Hilton Hotels/Gold/Diamond...

Old Oct 13, 2014, 3:25 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Tizzette
As far a room upgrades to executive floor and lounge access, I think hotels look at whether Gold is based on credit cards or stays. If we can tell that at the top of our Hilton page, the hotel can, too.
There's no public acknowledgement that "card Golds" are in practice second class citizens to "stay Golds," but I wouldn't be surprised if sub rosa distinctions are made. It wouldn't really upset me either, as I place no value on the perks I might not be getting.
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Old Oct 13, 2014, 4:14 pm
  #17  
 
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That'd be nice actually, if there was a distinction between a CC gold and a gold who had done the 20 stays. Actually the same would be nice with someone who manufactured the spend through the CC for diamond as well.

That being said, CC money is apparently so valuable (look at Delta with their AMEX waivers) that HH will probably never change this.

I finally have hit diamond this year and definitely see some better treatment, although nothing spectacular.
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Old Oct 13, 2014, 5:59 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by benzemalyonnais
That'd be nice actually, if there was a distinction between a CC gold and a gold who had done the 20 stays. Actually the same would be nice with someone who manufactured the spend through the CC for diamond as well.

That being said, CC money is apparently so valuable (look at Delta with their AMEX waivers) that HH will probably never change this.

I finally have hit diamond this year and definitely see some better treatment, although nothing spectacular.
I wish Hilton would put a program in place like SPG has where diamonds with a lot of nights get more perks. The revolving 24 hour checkin with SPG would be enough for me to send them all my business if they had locations in all the places Hilton does. The nights also count towards lifetime status at most other chains.
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Old Oct 13, 2014, 7:14 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by Tizzette
As far a room upgrades to executive floor and lounge access, I think hotels look at whether Gold is based on credit cards or stays. If we can tell that at the top of our Hilton page, the hotel can, too.
But you can't tell that at the top of your Hilton page!

All you can tell is whether you've qualified based on normal stays or some other way. But if it's some other way, neither you (if you don't remember) or anyone else can tell if it's from just holding a Reserve or Surpass, or doing big spend on a no-fee card, or having signed up for the Milepoint Premium offer last year, or having done a Fast Track (whether initiated on your own or offered by Hilton), etc.

(Gosh, if you qualified other than through normal nights/stays, even the HHonors CSRs can't see how you exactly qualified, just that it was some way other than through normal nights/stays.)

And, btw, you can't even always tell that at the top of your Hilton page! The top of your Hilton page explains whether or not you're on track to requalify for next year, but doesn't explain anymore whether you qualified through stays or nights or some other way last year (and thus how you have your current status).

The top of your Hilton page will show exaclty the same thing if you had 75 nights last year but 0 nights this year, versus if you had 0 nights last year and 0 nights this year (but have the "right" credit card). In either case, it'll say you're on track to be Blue next year, but nothing about why you're a higher status this year.

Now, the hotel can see your Hilton family stay history, I'm pretty sure, but I don't know how often they spend the time looking at it to see if you had more stays last year but fewer stays this year or whatever. I don't think "this person is Gold but not through normal stays/nights" jumps out at them with a flashing light.

Last edited by sdsearch; Oct 13, 2014 at 7:21 pm
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Old Oct 15, 2014, 10:11 pm
  #20  
 
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Your present status and number of points appears at the very top of the page. Underneath that is a bar with a pointer that tracks your stays for the current year. There are credit card Golds who never even make Silver on that bar. Otherwise, why bother with credit card status? Desk clerks have some discretion about upgrades and my opinion is, number of stays makes a difference.
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Old Oct 16, 2014, 12:01 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Tizzette
Your present status and number of points appears at the very top of the page. Underneath that is a bar with a pointer that tracks your stays for the current year. There are credit card Golds who never even make Silver on that bar. Otherwise, why bother with credit card status? Desk clerks have some discretion about upgrades and my opinion is, number of stays makes a difference.
Yes, of course, but that nothing to with credit cards. My status is Gold and I have 2 stays and 3 nights showing year to date, but I don't have (and never have had) a Gold-qualifying credit card either. I got my status through the Milepoint Premium $50 offer last year. (Before that, I got my status through a Fast Track of 4 stays in 90 days, in April 2012.)

(One thing to keep in mind: Statuses earned through "shortcuts" other than credit cards only need to be earned once every 2 years, if they're earned April or later. But a credit card has to be kept every year to continue the status.)

And speaking of stays/nights making a difference, that can even apply if you earned Gold through stay/nights. Someone who's almost at Diamond may have priority for an upgrade over someone who just barely qualified for Gold through stays (but not nights).

(SPG is a program that allows qualifcation for some status with either stays or nights, but reserves the highest statuses only for those qualify with nights. So it dangles the carrott in front of those who stay one night at a time, but gives the tastiest carrott only those who stay a lot of nights.)

But it all depends on how competitive your stay situation is. If you're a leisure traveler in "average" location on a weekend, you may have precious little competition with higher status than you, even if you have very few nights/stays showing. Just like some airline routes are more elite-heavy than others (and at certain times on certain days), so I'm sure that some hotels are more elite-heavy than others (and on certain days but not so much on other days).

Go stay for one night the day after Chrsitmas at some business-convention-heavy location as an HH Gold, and watch yourself get upgraded to the biggest suite they have to offer. Then come back to the same locaiton anytime a big convention is going on, and watch yourself get not a single upgrade.

So IMHO it's hard to generalize much more than statistics. Yes, everything else being equal, the hotel may give upgrades to those with more nights/stays showing than those with less. But everything else is rarely equal...
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 7:43 am
  #22  
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Hilton Hotels/Gold/Diamond...

I stay at Hilton family properties around 75 to 100 nights a year. I am regularly upgraded at almost every property except some lower end Hampton and Homewood suites. I think the items that count are status (earned vs credit card), repeat status at the same property, and most importantly appearance and attitude at check in.the agent has a lot of sway on check in. I have also on occasion when not upgraded automatically asked politely and then was granted a nice suite or better. Short 1 or 2 night stays are more frequently upgraded then longer stays and any stay off 5 or more days typically requires advance Co ordination to obtain any upgrade of value. (if traveling on family vacation I will book in advance and call and ask the hotel directly if there is anything they can do )
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Old Oct 27, 2014, 1:39 am
  #23  
 
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Since this thread pertains specifically to HHonors, it has been moved to the dedicated Hilton forum for further discussion.

Thanks!

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Old Oct 27, 2014, 2:33 am
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by acvitale
I stay at Hilton family properties around 75 to 100 nights a year. I am regularly upgraded at almost every property except some lower end Hampton and Homewood suites.
Space available upgrade is not a Gold/Diamond benefit for Embassy Suites, Garden Inn, Hampton, and Homewood Suites.

I think the breakfast and the free internet are very good benefits in themselves and any upgrade on top of that should be seen as an extra ( and very nice ) benefit.
I actually get some sort of upgrade very often and I enjoy that as I travel for leisure.
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Old Oct 27, 2014, 6:18 am
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I live in the UK and got upgraded every time I stay in a Hilton hotel, except once where I specifically booked a Twin room and there was no higher level of this kind available.

On the other hand, the free wi-fi I received has always been rubbish. It is slow and disconnect all the time. The free wi-fi Hampton Inn offers is way better.
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Old Oct 27, 2014, 9:12 am
  #26  
 
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I was HHonors Diamond from '07 - '11 at a previous job which I left in early-'10, moved to a different industry '10 - late '13 with far less travel and dropped back to Silver, then moved back to my original industry in late '13 at which point I jumped quickly back to Gold through fast track, and now ~1 year later I'm back at Diamond on stays with another ~4-5 stays planned for this year.

I found that my treatment as Gold in '13-'14 was NOT all that different than my treatment as Diamond in '07 - '11, save for some high-profile upgrades to President's Suites on 1 or 2 night stays. I don't see many (any, really) aspirational properties, stays skew towards the HI/HGI end of the spectrum, and only hit big-city down-town properties if it's related to a convention or trade show (save for Chicago where my only customer with a down-town office resides in the Sears Tower). I've received plenty of suite upgrades at HIs where it's not a defined/guaranteed benefit. I've received suites upgrades at HGI and ES when I only booked a studio. I've received a couple of suite upgrades at HGIs which I never got as a Diamond back in '07-'11. I received a huge corner suite upgrade at Palmer House, but it wasn't exec floor so I still didn't get lounge access, but other than breakfast didn't have time to use it anyway. Strangely, it seems that airport HIs are some of the loosest with upgrades, while airport/downtown Hiltons & DTs are some of the tightest... I've not received a single upgrade at an airport Hilton this year.

As for comparisson to the other programs, I think HHonors is a great fit for anyone that's a moderately heavy traveler and books middle-of-the-road properties/rates. It's much easier to make top-tier elite than Marriott which, in my eyes, is the only real direct competitor in quality low/mid-level properties with a serviceable footprint. If you're staying at much lower-end properties, Choice Hotels lets you earn very quickly with their near-constant promos for a free night with every 2 stays (and some newer Comfort Suites aren't too bad). On the same low-end, IHG also affords for quick earnings with frequent/ongoing points promos but lacks much in the way elite recognition and I couldn't imagine spending 30-40 nights a year in HIEs or even Crown Plazas. At the higher-end, SPG and Hyatt have great top-tier recognition BUT their property footprint is MUCH less than Hilton and Marriott. Marriott seems like a reasonable analog to HHonors BUT the high Night requirements and no reduced Stay requirement puts it out of reach for me personally, plus I've never been overly impressed with their low-end offerings (though there seem to be plenty of them around).

If you're paying $100-$125/night at a lot of metro-but-not-downtown properties with 30-40 nights/year, I think HHonors at EITHER the Gold or Diamond level is tough to beat... you can earn more in other programs at the cost of Elite recognition, but (to me) I'd rather give up a bit of earnings potential to make those 30-40 nights/year a bit more comfortable.
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