After spending the past five years "mid-tier" with just about every major hotel program I decided to make a run at Hilton Diamond this year. Between a network of hotels with corporate contracts, a few coworkers who are devoted to Hilton that I often travel with, and a honeymoon in MLE this August, focusing on Hilton just made sense to me.
I achieved Diamond and after three stays at full service properties (1 Tree Tree and 2 Hiltons) I have to ask myself if Diamond status is really worth anything.
Case in point: Stayed at the Hilton FLL Marina last night. Gorgeous property, convenient location, and except for the raping on the self-park, a very nice hotel. But what did Diamond get me? Seemingly nothing. My rate included breakfast so the front desk agent told me "next time, don't pre-buy breakfast." Thanks.
My room was on a floor that had "HHonors" outside the elevator. Whoopdie freaking do. There was no lounge that I could find. The room itself was a standard room. No free internet. I did however enjoy my free bottle of wine from Hyatt out on my balcony.
I called down this morning to inquire about a late check-out and was told "sure. We can extend your room until 1p." I asked if I could hold the room until 4p, as I'm accustomed to from SPG and was told there would be a charge equivalent to half my room rate. I politely mentioned that I'm Diamond and I thought, if available (which obviously it was) a late check-out was supposed to be extended to me, gratis. The response was "yes, we've offered to let you keep your room until 1p. That is a late check-out. We offer this to all guests who ask." Fair enough but a big load of
.
At the other Hilton I received my comp. breakfast (after asking for my chits) but no upgrade in the room or lounge access. At the Tree Tree, I got a load of nothing.
When I try and access my "my way" preferences I get stuck in a loopty loop of being asked to login. Although I'm not really sure what I'd change them to. I try and avoid snack foods / sodas / candy and I have an air-card for places with wifi for a charge. And I think I'd rather invest in Zimbabwe dollars rather than hoarding HHonors points.
So, I have to ask -- what am I missing? Is Hilton Diamond worth anything besides the occasional free bagel?
Or is the real value in the easy comp. over to SPG?