category list — the 6x on flights, car rentals, U.S. restaurants, gas, wireless, and shipping that older write-ups still quote — is gone. The annual fee is $195.
The flat 5x is the headline, and it needs a currency check. SwipeCaddy values a Hilton Honors point at 0.4 cents, the lowest valuation of any hotel program we carry, so 12x comes to roughly 4.8% back, the 5x lands right around 2.0% — par with a flat 2% cash-back card, but paid in points you still have to redeem well — and the post-cap 3x is about 1.2%. The $100,000 ceiling resets each calendar year, and it applies to the base rate rather than to a bonus category, which matters for how our rankings read this card.
One modelling limitation is worth stating plainly. SwipeCaddy can record that the 5x base stops at $100,000 a year, but it has no field for the rate that takes over, so every ranking you see here is the pre-cap answer and the 3x lives only in the notes. If your business clears $100,000 on the card, the second half of your year earns barely more than 1 cent per dollar. In a wallet, this card is for a Hilton loyalist: give it Hilton stays for the 12x, use the 5x as a general-purpose rate early in the year, and reassess once you are past the cap.
Store bonuses
- Hilton12x
Common questions
- Does Hilton Honors American Express Business Card have an annual fee?
- Yes — $195 per year.
- What rewards does Hilton Honors American Express Business Card earn on everything else?
- 5x on all other purchases, in Hilton Honors.
- Is the 5x really on everything, with no categories?
- Yes, but with a ceiling. The current earn table is 12x at Hilton and 5x on all other eligible purchases for the first $100,000 in a calendar year; after that, other purchases earn 3x. There is no category list any more — the 6x tier some older articles describe is not on the card today. At our 0.4-cent valuation the 5x is worth about 2.0% and the 3x about 1.2%.
- How does it compare with the consumer Hilton cards at a Hilton hotel?
- It ties the $150 Hilton Honors Surpass at 12x and trails the $550 Aspire, which earns 14x. Because SwipeCaddy breaks tied earn rates by annual fee, the $150 Surpass ranks ahead of this $195 business card at a Hilton property. What the business card offers instead is the 5x on everything else — the consumer cards sit at a 3x base.
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