Originally Posted by
flieduk
I suspect that is a very small portion of those who stay 80 to 150 nights that only spend less than 15k per year. At 150 nights that is 100 USD per night - you would need to be staying at the cheapest Hiltons and having no room spend.
What is of bigger concern/surprise to me is that the program seems to require both Nights AND Spend. I see why Hilton does not want people qualifying purely on cheap or reward nights, but if someone is staying 40 nights per year and spending 30,000 USD, then I would think that Hilton would want to give that business to Hilton. I appreciate that part of the program is try and encourage not only loyalty to the brand but encourage existing customers to spend, and stay, more at Hilton portfolio properties. But I would have thought that a pure spend ability to earn Diamond Reserve would have been in Hilton's best interests, perhaps with the exception of people who are staying at Conrad Rengali Island etc many of whom would spend 20-30,000 USD in one stay alone...
This is what offends me the most. I spend significant time at Hamptons and Homewoods in America but also spend time at Marriott, Hyatt and IHG low-end properties. I buy based on convenience and price because, domestically, Diamond perks are nearly non-existent. Internationally, I spend time at mostly expensive properties and easily spend 18K at Hilton but I'm not going to stay 15-20 more nights at dumpy US properties just to hit the 80 night requirement. I also have lots of points to burn in 4 programs and find that US redemptions are a better value at Wyndham and Hyatt, so I spend many free domestic nights at those properties.