hellmutt

False. There is no Diamond on the old Amex Card. I know, I just spent $72K on my Amex last year and no Diamond extension for me. I also hoped to be in the top 1000 during the promo mentioned a few posts above mine, but $13K over that time period was not enough for me to qualify.

formeraa

I would recomment WAITING until all your bonus points post from your regular card. I almost got burned on a similar offer a few years back. Fortunatiely, it happened that I upgraded 2 days after my bonus points had posted. Otherwise, per the fine print I later found, I wouldn't have received any bonus points.

wilp888

What really is the difference between a frequest guest at the hotel chain and a frequent user of the co-branded credit card? They are both frequent customers and they both make money for your company. If Hilton decide to reward its best credit card customers with some perks at its hotels, where is the harm? Is this any different than corporate rates or special upgrades for large bookings, etc.? The people who gain status this way are the ones who don't have enough stays to obtain status on their own so where really is the damage to the regular frequent guests? I made my Diamond status by concentrating most of my stays at Hilton but if I can get the same status by charging more on my Hilton credit card, I would probably stay less and theorectically create less competition for upgrades. Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

azepine00

Devaluation and decreased loyalty.
Tomorrow someone may come up with a better card and we'll all switch leaving hilton without any loyal guests. But that's not Blackstone's concern as they will dump the assets after squeezing every penny they can possibly squeeze.

I think I agree with you that current elite program members won't be impacted too much. Hilton and Hilton employees (especially long term) will be.

TimMeineke

When I went on the Amex website to pay my bill, the picture of the card is now brown vs the old platinum. Does that mean that theu automatically changed me over, or is it something else

Also for those who were wondering if it's worth it to switch spending from another card to make Diamond, I would say no for SPG folks. To me, the value and redepemtion of the SPG Amex is better, and the higher HH status doesn't get you much (full disclosure - 80% of my HH stays are at HI or ES). Maybe if you spend $40K a year on gas and groceries...

NJUPINTHEAIR

Perhaps.

"We" are a very small number of the universe of Hilton HHonors members. You magnify our overall importance, especially in numbers. Furthermore, it is doubtful that "we" will all switch and leave Hilton high and dry, as a number of people on this board like Hilton properties, not the least of which it is convenient to where they may travel for business or pleasure. Moreover, again, there are many others who do not participate on this board who are loyal Hilton members and will not desert them. The sky is not falling.


Big Bad Rapacious Blackstone -- Hollywood's muddled view of all corporations has clouded your outlook, no doubt because of their proximity to you. Companies can make a profit and also benefit their clientele -- if they don't, they won't be patronized.

And, by the way, Big Bad Blackstone, has added and is in the process of adding marquee properties to the Hilton brand -- more choices in desirable locations for HHonors members -- so much for "dumping" their assets.

Perhaps, but Wilp88 makes some very compelling points. ^

Hilton = Blackstone; Blackstone = Hilton.

As to Hilton employees, given the economic environment with room occupancies falling thru the basement, anything that keeps rooms occupied is a benefit to hotel employees, especially hotel service employees. Thus, the Surpass Card will bring new people into the chain, at a minimum to experience Diamond benefits, and/or to spend their free nights accumulated from the card. Of course the foregoing is a de minimus example, the reality will be greater patronization of Hilton properties for their lodging needs, be it business or leisure travel.

Your predictions are unsupportable.

PigsDad

The regular HHonors Amex is now brown, and the new Surpass card is a lighter brown. The one shown on the website is the regular HHonors Amex. You can see pics of both cards here (under the "View All Cards" tab).

Kurt

NJUPINTHEAIR

Spoken like a hard earned SPG Platinum. I bet your outlook would be different if you did not travel that much and therefore had neither Platinum status in SPG nor Diamond status in Hilton. Then, I am confident what tune you would be singing!

azepine00

I am somewhat torn on this issue, and perhaps I am unjustifiably critical of Blackstone; however Mervyns' bankruptcy reminded me of risks related to some private equity firms.

As for CC - if we assume the promo brings in more diamonds to hilton hotels then it will clearly dilute the benefits of the existing "traditional" elites.

If it doesn't then it's not gonna benefit the hotels or the employees - only Blackstone and CC division.

I do agree that recently added properties enhance the program but at the same time there are plenty of reports of diminishing benefits (read HWV or HHV)

I'll probably follow the suggestion posted earlier to spend enough to clear diamond on CC (assuming my spending permits it) but continue patronizing SPG and Hyatt.

MichaelColey

I really don't see much difference. Keep in mind that you earn 3 (or more) HH points per dollar spent vs. 1 Starpoint (and up to 29 points/$ on hotel stays vs. up to 5 points/$ with SPG). After you divide the points by 3 (or perhaps 4 since some spending earns more - or 6 or 9 if you use it exclusively for those higher earning items), it's really pretty comparable. For instance, the VIP rewards let you get category 4 from 21k, category 5 from 25k, and category 6 from 29k. Divided by 4, that's about equivalent to 5k, 6k, 7k Starpoints, basically a Starwood Category 3 (or Category 4 with 5th night free). This is great for things like the Hilton Hawaiian Village, for instance.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Yes, that is how I view it. If your spending on the cc permits, then it allows one an additional opportunity to make top tier in another program they might not have been able to do, since they perhaps now could earn their way to Diamond via credit card spend -- like others who have chimed in on this thread.

Therefore, as I have noted above, I think it actually permits hard core road warriors additional opportunities they might not have initially considered.

sharklover

I upgraded today and when I just called back they could not give me a $50 credit. The rep spoke to their supervisor. How did you do it?

davef139

They tend to depend allot on the type of customer you are to them, im sure spending does a bit. When i screwed up some timing of payments I had a finance charge billed so put an inquery in and they just gave me a curtousy credit, no questions asked. I had also charged through a good 12k in the first 3months of being a customer.

sharklover

I charged about $30K in the last year on my card.

Roger Lococco

When you qualify for Gold or Diamond through AMEX spend, how long is the status good for? Is it the same as qualifying with stays?

For example, if you go over $20k in October 2009, is Gold good through April 2011?