Originally Posted by
pauleeepaul
Diamond Force for awards and "guaranteed" lounge access internationally are keeping me for now, coupled with Hilton's overlay on the footprint of where i usually travel. I would love to get back to PC RA for ICs in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, etc but it would involve a fair amount of nights in some desperate HI/HIX properties.
I'm doing a wait-and-see, precisely for the reason that pauleeepaul states. I use awards primarily for overseas vacations. So far, been treated for the most part, extremely well. So I will grit it out with the so-so Hilton US properties so I can use their fantastic properties overseas.
I am concerned too about Diamond benefits being diluted. I think it may be occurring because of the sheer number of Diamonds now and the near future. What is so special about a Diamond if there are 20+ of them on any given night?!
Much more competition for an unchanging pot of benefits, i.e. upgraded rooms. Giving people the chance to earn Diamond via CC spending, IMO, was a bad idea. Diminishes what is supposed to be a loyalty program for ppl loyal to a hotel brand.