Wonderful Things Free with Your Hilton Credit Card

Five years ago I stayed in a Hilton Hotel at a work conference. When I checked in I noticed two flyers on the front desk that really have made me able to live in a higher lifestyle than I could afford on my salary alone.

The first was a Hilton Honors Card, which is a club you can join for free and which you can accrue points, which you can use for free Hilton family of hotels stays, free gambling money in Las Vegas, free airline flights, free cruises, free merchandise from Bloomingdales, The Sharper Image, and other major retail chains. If you joined they would give you 10,000 points to start with plus all the points for your current stay and anything charged to your room.

The second flyer was to get a fee free Hilton American Express Credit Card. I got a free 10,000 point bonus just for signing up, another free 10,000 point bonus for validating my card, and a final 10,000 points bonus after I used it the first time. That was 40,000 points and free plus all the points I received for buying merchandise on the card.

The Hilton Honors Card gave you 10,000 for each stay and 10 points for each dollar you spent on both the hotel and all room charges. As soon as I got the card they upgraded me to a Silver VIP status due to a special promotion they were having, which includes a 10% bonus on all hotel points. A year later I was upgraded to a Gold VIP status, due to getting so many points. The Gold VIP gives you a 25% bonus on Hilton Hotel points but also allows you a free upgrade to a better room or suite.

The Hilton American Express Credit Card pays you 3 points for every dollar you spend on merchandise using the credit card and ups it to 5 points per dollar for every buck you spend at a Hilton Hotel, supermarket of your choice or gasoline station. After one year with only two Hilton stays, but using the Hilton American Express Card for most of my purchases and counting the bonuses I had enough points for either 7 nights at the Las Vegas Hilton, free air fare for two to Las Vegas, or $475 in free gambling money. Since I had a great hotel rate at another hotel, and also had enough frequent flyer points to pay for our air fare, I chose the gambling money. This was given to me in regular gaming chips at the Hilton's Casino, which I cashed in immediately. The gambling money actually paid for my week at the Riviera Hotel And Casino and my Hertz car rental.

Yes, I am saying that my entire week long Las Vegas vacation was actually free since I had a free flight (see my next article on Frequent Flyer Clubs). Actually I won money playing Texas Hold'em poker and came away with a profit even after a small slot machine loss by my wife.

The next two years I went to the Hilton less since I had retired, but used the Hilton American Express more. I even charged $3,500 of my new car cost giving me over 10,000 points alone. I made $450, and $500 in gambling the next two years. The year after that we stayed at the New Niagara Falls Hilton in a luxury suite overlooking The Falls. This was the most amazing suite I ever stayed in with every amenity possible. The linens themselves must have cost the Hotel a fortune and so did our two HD large screen TV's. At least once in your life you have to have this experience.

All this for free, nada, zip dollars just by smartly using a free club membership and free credit card. You need not stay in the Hilton Hotel even once, just use the credit card or you can join some competing hotels club plan if you want. If you do this you will thank me for this great information. Enjoy yourselves.