Originally Posted by
Z Man
we had 7 people / 7 rooms for a recent stay in China. One Diamond - me, 3 golds, and 3 no status. Guess what? All had the same room type on the same floor, and all were granted lounge access at checkin. Who paid the most per night? Diamond. Who got no points / qualified nights? Diamond - non-qualifying rate....
The non-qualifying rate is frustrating, but overall I might not complain about that too much: getting 7 rooms all lounge access is a pretty solid perk from the front desk. (I'm assuming here that you weren't on rates that already provided it...)
If I'm solo in a room, I'd happily live with no upgrade in exchange for above-and-beyond lounge access for my group. (As long as they got the basic bed/smoke type right.)
To the OP, I felt like HH Gold and Diamond were both fantastic 10-15 years ago. I think they're still pretty good outside the U.S. Inside the U.S., it's just wallet candy. Extra points, mainly.