I spent a couple years as a gold, first from the CC and then earning it on stays/nights (but still holding the CC) and my perspective is that the CC gold is actually powerful in terms of building loyalty preemptively, if you will. That is to say, if a new customer is starting out and can choose from three programs, two of which you'll need to do a bunch of stays with as a nobody and the third of which you'll get some benefits right away, which would you choose? Being able to jump right into gold was great for me, and presumably great for Hilton because in turn, since I was already getting those benefits, I went with Hilton for 100% of my stays, and then ended up re-earning gold and then diamond.

I think that this is a powerful marketing tool for building their business and they'd be unwise to completely devalue that. But, I also understand that there should be some differentiation between golds on loyalty and golds on the card.

One idea might be this - make gold available through the credit cards but only for the first year. So people can jump right to gold and start enjoying the benefits, which in turn will incentivize them to stay more at hilton properties, because they'll be being treated better there. If they walk the walk and qualify on their own during that year of free gold, then great, they'll have the gold benefits the whole time. But people who are just popping in for a couple stays a year wouldn't be rewarded after year one just for having the card - Hilton extended the benefits but the customer wasn't loyal in return. Just a thought.