Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.
There was no hiding our disappointment when, earlier this year, IHG announced that it was to pull its IHG points/status earning Barclaycard. With an often healthy sign up points bonus, Gold elite status and points-earning on card spend, this card was a great way to rack up free stays at IHG properties.
However, its demise brought a clear refocus on the other hotel loyalty scheme credit card offered by Barclaycard, and just what a fantastic offer it is.
That card is the Hilton Honors Platinum Visa credit card (or Hilton Barclaycard, as I’m going to call it). The great news, too, is the Hilton Barclaycard is still available.
What’s so great about the Hilton Barclaycard?
Probably the very best thing about the Hilton Barclaycard is the free weekend (Fri, Sat or Sun) night at pretty much any Hilton property, when you spend £750 on the card in the first 90 days. That, if used tactically at a Conrad, for example, could be worth as much as £300.
In short, this free night on the back of a very realistic spend target, coupled with the fact that the Hilton Barclaycard is free (or they pay you to hold it…) makes it a fantastic little win. Certainly it’s a great option for a newbie in the loyalty scheme/points and miles game to get an easy win.
In addition to the free night, other benefits of the Hilton Barclaycard include:
- Receive HHonors Gold Elite status when you spend £10,000 in any calendar year
- Receive HHonors Silver Elite status for as long as you have the card
- Earn 2,500 Bonus Points for each of your first four stays at any Hilton Worldwide hotel in your first 12 months of card membership
- Earn 3 HHonors Bonus Points for every £1 you spend at participating hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands (in addition to the Base Points you already earn)
- Earn 2 HHonors Bonus Points for every £1 you spend everywhere else
The Hilton Barclaycard is free – but get paid to hold it
The above is not all. Sign up for the card via this link, and you’ll get £21 cashback.
Anything else?
The only big caveat here is the Hilton Barclaycard still isn’t quite my favourite “points hacker” credit card. That remains the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card. The reasons? I once again refer you to Tom’s Top 10 Insider Travel Tips.
Any idea of the “churning” rules on this card? I had it a few years ago, then cancelled it. I enjoyed my free night at the Conrad in Singapore, but ultimately saw limited value for day-to-day spend.
I’m not sure, I’ve still got mine in a draw somewhere and if it was churnable that would be awesome. My gut says that officially it probably isn’t, but that in reality it probably is…
I’ve starting drafting a post, looking at whether we should be taking the card out of the drawer and putting £10k on it…
Excellent!
Hi all, I completely agree with Miles that the Hilton Barclaycard is very good. There are also 2 new IHG cards available via Creation Finance, the base white card & the premium black card? They both offer pretty good benefits, sign up bonuses etc – more on the premium obviously but that does have a £99 per year fee? We have both of them & would definitely recommend if you stay with IHG frequently? – xxxxx
Great point Naomi! – I got the Premium one myself just a couple of months ago. Need to get spending on it actually for the annual free night after £10k!
With regards to that ‘Free Night’ , ive hit the £10,000 spend with the black IHG card , it only credits on the anniversary of your account , for me this is 22/07/17 , I spoke to them on the phone about cancelling in the second year , they said that unless I renewed then I would not get that free night that I have earned . They said that the £99 for the second year would be applied unless I cancel before the anniversary and therefore surrender the free night stay . If this is true , then for the ‘free night’ , you are actually paying 2 amounts of 99 so £198 !!
Ouch! That’s the kind of thing that makes me cut up the credit card and call immediately to cancel it.
Cheers – good to know! Seems a bit rough that, though I’m sure they’ve got the ts and cs covered. I suppose, if you kept the card for future years it would be £99 for each certificate after the first one. Given that I’m personally fairly content to pay £99 for Platinum status (I know many wouldn’t!) the value works out ‘ok’ for me, but could be better!
Ah I totally agree Joe, it all depends what you want from the card? We find having Platinum status is very useful as invariably if means we can get upgrades to family rooms. We usually have the kids in tow, however of course this may be less relevant to others :))
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever had in life came from you Joe & that was to take out a new credit card offering some sort of travel based Incentive every few months? The amount of value we’ve had to date from that has been outstanding (& I’m still going!!)
We are so grateful to everyone @Inside Flyer….xxxxx
I have read that if you wait until after the anniversary date and then spend nothing on the card, you can get the free night, and then have your fee refunded if you choose not to keep the card. I haven’t done it myself though, so have no real experience of the situation as I’ll likely keep the card.