Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful

The new Marriott Bonvoy Bevy and Bountiful are similar in many ways compared to the Amex Hilton Honors Surpass where they charge annual fees but don’t give you a free night just for opening the card. But, they offer spend incentive for a free night and similar spending multipliers. Will the more expensive Bevy/Bountiful ($250 annual fee) stack against the old Surpass Card ($95 annual fee)? Let’s compare them!

Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful- Free Night Incentive

Both cards won’t get you free night certificates unlike many other hotel credit cards with annual fees. They incentivize you to spend on them to earn them. To get the free night certificate for the respective cards, you’d need to spend $15k in a single calendar year.

Hilton Honors Surpass will reward you with a Free Night Reward that will work at most Hilton properties, including some of the most aspirational ones.

But, Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful only rewards you with a 50k Free Night Certificate that can be topped up with 15k Marriott points, increasing its potential up to 65k points.

Verdict: Hilton Honors Surpass has the better free night incentive as it’s much more flexible to use compared to Marriott’s 50k FNC.

Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful- Complimentary Status

Hilton Honors Surpass will automatically give you Hilton Gold status while the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful gives Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status.

Verdict: Hilton Gold is far better than Marriott Gold. You can read more about the differences here.

Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful- Earning Rates

The spend multipliers help optimize the points you’d earn, especially if you’re aiming for the free night spend incentive. The categories for the Surpass and Bevy/Bountiful are quite similar with minor differences.

But keep in mind, Marriott and Hilton points have different value. Currently, I value Marriott points at 0.7 cents per point & Hilton points at 0.5 cents per point.

Verdict: Hilton Honors Surpass has the better spending category overall and get you better return on your spend as well per point earned. The Surpass’ free night award also outclasses the Bevy/Bountiful.

Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful– Airport Lounge Access

Only the Hilton Honors Surpass offer Priority Pass of up to 10 uses each year. This is most likely a moot benefit as pretty much all premium travel credit cards have Priority Pass Select with unlimited passes compared to just 10.

Hilton Honors Surpass vs. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful- Bonus Points on Hotel Stays

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful will give you a bonus of 1000 points per paid stays when you pay with either card. Hilton Honors Surpass doesn’t provide such bonus.

A stay is different than nights. So, if you book 5 nights consecutively at the same property, that will only count as 1 stay. But, if you book 5 different single nights, then that would count as 5 stays. Indeed, the Bevy/Bountiful encourages you to hotel hop to maximize this bonus. Realistically though, it’s impractical for travelers to keep switching hotels every single night. That’s too tiresome! Only paid stays will count, and not those paid with points.

While the Hilton Honors Surpass doesn’t have this bonus, the Hilton Honors program has a milestone bonus that starts after your 40th Hilton night at the calendar year. After your 40th night, Hilton will award you 10,000 Hilton points, and then 10,000 more for every 10 nights thereafter. So, basically the potential of 1000 points per night bonus. Hilton points are worth less than Marriott points, but at least with this milestone, nights are counted rather than stays. The reward comes up more organically, and you don’t need to put much thought into earning the bonus.

Verdict: Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful’s bonus on paid stays is more of a headache than its worth to attempt to maximize, even for hardcore Marriott loyalists. It certainly isn’t an exciting or very useful feature for the high annual fee it charges.

Conclusion

The Hilton Honors Surpass completely surpasses the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful due to its lower annual fee and much better return on spend. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful is still a difficult sell, even to the most loyal Marriott customers. The main strategy for them is to get their signup bonus, and eventually product change into the $95 Amex Marriott Bonvoy Card from the Bevy, or to The Ritz-Carlton Card or Marriott Bonvoy Boundless from the Bountiful.