Hilton Status Match Again- Valid thru 2018
 

So I received this email saying that status match is back on and Hilton will match other loyalty program from now until June 30th 2016, matching status will last until March 2018. (URL as below)

Ok so what's going on here Hilton are we really giving away diamonds like free candy? Again?:td::td:

Off to Marriotts I think.

https://hhonormystatus.hiltonapps.com

This sickens me! As someone who earned Diamond for over 11 years without promos or credit card spend. I did request a status match via this page, giving them my Hilton Diamond card and a little statement. I'm sure nothing will happen. I have been moving to Marriott over the past few years. I stay in hotels so much I can earn status with 4 brands.

When filling out there form I picked other and wrote in Hilton Honors and this is what I attached.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_V...Z=w769-h643-no

You truly believe that this is the best way to achieve your desired result?

Curious what response you got from that?

Well I'll admit I am one of the persons that got gold status back in 2014 as a benefit of the Asia Pacific region visa infinite card.
However it is because of this gold status that my colleagues and I began to stay at Dubai and Saudi Hiltons instead of Holiday Inns or Novotels for business trips. I am sure that Hilton HQ has the data point to prove that giving away status like candy does bringing in customers. Free wifi and free breakfast played a huge role in influencing my bookings, since I book my travels myself.

I have no desired result. Why not ask for anything they give away gold and Diamond like candy. It is in line with their ridiculous practices.

I personally have stayed with Hilton much more since they matched my spire status until 3/17.

Thumbs up.
I've been diamond member for a long time as well, mostly traveling in Asia Pacific regions, and I felt the rapid change in terms of Diamond member treatment drastically and by all means.
Last week in Singapore, this front desk guy told me that almost 50% guest coming in nowadays are ******** Diamonds. That's just insane!
But as you can see in their Financial report, APAC regional along improved room occupancy rate by over 30% and their margin by 25% since the candy-giving started.
Other from understanding their Corporate Strategy, the real diamonds are the only one suffering, so I guess for Hilton, it's a fair trade.

So I guess, the only choice left for real diamonds are to shove it or go to Marriott.

That page says "Offer is valid for recipient only. Invitation and offer is non-transferable" so it obviously targeted.

It also says "To match your status with Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold or Diamond status" so they are matching to the appropriate tier; not a Marriott silver to a Hilton diamond. Mass hysteria isn't warranted.

Proof of stays needed this time too.

Proof of stay was requested last time and in all status match programs.
In my understanding it literately takes 2 minutes with a Photoshop to forge a diamond status and stay record, as i was told by many HH GSM staff.

The issue is not what was requested or not, I have been a diamond for long yet i still received this email, so what's the logic for participant selection other than bashing the keyboard with their heads?

I would be more curious to know how Hilton would manage the upside down pyramid for their HH program, 50% Diamond, 20% Gold, 10% Sliver, 20% Plain.

Moreover, what would shrink out from the Diamond benefits- obviously they can't give the benefits to 50% as they use to give to the 5% Diamonds, if the freebies are gone, why would people still strive to stay on it?

I've benefitted from status matches in the past and used them to see what benefits I would receive as a regular customer over an occasional booker...I then based my decision on where to put my business based on those initial experiences...so we will likely see the diamond ranks at hotels increase a bit but not massively as even though many people will apply, not many will try it out more than once or twice and so we don't lose out much while both Hilton and diamonds ensure that enough of us are around and using the program to benefit both sides.

I'd prefer there to be some additional stay requirement in a set period to continue to have diamond (such as Hyatt has done in the past) which allows a sampling of the program/hotels/benefits but for a limited time only unless at least 4-6 stays are done within 4 months or some such which will cull the majority quickly enough...but even without this I think we are making a storm out of a tea cup.

IIRC, there were already over 55 million members in HHonors, and even assuming that diamonds and golds are only 2.5% of that...you are not that 'special' , the program is to the benefit of the hotel chain not the user...it simply provides some additional benefits IF you decide to stay with them.

And anecdotally, a small percentage will remain, but most will drop off, as I did with my Hyatt diamond (no longer, used 3 times), IHG Plat (before Spire) (used maybe 5 times), Lufthansa Senator (used it twice)...so, generally, I don't think most people know about the match offer, most that do will only stay once or twice and Hilton will gain some valuable new customers away from competitors that were previously with other programs that switch...and contribute to the program by validating the business model.

I imagine some hotels see a disproportionate amount of Gold/Diamonds such as the Conrads/better Hiltons and Singapore is one of those that likely sees this before the match so not sure that has changed anything personally. Most diamonds do stay a lot and travel a lot so the frequency will be higher at better hotels.

Anyway, I'm in favour of the occasional offer to match as it keeps new blood flowing in, keeps the program healthy and ensure the longevity of the program benefits. The wheat will be sorted from the chaff soon enough. Competition is good and it works both ways, when a status match to other programs comes around, try them, you may find they are better for your travel patterns and budget...Without the benefit of trying the higher tier benefits, few will be enticed to jump ship cold turkey and work their way up...

My .02

I'm mostly just bummed that the whole time I've been HH Diamond I've never lucked into a match with another chain. Missed out on the Hyatt twitter thing by a couple hours and they only offered to match me to useless credit card status. Would love to see what other chains offer, since I hear great things, but not gonna stay 50 or 60 nights to find out.

I was matched to Diamond until 2017 a couple months ago from the last promo. I'm gonna try extending that to 2018 now by submitting the current form.

I've benefited from the HHonors challenges in the past, but only to jump-start actual extended periods of time with legit earned status. I did a Gold challenge in '06 when I started my first adult job with travel, and it legitimately drew me into ~5 years as Diamond earned on Stays. I then used the Gold challenge again in late '13 after a couple of years off the road had dropped me to Silver and just before CC Gold emerged without spend requirements... and again I earned Diamond and have retained it since. I don't know if I'm the target here or not (I assume not since I wasn't targeted) but I take far less issue with targeted and vetted matches than I do with status being handed out so freely with CC allowing people to retain status indefinitely with a marginal number of stays (enough that it might impact the benefits I receive, but not enough to create any real loyalty to the brand).

I'm currently in the middle of a Marriott Gold Challenge which INCLUDES GOLD DURING THE CHALLENGE. I received an email alerting me that I'd been upgraded to gold with the requirements to keep it and I didn't even have to actively opt-in at all. I'm absolutely taking advantage of it since I have a couple of Marriott stays this coming month that I can't avoid (trade show venue, home office preferred property) and always have 5-10 nights of unavoidable Marriott stays each year.

That said, I think these kinds of offers are the nearly as dangerous as CC status in terms of diluting the program... you're giving status with little or no requirement (I made silver on nights last year because of unavoidable stays) that can be used during a single vacation that's probably already on the books with the challenge never completed and no loyalty of any sort established. There's no perpetual re-qualification of people with marginal number of stays like with CCs (plus CC status holders are likely generating points via spend that will be realized as reward stays with the freely given benefits), but you're handing out the status with little if any up-front requirement, not even the short challenge period needing to be met before the status can be used. Marriott challenges used to ALL be like this and I had a buddy that kept Gold by CC spend and did a Plat Challenge for his busy-ish (1 vacation, 3-4 weekend/wedding trips) summer social travel season... he was basically Marriott Platinum the 3 months a year he actually traveled and Gold the rest of the year, all on less than 20 nights/year. They did reign the challenges in to avoid that kind of abuse, but the targeted offers do seem to run similar (all be it contained) risks.