Yep I did a month in a Doubletree when I was having insurance repairs done in my flat and negotiated a decent discount direct with the hotel along with a bar credit for food that rolled over when not used - had some friends round for a nice meal and enjoyed having a swimming pool and free breakkie as Diamond. I remember the first morning the staff at the restaurant were saying they'd been told about me staying for the month at their morning briefing and welcomed me :p They were slightly disappointed I only had cereal but I explained a full cooked breakkie every morning might not be a good plan!! Also got some bonus points for only getting housekeeping a couple of times a week too!

Is it the case that late checkout can only be processed before the DK is issued but not on the day of departure, or when its expired?

Seems whenever I get a late CO, they can't re-push the key?

There is a wide disparity in knowledge of DK ins and outs between properties and individual agents. Some know how to repush/reissue a key and some just kind of shrug and cut a physical key because that's easier/what they know how to do/...

I was at the Palmer House in Chicago for two stays this week -- the first stay I stopped by the desk to see if there was anything I needed to know about the property and the agent was like "Wait...you didn't get your complimentary upgrade. Let me fix that for you. Exit the app and you should have a new key..." the second stay/agent when I reported the door for my room was playing dumb (app tried to unlock it, door didn't even light up) immediately went to cutting a physical key... which based on the speed of the PH's elevators is probably what I would have asked for anyway but I digress.

At most properties digital key usage is still very low. At the property I work at I have yet to see a night where it's being used by 10% of the occupied rooms. I was just at a HIS in Richmond last night and the one in Daytona Shores before that and talking shop with some of their staff, they told me it's similar in both places. When you combine very basic training from Hilton with limited exposure it's not surprising a lot of agents are confused or have no idea when an issue comes up.

FWIW, it's also not uncommon to try to log in to the DK system to attempt to push a key to a guest to find out that it's unavailable or the log in attempt errors out which means you have no choice but to issue a hard key.

Yes but they would still be short of Lifetime Diamond by another 7 years because of the requirement of 10 years (in addition to 1000 nights).

Are there really so few LTD on FT? I am interested in hearing reports of upgrades by LTD and particularly people who recently reached LTD and could state whether they are seeing an improvement of their upgrades or no change from before. There are some here, but not an overwhelming number of data points in this thread.

Hopefully will be able to tell you more next year, but I find it’s so hard to tell already. Mostly upgrades seem to be about staying somewhere a few times rather than my status.
I assume a few stays with no status would be worse than a few with Dia, but I can’t imagine many better upgrades at the regular places.
either way, I’ll report in eventually.

I get an upgrade every once in a while but certainly not consistently. At Hyatt, my Globalist status gets me a nice upgrade probably 75% of the time.

The only hotel that I can think of where my lifetime status was specifically mentioned with respect to me receiving a better upgrade was AMS Airport Hilton. I got a Junior Suite, which was very nice. Prior to me achieving LTD I was getting Executive rooms at that property. Also, last year I was staying at Hilton Dalaman and I was first given the standard upgrade to a view room but then someone looked into my account and I was given a Suite the next day, plus I got an extra A la carte restaurant voucher. Otherwise I am just a Diamond for them and it is whatever upgraded room that I get even at hotel that I frequented as a 'regular' Diamond. What I did notice last autumn is that more hotels started recognizing me as a LTD but with no effect on the experience.

I received the same treatment at the Hilton AMS as well. A nice Suite and late check out at 5pm. The only hotel so far that recognizes lifetime status

I agree it's not easy to tell and it would require a lot of data points to get a clear opinion, but some of the recent responses here are helpful.

I guess for folks who used to be frequent guests at a specific hotel and now notice a different upgrade, it's more clear cut. But if you are a first time guest somewhere, for that we would have to compare your upgrade as LTD to reports of upgrades by various regular Diamond first-timers by reading the individual hotel thread.

Is a hotel able to tell the difference between someone who has Diamond based on meeting the criteria vs just having the Aspire card? I guess in recent years those lines are blurred with spend counting as base points.

With so many Diamonds out there from simply holding a card, I imagine that hotels wont want to treat every Diamond like they are special, assuming they cannot tell the difference. But if the system tells them that they are Lifetime Diamond, I could see that making a difference, because they know its a loyal customer, that they want to treat right so they come back.

Ok a few 2022 data points.. I'm Lifetime Diamond.
Recent stays (2) at Resorts World Manila booked a pool view king, upgraded to a King Premium Suite. One of those was a same day in/out where I asked them not to upgrade me ahead of arrival simply because I needed a place to shower and have a four hour nap, still got the King Premium Suite and mention of my Lifetime Diamond status.
Resorts World Las Vegas Conrad, booked city view king, received upgrade to Strip View Suite. This was a Fine Hotels & Resorts stay a few months back.
DoubleTree Dallas Love Field booked basic King room, received corner suite, I felt like I was the first guest in this freshly renovated room. Upgrade not given in advance, and I used digital check-in, I asked at the desk for a room on the other side of the hotel just because I wanted a different view and the front desk agent saw my status and said not only would she move the side of the hotel but get me a suite. It was really a great room.

No, you can't tell how status is achieved. There is no marker or indicator for having gotten status via the Aspire card.

Thanks! The is helpful to know.

To me that continues my thought process that if they see Lifetime Diamond they know you are a loyal customer, over just a status chaser looking for a hand out

:confused::confused::confused:

I don't think that's what he said. If the hotel doesn't see any distinction between LTD and Diamond, then they don't really know how you acquire the status.