I am in the same boat, former SPG Platinum, don't miss it a bit. SPG Gold status works just fine since many properties still think I am SPG Platinum anyway. Starwood Lurker explained to me that for some reasons hotels don't always update the guest status and many still had my old status and I even get those Platinum amenity on check-in, which I have wisely learned to choose soemthing other than the 500 SPG bonus points because they don't post given I am a fake Platinum. If a hotel insists that I am a SPG Platinum to them, I am not going to tell them they are wrong. So I'd pick say a bottle of champagne and take it with me instead. Seriously, SPG Gold isn't so bad. If you learned how to score upgrades, it doesn't matter that much whether you are Gold or Platinum. But then I don't stay at SPG as often as I used to so maybe that's why the few times that I do stay with them and could prepare in advance, I usually get very good upgrade results, including being pre-booked into an Executive Floor Tower room with lounge access on a C&P for a 4 nights stay during a sold out major sporting event. To me, SPG Platinum offered very little additional values at this point and the opportunity cost of getting the status at the expense of my stays with Hilton HHonors is too great which give LOTS of points and miles.

Agreed on all counts, HH Gold is treated as good as SPG Platinum in many hotels although if you are HH Diamond, you do get a little more consideration. Here are two real cases for you. I was in Conard Istanbul last year and was HH Gold at the time. Got upgraded to the Concierge floor at check-in but I had to convince them I deserved the ugprade and the free lounge access. The check-in agent sort of viewed Gold as a yes but status. The roof top lounge at the Conrad had a superb view of Istanbul and the hotel was really, really nice. Then, we decided we don't want to eat our breakfast in the lounge, instead we wanted to try the buffet in the lobby instead. I went back down to the front desk, same agent but I don't think he remembers me b/c it was the next day. At first, he was giving me this song and dance and making it difficult. But for some bizarre reason, he checked his computer and suddenly he saw I am a "Diamond" which I seriously had no idea where he got that from. His attitude changed immediately and promptly handed over two breakfast vouchers. I kid you not, this is real. Then, I bought a phone card from the hotel giftshop and it was dead within minutes which was bizarre . It turned out, the price and the actual value of the card is like 5:1. I didn't read Turkish but I went to the phone company website anyway and had the Concierge floor attendant came over to check my suspicion and I was correct. The attendant called a hotel manager, she apologized profusely, took the charge off from my hotel room bill, about $20 and from the rest of stay, took care of me and made a point of checking with me. Upon checking out, she even came over to ask when I'll be coming back. After I got home, I even got an e-mail from the hotel's GM.

Another case involved a SPG hotel, this time Vancouver Wall Center Sheraton, an excellent SPG hotel and one of the best Sheraton in North America. I am SPG Gold, booked a room on C&P and got upgraded to the Tower Floor with lounge access. This hotel has one of the best lounge you can find among North American Sheratons, it has an amazing dinner service. There are several hot and cold items, much better than the food on most domestic First class, comparable to international business class. So I asked for a late check-out, but instead of 4PM, I need 5PM. I know it's a special request so the front desk transferred me to a manager since it's later than usual. The manager was quick to say yes, then correct herself 2 seconds later. At first, she was quick to say yes because she thought I was a SPG Platinum. This hotel has superb service as well and you can see they go out their way to accomodate SPG Platinum. She was polite and did not make a fuss that I was only Gold but she was insistant that she can only do 4PM but may consider extending to 5PM if I would be willing to check again later, which I can't. It does show however that SPG Platinum do get some more consideration than SPG Gold even though theoretically, the late check-out policy should be identical for both SPG Gold and Platinum.


Also, Hilton HHonors offers airlines partners that are not found in the SPG program, notably Qantas and British Midland for instance. SPG is slightly weaker when it comes to redemption opportunities within Star Alliance due to BD not part of SPG and UA's Star Net filtering. But this is small inconvenience compared to its overall flexibility, which is still by far the best in terms of transferring hotel points to miles.