Amex Hilton Aspire free weekend night arrives early + 20,000 bonus points

I recently met the Amex Hilton Aspire spending requirement, which was quite a feat without manufactured spending. But what surprised me were two 20,000 point bonuses and a free “annual weekend night” I received.

It all came out of left field and upon sharing my experience on Twitter, I found out these bonuses have been pretty common for new cardholders. Below is an explanation of what these Hilton Aspire Card bonuses are for:

The 20,000 Hilton Aspire mystery bonus

After completing the spending requirement on my Hilton Aspire card, I noticed two 20,000 point bonuses were issued. One in January and the other in March.  

Back in December, Amex was targeting Hilton Aspire cardholders for a 20,000 point bonus after $2,000 spent. But I got my card in January and don’t recall signing up for a promotion like this. Regardless, that appears to be where the two 20,000 bonus points might be coming from.

Annual weekend night reward

Shortly after completing the $4,000 spending requirement on the Hilton Aspire Card, I got an email from American Express notifying me that I had earned an “annual weekend night reward.”

I had to double check the card’s landing page to make sure I had this right. The annual free weekend night is issued when you renew the card. I got my card two months ago.

When I tweeted about this, @Chris_Chmura offered an explanation that made sense. He wondered if I had upgraded from an Ascend card and perhaps Amex was basing my anniversary based on that card.

Last year, I was an authorized user on my dad’s Citi Hilton Honors Reserve card. I didn’t cancel it on time and the account was transferred to American Express. We were both issued new cards – mine was still an AU card.

I ended up canceling the account later that year. Even though I no longer have that authorized user card on my dad’s Hilton Ascend card (and the primary account is no longer active), American Express may be basing my original card’s anniversary on that.

Alternate explanation

American Express has a unique approach to how it dates account history. The age of all of your Amex credit card accounts is determined by the age of your oldest card.

So if you just got an Amex Hilton Aspire Card yesterday but you’ve had your Amex Blue Cash card since college, the age of both accounts is determined by that older card’s opening date.

In fact, my Amex Hilton Ascend actually says, “Member since 2006”. That’s when I got my first Amex card.

There is a chance that my “anniversary date” is the opening of that first Amex card. I’m not sure how American Express is determining my account anniversary for the Hilton Aspire card’s annual free weekend night.

But I’d love some data points from you guys. If you have the Hilton Aspire card and received your annual weekend night early, please comment below. I’d like to know specifically if the account anniversary lines up with the opening date of an older account.