I've never had anymore than blue BA exec club, which is the basic level. I got lucky with the changes made to the UK exec club earlier this year where 1 old airmile turned into 17 (I think) BA miles. Along with changes to the reward chart, that turned my airmiles which were good for a couple of UK europe flights into 100000 BA miles which were good for a couple of eastcoast WT+ flights at 50k each.
Most of my old airmiles were raised over a number of years by a combination of flights, hotels, and Diners club. I still have a reasonable number of airmiles in a separate account as they are useful for non-BA europe flights.
My main account has always been with Virgin with which we are both silver. We have already had a number of upperclass reward flights, and are well on the way to some more.
As to Hilton, we were lucky to get the Waldorf for a reward stay, with my Diamond status helping out. The 2 for 1 meal voucher we have used a number of times. For 7.5k of Hilton points, this is a bargin. Printing from the internet takes 2 mins, and can be done in the hotel business centre if required 10 mins before dining !