Just over a week ago, American Express added a new benefit to the American Express Business Platinum card — a $200 annual Hilton credit (which, frustratingly, is only available in $50 quarterly increments).
Since I don’t have a Hilton stay planned before the end of this quarter, I decided to use the card to buy a $50 Hilton gift card on https://www.buyhiltongiftcards.com/ after reading a few success stories on Reddit about the gift card triggering the $50 credit.
Since my purchase showed up as a “RBG Hilton Gift Card” and was listed as “Merchandise & Suppliers – Internet Purchase,” I wasn’t optimistic about having the $50 credit applied to the purchase, despite the Reddit success stories. But a few days after my purchase, the $50 purchase was credited to my account!
Note that you’ll need to pay $1.95 to get the gift card mailed to you (getting an electronic gift card isn’t an option), making the value of this benefit $48.05 per quarter or $192.20 annually if you only use the benefit towards Hilton gift cards.
In terms of timing, I purchased the gift card on December 21st and the credit posted to my account three days later on December 24th, which isn’t too shabby.
Since the gift card worked for my Amex Business Platinum Hilton benefit, I’m also going to see if this strategy works for my $60 quarterly credit on my Amex Hilton Honors Business card (a few posts on Reddit seem to indicated that the gift card will trigger the benefit on that card and, if it does, I’ll be kicking myself for not trying this earlier).
A word a caution: just because the gift card triggered the $50 credit for me today doesn’t mean it will for you or forever — so, in other words, your mileage may vary. With that, if you’re purchasing a Hilton gift card using your Amex Business Platinum card, just keep in mind that the worst-case scenario is that you’ll be stuck with a $50 gift card that you won’t be reimbursed for.
