Dec 16, 2014, 2:26 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Lifetime Diamond Status with HHonors is now reality. ^
More recent information posted by Lauren (Hilton Honors Representative) reflects changes in the Honors Lifetime Diamond qualifying criteria:
Previous:
Details for the first inductees were announced on the 11th Feb. 2015. Erin (HHonors Rep here on FT) posted the announcement shortly before the emails were sent out to members on the same day.
[B]Initially, Lifetime Diamond Status will go to a select group of members who met all of the following criteria as of December 31, 2014:
All paid stays count — not just the paid stays during the years a member is a Hilton HHonors diamond.
As more information becomes available it will be added here. Should you have any updates please post them in the thread or in this wiki to keep the most pertinent info quickly available to those interested.
For those interested, the development unfolded as follows:
Erin, the HHonors rep on FT posted the following on 16/12/2014: (after some eagle eyed attention by adambrock from an email sent out by Hilton and which he thankfully posted here on FT: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...tus-email.html Kudos to adambrock for noticing and sharing it with the community. ^)
HHonorsRepresentative (Erin) wrote in that thread:
In 2015, HHonors will begin introducing Lifetime Diamond Status! As you may know, we’re always looking for new ways to reward you and we take into consideration your feedback on ways to recognize our most loyal members. Over the past several years, we’ve heard from you that Lifetime Diamond Status is important to you and I’m thrilled to announce that we will be inviting some of our most tenured Diamond members into this status.
I’ll have more details for you in early 2015 and I understand our first Lifetime Diamond members will receive their invitations in the early part of 2015. At this time, this is all the information I have on Lifetime Diamond Status, but I will do my best to keep you all updated as I hear more!
levman wrote in a post on Jan 24:
The best source of info I've found is the email address [email protected]. It seems to be staffed with people dedicated to the Lifetime Diamond program.
More recent information posted by Lauren (Hilton Honors Representative) reflects changes in the Honors Lifetime Diamond qualifying criteria:
Hi all,
A few months ago, we received some great feedback in the Q&A thread with our VP of Hilton HHonors, Aaron Glick. While the team explores a number of initiatives, one area that we could change quickly was our Lifetime Diamond qualifications. As of January 2017, we will grant Lifetime Diamond to all members who have met the following criteria:
• Members who have maintained Diamond status for at least 10 years (years do not need to be consecutive)
AND
• Have stayed at least 1,000 nights - either paid or reward (as you may know, only paid nights were eligible before)
OR
• Have accumulated 2 million Base Points since joining the Hilton HHonors program (this is a new feature to enable more members to enjoy Lifetime Diamond status; also as a reminder, only Base Points are eligible...Bonus Points earned via promotions, co-brand credit cards, or other means do not count towards status)
So now, there will be essentially two ways you can qualify for Lifetime Diamond:
1. 10 years at Diamond with Hilton HHonors + 1,000 nights (including paid and reward)
2. 10 years at Diamond + 2 million cumulative Base Points
An email notification will go out in February to members who have qualified for Lifetime Diamond as of December 31, 2016. If you want a sneak peek to find out if you will qualify, you can contact the Diamond Desk and the team will be happy to help.
Please reach out with any questions or comments, and I’ll be sure to share them directly with Aaron and team.
Thank you!
Lauren
A few months ago, we received some great feedback in the Q&A thread with our VP of Hilton HHonors, Aaron Glick. While the team explores a number of initiatives, one area that we could change quickly was our Lifetime Diamond qualifications. As of January 2017, we will grant Lifetime Diamond to all members who have met the following criteria:
• Members who have maintained Diamond status for at least 10 years (years do not need to be consecutive)
AND
• Have stayed at least 1,000 nights - either paid or reward (as you may know, only paid nights were eligible before)
OR
• Have accumulated 2 million Base Points since joining the Hilton HHonors program (this is a new feature to enable more members to enjoy Lifetime Diamond status; also as a reminder, only Base Points are eligible...Bonus Points earned via promotions, co-brand credit cards, or other means do not count towards status)
So now, there will be essentially two ways you can qualify for Lifetime Diamond:
1. 10 years at Diamond with Hilton HHonors + 1,000 nights (including paid and reward)
2. 10 years at Diamond + 2 million cumulative Base Points
An email notification will go out in February to members who have qualified for Lifetime Diamond as of December 31, 2016. If you want a sneak peek to find out if you will qualify, you can contact the Diamond Desk and the team will be happy to help.
Please reach out with any questions or comments, and I’ll be sure to share them directly with Aaron and team.
Thank you!
Lauren
Details for the first inductees were announced on the 11th Feb. 2015. Erin (HHonors Rep here on FT) posted the announcement shortly before the emails were sent out to members on the same day.
Hi all,
Thanks for your patience as I gathered more details on our Lifetime Diamond rollout. As we’re in the New Year, I have some additional details to share with you.
Initially, Lifetime Diamond Status will go to a select group of members who met all of the following criteria as of December 31, 2014: Members that met this criteria as of December 31, 2014 will be notified via email and receive their Lifetime Diamond Status in the mail at the physical address on their account at the end of February. Members that meet Lifetime Diamond Status criteria in the middle of the year will receive Lifetime Diamond Status at the beginning of the following year.
Please note that we are in early stages of this benefit, which means that elements of this offering may evolve and may change over time. As I hear of any updates, I will be sure to share those here.
As always, your input is truly valued and we welcome your thoughts and feedback during this launch period. We’re here and listening!
Thanks,
Erin
Thanks for your patience as I gathered more details on our Lifetime Diamond rollout. As we’re in the New Year, I have some additional details to share with you.
Initially, Lifetime Diamond Status will go to a select group of members who met all of the following criteria as of December 31, 2014:
- Have maintained Diamond Status for at least 10 years (consecutive or concurrent) and
- Completed paid stays totaling at least 1,000 nights
Please note that we are in early stages of this benefit, which means that elements of this offering may evolve and may change over time. As I hear of any updates, I will be sure to share those here.
As always, your input is truly valued and we welcome your thoughts and feedback during this launch period. We’re here and listening!
Thanks,
Erin
All paid stays count — not just the paid stays during the years a member is a Hilton HHonors diamond.
As more information becomes available it will be added here. Should you have any updates please post them in the thread or in this wiki to keep the most pertinent info quickly available to those interested.
For those interested, the development unfolded as follows:
Erin, the HHonors rep on FT posted the following on 16/12/2014: (after some eagle eyed attention by adambrock from an email sent out by Hilton and which he thankfully posted here on FT: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...tus-email.html Kudos to adambrock for noticing and sharing it with the community. ^)
HHonorsRepresentative (Erin) wrote in that thread:
In 2015, HHonors will begin introducing Lifetime Diamond Status! As you may know, we’re always looking for new ways to reward you and we take into consideration your feedback on ways to recognize our most loyal members. Over the past several years, we’ve heard from you that Lifetime Diamond Status is important to you and I’m thrilled to announce that we will be inviting some of our most tenured Diamond members into this status.
I’ll have more details for you in early 2015 and I understand our first Lifetime Diamond members will receive their invitations in the early part of 2015. At this time, this is all the information I have on Lifetime Diamond Status, but I will do my best to keep you all updated as I hear more!
levman wrote in a post on Jan 24:
The best source of info I've found is the email address [email protected]. It seems to be staffed with people dedicated to the Lifetime Diamond program.
Consolidated "Lifetime Diamond - Experiences, Questions, Is It Worth It?" thread
Nov 15, 2016, 5:51 am
#856
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Newcastle, UK
Posts: 2,379
No, I've been a member since 1999 and my wife and I set up a mutual account shortly after joining. As Land-of-miles states, the granting of these joint accounts was stopped in 2004, some 12 years ago. Just out of curiosity and slightly off topic, does anyone know what year the Hhonors programme was started by Hilton?
Nov 15, 2016, 1:08 pm
#858
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: HH D
Posts: 1,641
How dare you ask such an off topic question
Last edited by Sisosig; Nov 17, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Nov 17, 2016, 10:29 am
#859
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: ORD
Programs: DL, Hhonors, MR, SPG, Enterprise, Hertz
Posts: 18
OK, this thread has gotten off topic, big time.
Per the person I know at Hilton, the reason it took so long for Hilton to create the lifetime program was that they needed to makes sure they would never revoke it, as it would have to many implications on the loyalty programs reputation if they did. So the lifetime status won't be going away, they may change how hard it is to get.
They originally planned on making adjustments, but haven't because they have heard very little on the complaints side of this. Well, I am complaining. They only initiated a program because they were losing the most frequent travelers to programs that offered it.
Let reward redemption nights count, for one. They already count towards making status in that year.
Make the number a lot more realistic. I'm ok with the 10 years of Diamond, but not 1000 nights, let alone 1000 paid nights and 10 years.
Hilton needs to be competitive, or I won't be able to justify my loyalty. But calling a lifetime program a stupid reason to be loyal, because it will be gone is contradictory to what a loyalty program is in the first place, and the hotels know that.
Per the person I know at Hilton, the reason it took so long for Hilton to create the lifetime program was that they needed to makes sure they would never revoke it, as it would have to many implications on the loyalty programs reputation if they did. So the lifetime status won't be going away, they may change how hard it is to get.
They originally planned on making adjustments, but haven't because they have heard very little on the complaints side of this. Well, I am complaining. They only initiated a program because they were losing the most frequent travelers to programs that offered it.
Let reward redemption nights count, for one. They already count towards making status in that year.
Make the number a lot more realistic. I'm ok with the 10 years of Diamond, but not 1000 nights, let alone 1000 paid nights and 10 years.
Hilton needs to be competitive, or I won't be able to justify my loyalty. But calling a lifetime program a stupid reason to be loyal, because it will be gone is contradictory to what a loyalty program is in the first place, and the hotels know that.
Nov 17, 2016, 10:57 pm
#860
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Under the MAN airport flightpath, UK
Programs: Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 54
I am one of the initial set of Lifetime Diamonds so the conversation here is a little academic for me but the criteria are the criteria. 1000 paid nights isn't too difficult. For example, I currently have 134 nights in 2016 with about six weeks left in 2016 I still have another 24 to add for the year.
People must understand that there are many people who stay many many nights at Hilton. If you stay 20-30 nights a year then it will take a long time. But if you stay at the rate of 150 nights per year it will take longer to get the 10 years of diamond than the 1000 paid stays.
It is supposed to be hard to qualify that's the whole point.
People must understand that there are many people who stay many many nights at Hilton. If you stay 20-30 nights a year then it will take a long time. But if you stay at the rate of 150 nights per year it will take longer to get the 10 years of diamond than the 1000 paid stays.
It is supposed to be hard to qualify that's the whole point.
Nov 18, 2016, 2:36 am
#861
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
The difference between a hotel lifetime and airline lifetime status is that once you achieve the airline lifetime status you don't need to fly that airline any more and can still enjoy the benefits on other (better) airlines in the alliance - at least for the lifetime of your airline staying in that alliance 
If you are staying 150 nights a year, you will requalify for Diamond every year anyway and don't need lifetime status unless you are going a sabbatical or having kids (in a country where you can take 6-12 months off for doing this
) or until you change job/retire/stop wanting to travel.
If I ever reach BA lifetime status then I will never need to fly BA again. If I reach Hilton lifetime Diamond it would give me a reason to continue staying at Hiltons.
If you are staying 150 nights a year, you will requalify for Diamond every year anyway and don't need lifetime status unless you are going a sabbatical or having kids (in a country where you can take 6-12 months off for doing this
) or until you change job/retire/stop wanting to travel.If I ever reach BA lifetime status then I will never need to fly BA again. If I reach Hilton lifetime Diamond it would give me a reason to continue staying at Hiltons.
Nov 18, 2016, 10:41 am
#862
Join Date: Apr 2010
Programs: HH Lifetime Diamond, 20 years
Posts: 465
I feel that the 1,000 paid nights is quite appropriate. If the paid night threshold is reduced then a total dollar spend threshold requirement should be added. $250,000.00 US would be appropriate for the total dollar spend threshold.
Nov 18, 2016, 4:52 pm
#863
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: SNA
Programs: UA LT Plat, 2.5mm, Hilton LTD, SPG LT Gold, Marriott Gold, Hertz Whatever
Posts: 161
When I started out having to travel for work it never occurred to me that I would spend the equivalent of three years of nights just in Hilton hotels. I confirmed with HH that I did in fact earn LT status earlier this year. However, if I was just starting out today I would not be considering the LT program, I'd be looking at who offers the best benefits for my needs today, not something way down the road. Likewise with my airline choice, I didn't make a decision on the MM program, it was based on who met my needs both in routes and benefits at that time. I like that there's a fairly high bar because the LT program is like a pension plan, there's more and more people being added all the time and next thing you know, there are rather a lot of them sucking away at the same pool of benefits. Something's going to give eventually if you make it too easy to attain and everybody ends up losing.
Nov 18, 2016, 7:48 pm
#864
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: USA FL
Programs: Hilton Honors LT Diamond, Marriott Gold Delta Gold, Avis Preferred Plus,
Posts: 190
Lifetime status requirements are currently crazy. I have 8 years Diamond with 560 paid nights. Yes they actually sent me a reply with the paid nights, not all of my nights. I have about 40 free nights lifetime so that is a big chunk I can't apply. At this rate it will take me just over 6 years more to get there and be diamond for about 14 years total. No need for me to even try to stay loyal.
If you were just starting out looking who to place your loyalty with to get Lifetime you would be crazy to go with Hilton.
If you were just starting out looking who to place your loyalty with to get Lifetime you would be crazy to go with Hilton.
Last edited by poker9ite; Nov 19, 2016 at 8:03 am
Nov 19, 2016, 4:47 am
#865
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Borders, Scotland, UK
Programs: HH Diamond, IHG Spire Amb, BA Blue
Posts: 550
15 years straight as Diamond but nowhere near the 1000 nights as i only ever have single night stays. Longer stays i'm using points for vacation nights.
Average around 35 to 40 stays a year. I have noticed the drop off in upgraded rooms due to the newbie Diamonds.
Average around 35 to 40 stays a year. I have noticed the drop off in upgraded rooms due to the newbie Diamonds.
Nov 19, 2016, 10:28 am
#866
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Posts: 10,909
Someone who stays a lot of nights a year will most like have to wait on the 10 years. Someone who stays just enough nights or even just the minimum stays will have to wait on the nights to accumulate. 10 years demonstrates a lot of loyalty no matter how you get your status year in and year out.
And I don't understand the people who say once I get the status I don't need to stay there anymore. To me, lifetime status is for later in life when your travel patterns will most likely change so you can enjoy the perks during your retirement years without having to worry about the status. Sure, maybe some people stay enough to earn lifetime in more than 1 program but I don't think that is the point. I want to enjoy the status even in the years I don't earn it for that year. But I will still stay in the hotels as I always have. It would just take the pressure off if have a slow year and be there later when you don't travel as much.
For those that say they will move to another chain once earn, why did you stay in Hiltons in the first place. Surely you didn't do it to earn the lifetime benefit as Hilton did not have it until just recently.
And I don't understand the people who say once I get the status I don't need to stay there anymore. To me, lifetime status is for later in life when your travel patterns will most likely change so you can enjoy the perks during your retirement years without having to worry about the status. Sure, maybe some people stay enough to earn lifetime in more than 1 program but I don't think that is the point. I want to enjoy the status even in the years I don't earn it for that year. But I will still stay in the hotels as I always have. It would just take the pressure off if have a slow year and be there later when you don't travel as much.
For those that say they will move to another chain once earn, why did you stay in Hiltons in the first place. Surely you didn't do it to earn the lifetime benefit as Hilton did not have it until just recently.
Nov 19, 2016, 11:21 am
#867
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Ha, I know, right? Like people are going to think "Now that I've earned lifetime Diamond, I'll go stay at the Holiday Inn down the street and just imagine the Hilton EL access and suite upgrades."
Nov 19, 2016, 3:52 pm
#868
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: DCA/RIC
Programs: HH LTD, AA LTG
Posts: 1,015
It certainly makes no sense to me either. Unless they seem to think that they will earn LT status in another program to give them more options when they retire?
Nov 19, 2016, 4:34 pm
#869
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: MAN and LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC LT Gold, HH Dia, MR LT Plat, IHG Diamond Amb, Amex Plat
Posts: 13,773
I have for some years had earned SPG Plat and IHG RA and comped HH Plat (after 11 years of normal qualification). Next year I need to requalify for HH DIA so once I had LT SPG Plat in the bag earlier this year I haven't had a single Starwood stay.
This has nothing to do with how much I like Starwood (a lot) compared to Hilton (a little) and everything to do with rational qualification across multiple chains when spending 109s of nights away.
Nov 20, 2016, 5:20 am
#870
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 15,351
OP, No Hilton never considered lowering lifetime Diamond from 1000 nights, no serious executive at the Honors program has ever considered this. Perhaps a phone agent said something to you , that does not count. The 1000 nights is competitive.