Originally Posted by
jamesteroh
Seeing that gold is now practically being given away, I can see Hilton making some changes to the program to treat diamonds better. Either that or they will diminish gold benefits.
I would love to see the former happen, but I think the latter is going to be more likely to occur. My wife is already seeing it as a gold. As you mentioned more hotels are enforcing the lounge policy for allowing golds access. She has also stayed at a couple properties that used to give her exec level rooms even when she was booked on a cheap corporate rate, and now they will only upgrade her one room level, IF she gets upgraded.
Hilton needs to make another level inbetween gold and diamond and eliminate the upgrades for the current gold level.
It isn't just Hilton that is sellng their higher tier membership with no actual stays either.
Best Western you simply fax over your Hilton diamond card and they match it (although the benefits aren't that great).
My sister is PM (second highest level on Delta) by flying only 3 trips this year thanks to American express. I will be Diamond on Delta flying only 55K miles this year thanks to their Am Ex program, being able to buy miles and rollover miles.