Thanks Marco. I already put in my contract with Hilton my HHonors No. to be listed on every room. I didnt sign up for HHonors yet since i am looking to see if there is any sign up bonus. Any out there? Once signed up, I will sign up for every promo available.
I am leaning towards the CSP card over the Hilton Surpass since I think i will get more use out of that card for general travel purposes. I want free cruises!!! I also have the SPG Amex as my primary card with over 100K points and try to exclusively stay at starwood properties (so the Hilton Surpass becomes even less needed). Also, I will get some points being an HHonors member. The only other consideration would be to now upgrade my Chase United Explorer to the Chase United Club card (fee waived first year) and charge everything to that card for the extra miles (I try to go United exclusively too). I can always downgrade to the explorer once the year is up to avoid the annual fee of $200+.
What do you all think?
If you just want cruises then getting any Hilton Card isn't worth it but if you do want one you might be better off with the Citi Reserve that only gives 10ppd but has a huge two night sign-up bonus, if you use it at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, is worth $8-1200. I book a ton of meetings with Hiltons and use the points for hotel stays and figure for each room dollar I spend (not on the event but for the sleeping rooms) you can get 30-50% back in HHonors points, depending on their promos and if you redeem them properly. Because of the current triple points offer, for a $170 room night this weekend, I got almost 8000 HHonors points, which I will redeem at a hotel like the WA Jerusalem or Conrad Maldives for about .01 pp meaning on that $170 room expenditure I will get $80 back. If your number is on all 25 sleeping rooms you should get lets say minimum 100k HHonors points (but possibly way more) from that.
So maybe figure out some awesome locations with a HHonors hotels you want to go and the points needed (320k for 5 nights at WA Jerusalem), get the HHonors Citi reserve that only gives 10ppd but will give you 2 free nights (so you'll lose 20k points if you use the Citi Reserve vs. Surpass if you spend 10k but again a much better bonus than the Amex). For that relatively small 10k spend, you will be better to lose those 2 ppd from the Amex and get the Citi Card with the 2 Free nights.