$18K is not that astronomical in light of where five (even sometimes four) star hotel rates in major cities are now, not just in the US and Europe but even in parts of Asia (ex-China) where there has been massive inflation in rates over the last couple of years! I will end this year somewhere in the ballpark of $40K pre-tax spend with Hyatt I think, which is my main ‘big corporate’ chain and gets a little over half of my annual nights.

The one thing I don’t get about these changes is why Hilton has set the random 80 night limit for Diamond Reserve. Why does it matter if you spend $18K with Hilton in 25 nights or 80 nights? Most airlines going revenue based rightly don’t care. Just seems like someone has blindly copied Marriott Ambassador to me and then had a realisation that the Hilton brand/benefits are not as strong so had to walk back “we need to take the limits down a bit, what about 20%? That’ll do.”

By adding a pointless 80 night requirement to get guaranteed 4pm check out Hilton has ensured I will continue not to bother.