As a Hilton Honors Gold member, with only a couple more nights to reach Diamond, when I checked into my hotel this week, the FDC said "Wow, we have a lot of Gold and Diamond members staying with us this week." Which got me thinking how many of those members had actually earned their status with butt-in-bed stays and how many had status matched. Which begs the question, is it too easy to get status through one of the status matches that Hilton is known to offer? What is to stop someone from inflating their # of nights on their Marriott or SPG statements using photoshop or some other editing tool? There oughta be some other way to verify that the stays are legit to keep from flooding the hotels with status members and therefore diluting our hard-earned benefits...
I don't necessarily think its that easy to get a HH status match to Diamond - I had high tiers with a couple other chains (earned) a few years ago + HH Gold! and the best they would do was "7 stays in 90 days" challenge, which I annoyingly couldn't do at the time.
Maybe other people have better luck getting matches.
It is WAY to easy to get Gold though these days. I know people who are Gold who have never set foot in a Hilton.
What an original thought and no doubt the start of a fascinating thread full of new insights. This must be the first time ever that someone complains about dilution of benefits through too many golds on the cheap, etc....
What an original thought and no doubt the start of a fascinating thread full of new insights. This must be the first time ever that someone complains about dilution of benefits through too many golds on the cheap, etc....
What an original post! Let's all respond with some smart-a$$ comment without fully comprehending the intention of the OP.
My point was that I wonder if Hilton has a policy in place to check if one's PDF of their Marriott or SPG statements has been altered in any way. It might be silly to think they the different chains would collaborate, but they could have some kind of mutual agreement in order to keep people from doing such a thing. And they currently work together with the annoying RoomKey venture, so it isn't out of the question.
Do you have anything constructive to add to this thread, or would you like to continue the reputation that this forum has developed of being hostile and rude?
I don't think Hilton is overly concerned about how status is attained, anyone seeking it is likely to spend money at their hotels so it is no-lose situation for them.
Programs: Hyatt and Hilton Diamond, Delta Skyclub and PM or DM (depending on year)
Posts: 794
I would love to know how many people earned Gold and Diamond the traditional way via credit cards/status match's.
Seeing you can buy gold from Citi for only $90 a year if you live in the US, I wouldn't be suprirsed if at least half the gold HH members didn't earn the status with stays. And diamond is also very easy to earn via credit card use if you live in the US.
I am not sure if Hilton will even status match you to Diamond. When I lived in CVG (hence my FT name), most of my stays were at Hyatt. When I moved to MSP, Hilton was in a lot more cities I was travelling to than Hyatt, so I asked for a status match. Hilton gave me gold and a fast track to earn diamond for the remainder of the year. I tried doing a status match with Marriott as well and either them or Hilton wanted an account printout showing the stay history from Hyatt (it's impossible to get Diamond status with Hyatt through Credit card use), so they probably wanted to verify I stayed at Hyatt and it wasn't a status match/fast track.
I am not sure why anyone would need a status match with Hilton anyway if they live in the US. You can buy Gold status for only $90 a year from Citi and easilly obtain diamond status via spending only $40,000 a year on a Hilton credit card.
In the US anyway, I would say very few golds and diamonds are status match. There are going to be a lot more in the US who earned, excuse me obtained, their status through credit cards than through status match's.
I would love to know how many people earned Gold and Diamond the traditional way via credit cards/status match's.
Seeing you can buy gold from Citi for only $90 a year if you live in the US, I wouldn't be suprirsed if at least half the gold HH members didn't earn the status with stays. And diamond is also very easy to earn via credit card use if you live in the US.
You don't even have to live in the U.S. It is sufficient if you had a U.S. mailing address when you first got an HHonors Amex. I made it a Surpass Card this year when I saw I was going to have the $40,000 annual spend, reached it last month, and am now Diamond.
I have had 3 stays so far this year (11 nights) and have two more planned -- a four night award stay in New York and a three night stay in Atlanta.
I don't think Hilton is overly concerned about how status is attained, anyone seeking it is likely to spend money at their hotels so it is no-lose situation for them.
Indeed.....and more fool those who think otherwise.
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Programs: Hyatt and Hilton Diamond, Delta Skyclub and PM or DM (depending on year)
Posts: 794
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrlDsguise
I don't think Hilton is overly concerned about how status is attained, anyone seeking it is likely to spend money at their hotels so it is no-lose situation for them.
Not necessarily. When someone earns diamond status via 60 stays a year and then ends up losing upgrades to someone who stays at Hiltons two times a year who received their status through a credit card, and the diamond member decides to move their stays to Marriott who appreciates loyalty, it isn't helping Hilton out.
Hilton is making a lot more off the person who earns status by staying 60 nights a year, many times on a last minute higher rate, than the kettles who stay a couple times a year on a AAA weekend rate.
Which begs the question, is it too easy to get status through one of the status matches that Hilton is known to offer?...I wonder if Hilton has a policy in place to check if one's PDF of their Marriott or SPG statements has been altered in any way.
I'm your target complaint group. Stayed with Marriott all year until about July -- platinum by then - - got a Citi card which gave me HH Gold and figured why not status match, as I had several weeks of trips coming up that has a nice HI nearby.
Status matched to Diamond with 21 nights in 60 days (90 allowed). Per the OPs questions: I sent them a pdf of my Marriott activity page, which yes, I could have easily photoshopped had I wanted to commit fraud to get (???not sure what I get, yet, certainly not upgrades IME).
But I do think that 21 days in a quarter means a) I stay a lot and they want my money more than they want you to have the exclusivity; or b) this is a blip; I don't stay much the rest of the year and then who cares, them or you?
Once the Citi Gold upgrade is on the table, I'm not sure that anything that upgrades folks further is relevant. MAYBE if I take the last 48 hour guarantee room, if that can happen, or the last helping of food in the lounge. Wouldn't I already have been upgraded into that room you wanted, if I arrived before you?
Clearly I don't understand the Hilton upgrade experience, since I am zero for 30 so far this year. But it seems to me that your beef should be with the credit card upgrade (easy) not the 21 nights in 90 days (much harder).
Programs: Hyatt and Hilton Diamond, Delta Skyclub and PM or DM (depending on year)
Posts: 794
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dovster
You don't even have to live in the U.S. It is sufficient if you had a U.S. mailing address when you first got an HHonors Amex. I made it a Surpass Card this year when I saw I was going to have the $40,000 annual spend, reached it last month, and am now Diamond.
I have had 3 stays so far this year (11 nights) and have two more planned -- a four night award stay in New York and a three night stay in Atlanta.
I wonder how much AmEx pays programs for loyalty status and miles.
My sister is in a similar situation like yours with Am Ex, except for Delta. She wanted PM status just so she could have free EC seating on an internationial flight and a chance at an OPUP.
She has flown Delta on 2 short domestic trips and one CVG/DTW/LHR roundtrip this year and is PM with Delta thanks to American Express MQM's. It did pay in her case however, she had an entire row of EC to herself flying to LHR and got oped up into busienss class returning and on her two domestic trips has been in first class every time.
Not necessarily. When someone earns diamond status via 60 stays a year and then ends up losing upgrades to someone who stays at Hiltons two times a year who received their status through a credit card, and the diamond member decides to move their stays to Marriott who appreciates loyalty, it isn't helping Hilton out.
Hilton is making a lot more off the person who earns status by staying 60 nights a year, many times on a last minute higher rate, than the kettles who stay a couple times a year on a AAA weekend rate.
And that explains why Hilton decided to let anyone in the US buy gold status (and an easy two weekend nights) for $95.
Programs: Hyatt and Hilton Diamond, Delta Skyclub and PM or DM (depending on year)
Posts: 794
Quote:
Originally Posted by orca15
I'm your target complaint group. Stayed with Marriott all year until about July -- platinum by then - - got a Citi card which gave me HH Gold and figured why not status match, as I had several weeks of trips coming up that has a nice HI nearby.
Status matched to Diamond with 21 nights in 60 days (90 allowed). Per the OPs questions: I sent them a pdf of my Marriott activity page, which yes, I could have easily photoshopped had I wanted to commit fraud to get (???not sure what I get, yet, certainly not upgrades IME).
But I do think that 21 days in a quarter means a) I stay a lot and they want my money more than they want you to have the exclusivity; or b) this is a blip; I don't stay much the rest of the year and then who cares, them or you?
Once the Citi Gold upgrade is on the table, I'm not sure that anything that upgrades folks further is relevant. MAYBE if I take the last 48 hour guarantee room, if that can happen, or the last helping of food in the lounge. Wouldn't I already have been upgraded into that room you wanted, if I arrived before you?
Clearly I don't understand the Hilton upgrade experience, since I am zero for 30 so far this year. But it seems to me that your beef should be with the credit card upgrade (easy) not the 21 nights in 90 days (much harder).
My beef is with credit cards, not status match's. It is impossible to obtain Diamond with HY with credit card use and it is a lot harder to obtain gold with Marriott than Diamond with Hilton with CC use.
The top tier of ANY loyalty program should not be given away with credit card use. And status such as PM with Hyatt and Gold with Hilton shouldn't be given away by simply having a credit card.
If someone is so hard up they are going to photoshop a hotel statement for status, then let them have it.
