<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Eugene:
Not quite a "household account" though! Starwood allows transfer of points from one member's account to the other's (provided that both share the same mailing address), but, unlike Hilton's Mutual Fund account, Starwood does not provide for true joint account where all stays/nights by both members are combined for the purposes of status qualification, etc.
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Well, Eugene, always like to have the last word, don't you! I think we should sit down for a beer and arrange a debate between you and me!
On the other hand, one can also argue HHonors doesn't offer a
true household account because the polling of HH points only apply between a husband and wife - a very outdated definition of household by many definitions. A household can include more than just husband and wife, what about their children who can also be earning points as well? One can also argue Starwood offers a true household account because it considers anyone living under the same address as a 'household'. Yes, this definition is so broad that, hey
Eugene, you and I can be technically considered a household by Starwood you know
. Of course, that's somewhat broad but is nonetheless the textbook definition of a household: people living under the same roof, doesn't imply that they are related in any other way than sharing a same residence.
In this sense, Starwood's household account is trully a household account whereas Hilton's, is at best, a polling of account for heterosexual married couple (unless of course, HH doesn't do business in the Netherlands, in which case the definition of marriage also applies to homosexual couples).
Now regarding the question of this topic, I found nothing attractive about HH Diamond status other than being able to get award when the normal availability is out but this can usually be done by calling the hotel direct. So that benefit is not much either. To me HH Gold is largely sufficient.