These criteria are closer to the old Marriott lifetime criteria while the ten years as a Diamond parallels the SPG requirement of ten (not necessarily consecutive) years as Plat (plus 500 nights) for lifetime PlatMinus status.

I'm surprised that no one has made a literary reference (or joke) about diamond appearing at one thousand and one nights.

Same, I got nothing. I have 5 years as Diamond and 4 years as Gold, just shy of 400 nights, and had a killer couple of years in '13 and '14 with over 200k base points and 90+ nights both years.

I requested a count from HH via e-mail and received a response in less than a day. The night count included award nights, and it will take them up to 10 business days to provide a night count for paid stays.

I've been a Diamond for 8 years, and at the rate I'm going I will be LTD in about in about 12 more years. :D (I used to really benefit from the rolling tier qualifications. :))

A meaningful Lifetime Gold would be nice, as that would likely be within reach for me.

David

I suspect you are correct. I think it is highly likely they cannot publish the real threshold and simply came up with one that generally fit. That is why they put the language in about it being at the discretion of HH.

I also think that the lifetime thing is not very important considering what Diamond is and how to achieve it. If it was worth all that much, it would be worth 30 stays.

For the 1,000 night requirement is that 1,000 total nights since being an HH member or just since achieving gold?

And for the 10 years of diamond will credit card status count or just earned status?

I have over 1,000 night including the years I was gold and have been a diamond for seven.

Dual HH and Hyatt diamond. Seeing how stingy Hilton is with the highest speed wifi and giving late checkouts, I am trying to move any stays I can over to SPG when possible from Hilton since I get decent internet speeds and a guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout so won't qualify this year on nights for Hilton diamond but can easily put $40,000 on a credit card to maintain the status.

It would be worth it for me to put the $40,000 a year over the next three years on a credit card if it means lifetime diamond status, but I am not sure if those three years will count towards the ten year requirement or not.

Well, I do sometimes travel with him. ;)

Dude, do you need somebody to explain how 'and' is used in setting out qualification criteria? Complain that you don't like the criteria, but they are plural here and Hilton sets them as it sees fit.

The PAID night requirement is going to keep me from achieving LT Diamond. I qualify for Diamond on stays, most paids are at lower end properties (HI, HGI, DT), awards at higher end properties.

Especially with Diamond currently being the only lifetime tier.

My father has been Diamond for about 7 consecutive years (he's not exactly sure). Most of his stays are at least 5 consecutive nights in properties in Europe and at the Beverly Hilton, so he qualifies on base points. He said that he'll "never" hit the 1,000 night requirement for Lifetime Diamond.

17 years straight Diamond isn't good enough for them
 

17 years in a row as Diamond averaging 40-50 nights per year (granted...on the lower end) and I'm still not even close to making the requirement. Lifetime Diamond would have brought me back, but now I'm glad I've moved most of my business to Marriott. Even the credit card nights count towards lifetime there.

If Diamond were super special, I would agree with the tough requirements, but even as Marriott Gold, I get treated much better than HH Diamond.

Right on, I have been Diamond now for over 13 years straight and always have at least 150 paid/nights per year. It's nice to be recognized as a Lifetime Diamond, but put some additional benefits against it like allowing a family of four to get free breakfast and to go in the Executive lounge in the evening, or a suite upgrade as you suggest, it will then give others more to strive for, not to mention reward that long term loyalty.

I will say though that for the most part, most Hilton properties have been very accommodating when I do travel with family on occasion, but making it a clear perk for attaining Lifetime or even Diamond would give people something to work toward and probably draw others in from competing programs.

I know some are complaining about the 1,000 paid nights and 10 years, but that's what makes it more exclusive and in recognition of long term and consistent loyalty ^

I very much enjoy my United Global Services level, I spend a lot of money with United and have been a loyal customer for many many years, as a result they recognize that and give me some pretty nice and exclusive perks.

For those saying 10 years and 1,000 paid nights is tough to achieve, consider the airlines, on United to get lifetime Gold you need to have flown a million base miles, two million for Platinum, three million for 1K and four million for lifetime Global Service. Now I do 200,000 to 275,000 base miles a year, so 20 years and a huge amount of dollars on UA metal to attain lifetime in their highest tier, 40 years if you do a healthy 100,000 base miles a year.

Hilton, I think you have it right, 10yrs/1,000 paid nights, let Marriott and Starwood lower their requirements then have them lose the exclusiveness of attaining the level in the first place, but please give us Lifetime Diamonds a few extra perks in reward for our long term and consistent loyalty to Hilton.

Dude, he IS complaining about the criteria.

Hilton Testing Diamond member loyalty
 

Wow, I hope Hilton is reading these boards. I think they took something with LTD and this 100K promotion and thought they had good things in place and what they really did was irritate and alienate.
They have to know that nothing is a secret anymore and that information travels in real time on the internet.
So they are either stupid with these promotions or they just don't care what loyal members think.....and I am not sure which of these scenarios is worse

Complete incompetence at HH about this. Per the suggestion of another poster I sent this email to HH:

I am trying to determine how many paid nights I have toward the 1000 required for lifetime diamond status. I called the Diamond Desk and they were unable to provide. Another HH member suggested that I email this address as they had been provided the answer within an hour.

Can you provide me with the # of paid nights I have?"

This is the response I got:
Dear XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Lifetime Diamond Status. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.

Our records indicate that your account has registered xxxx total nights since your enrollment on March 31, 1994.

To achieve Lifetime Diamond Status, you must have maintained Diamond Status for at least 10 years (non-consecutive) and completed 1,000 paid nights. The 1,000 paid nights are over the life of the HHonors account, not only the years the Member achieved Diamond status.

If there is anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact us. For immediate assistance, please click on the link below for the contact number of the Hilton Worldwide Service Center location nearest you.

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/support/index.html

Best regards,

XXXXXXXXX
Diamond Coordinator
Customer Care Email Department
Hilton Reservations and Customer Care
www.hiltonworldwide.com

How are we doing?

Hilton Worldwide strives to offer the world’s best customer service in every interaction. We would love to hear your thoughts on your experience with the last email representative to assist you. Please click on the below survey link to be redirected to a new survey tool geared towards improving the service our email team provides:
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My loyalty is being tested.

990 Total nights (I thought I had over 1000 but was mistaken)
21 consecutive years as a Diamond Member

Not good enough for Lifetime Diamond Status

Too good for the 100,000 bonus points and 2x/3x promotion

While Hilton is handing out rewards nothing for me and many, what I would consider extremely loyal, customers.

My brother-in-law has been trying to get me to convert to Marriott for years. He called to ask me how I made out with Hilton's new promotions and got a great laugh when I told him that he was right - I should have made the switch over a decade ago. The good news is I have another 10 years of heavy travel so can make LT status in Marriot if I choose. The fact that Hilton cannot even tell me how many PAID nights I have out of the 990 total is mind boggling. Thought about switching my stays the next three weeks in NYC, Berlin, and Istanbul but decided to stay put for the moment.

Rant over - I feel a little better