Originally Posted by alanjrobertson

Nope there's no such restriction - indeed the Amex Platinum offers status with some hotels (although only a year of HHonors Gold, not recurring) - however it's a pretty small number of cardholders (given it costs £450/year) so nothing like the impact of the cards in the USA. I suspect it's more just the competition between card providers in the States is different - see the new Club Carlson one offering recurrent last night free on redemptions, or the mammoth 100k Avios sign-up bonus - all much better than what's on offer here. In different markets they have to do different things to compete, I just find it a bit annoying how easy it is to potentially get the status through a credit card when that avenue isn't open to me!