As with any CS department, YMMV. I'm a diamond, my wife is gold. I rarely have issues with the diamond desk when I call in need of something, although sometimes they are slow to remedy situations that are beyond their immediate control. My wife has had excellent experiences so far as a gold (this is new to her, she historically didn't travel much but has in the past 1-1.5 years) with HHonors CS. She's had some issues with cleanliness of hotel rooms that she has called about, nonrefundable reservations that got refunded at the last minute when conflicts came up with her travel, etc.. Just like with the airlines, sometimes the best thing to do is hang up and call again. A different CSR can make all the difference sometimes and can save a tremendous amount of headache and anxiety (or insanity).