Originally Posted by
BrlDsguise
You can also reach it with the new Aspire card without spending any $ other than the $450 fee which can pay for itself and then some in the form of an annual free night plus resort and airline credits.
I have both Asprire and Ascend and as far as I am concerned "it" is $0 and that makes diamond worth it.
THIS.
If you can get past the $450 Aspire annual fee and see value in the benefits of the card outside of being Diamond (which I think is reasonable for many people), there is no reason not to be Diamond. I just had my first stay as a Diamond Tues night at an HGI and other than a letter on the floor when I opened the door, I was treated no differently than as a former Gold. I'll earn a few more points but I don't think I would go out of my way on stays or spend to get to Diamond.
This year I have 9 stays and 22 nights, so I would only be Silver without the card. I was happy with the Surpass/Ascend and the $95 fee that gave me Gold before I got and offer from AMEX to upgrade to the Aspire and looked under the hood.