azepine00

what on earth can possibly give that idea?
For the past five or so years (well aligned with Blackstone deal) Hilton has been consistently depreciating the program and even more so for diamonds.

No other program or status in the world of major hotel chains comes close to the kind of "i spit on you but you'll come back anyways" attitude of hilton corporate's "enhancements"...

jamesteroh

But seeing Gold can be bought for so cheap now they will need to make some changes to encourage people to stay at Diamond. If they continue to delvalue diamond so that golds get the same benefits, people can simply pay the $90 a year for a Visa for gold when they have to stay at Hilton and the people that acutally stay in hotels a lot can take their loyalty elsewhere.

What I see happening though is some of the gold benefits going away. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hilton eliminate breakfast for golds seeing none of the other chains provide to their second highest tier members, except for Marriott and Marriott gold is a LOT harder to achieve than Hilton gold, and Marriott doesn't give breakfast at all their brands, even to their highest tiers.

RobbyBobby

That is exactly what I did when I figured that Diamond alone is not enough, I got Amex Delta Reserve. Since then (last six months) I was not upgraded 1.

RobbyBobby

I don't know about that. I only have Diamond for last two years. My approach is to always send an email to GM and than when on property introduced and chat some in person. Works wonders (da!) on the return visits. I am also Diamond with Hyatt and comparing those two I think Hilton gives you way more.

Keyser

i agree that approach works but one should not have to do this to get the benefits they are entitled to....

i have been diamond since 2006 & for the first time i am going to let that expire....i have another 8 stays coming up in december & if i sent them all hilton's way then i would reach the 100k base point threshold for diamond status but i'm just going to stay with spg who treat me a lot better....

i have seen a steady decline in service & benefits over the last 6-7 years as diamond....now, with diamond force being taken away, i see no real difference between diamond & gold....

jamesteroh

I agree they should automatically upgrade a diamond into a suite or the next best available room if they aren't planning on being sold out. If a hotel is sold out or thinks they will sell the suite, then I don't blame them for not upgrading diamonds. Just like if an airline can sell every first class seat on a flight, they are going to sell those seats and not upgrade elites who paid for a coach ticket.

Diamond force is still there on paid stays. And for business travels that can be a real benefit. And it is still there at some properties on reward stays. The Hilton Bentley in Miami is a hotel I use for rewards stays and the diamond desk is always able to get them to give me a room for an axon rate or to use the citi certificates, and I know one or two other people also commented on this property. For me the biggest benefit to being diamond has been the unwritten benefit of cancelling a stay at the last minute. There have been a couple times just this year that I have had flights go into Irops and couldn't get out that night and the diamond desk was able to get the first night waived even though I was past the cancel deadline (and one time someone from the office that is gold was traveling with me and the same property wouldn't budge for her and charged her that night). If it's a personal trip you are paying for out of pocket that is a great deal.

stifle

My favourite part of being Diamond is saying "But I am a Diamond guest".

[have only done it twice; risk getting punched by my wife]

jamesteroh

You should have told them you were a Diamond VIP guest

Did you bring your giraffe and demand they kick out the person paying rack rate for the presidential suite to give it to you on a MVP rate?

TallestHotelInJapan

Oh yes, that is one of the few - if not the sole - advantage of being a diamond status holder

Keyser

that's true & i used diamond force last month for a paid stay....its definitely a good benefit but not something that would push me to retain diamond status....its the reward stays don't exist anymore unless you want to use a huge chunk of points per night....some properties might still oblige but its generally not available anymore....

gbearbuck

Most of my stays are for various conferences and personal travel (fortunate to have a massive amount of days off each year... two months doesn't go by without a vacation in the gbearbuck household, although some are only long weekends). The point of sharing that is that I'm always at a WA, Conrad, or Hilton with the occasional DoubleTree. As a Diamond I'm batting near 1.000 with ER upgrades and have at least a jr Suite more than 50% of the time. I always book the cheapest king bed room available. If I was staying in HGI or Hampons I'm sure I would have different thoughts on the matter.

When I was gold a few years ago I rarely received a jr. suite let alone a real suite. And an ER was a 50/50 proposition. For me Diamond has been great the last couple of years.

My last trip to Europe I was upgraded to Jr. Suites or full blown suites for every single hotel we stayed in throughout the four week trip (and the EL's in Europe are a big deal especially compared to the domestic EL's).

I couldn't be happier as a Diamond (although I seem to be in the minority). Maybe it has to do with the fact that most of my Hilton stays are in Europe (HH diamonds are definitely treated better overseas) or at resort destinations/vegas in the US as opposed to Hampton stays in the middle of nowhere. On a side note the old Vegas Hilton was great, almost always upgraded to a suite... I miss that place (hope the Trop will treat diamonds as well as the old LVH).

cblaisd

Just booked three reward stays yesterday at the normal "price" at exactly the hotels I wanted on the dates I wanted with the room choices I wanted.

Nuance, please

mnredfox

I'm moving from HH to Hyatt, and wondering what you more does HH offer than Hyatt? Other than properties. I never get suite UG's with Hilton anyway...

Keyser

sounds good but i believe you are referring to a normal points booking whereas i am talking about diamond force using points....i have been denied about half a dozen times this year at various properties....they said that as long as a premium room is available at a higher price i cannot use diamond force at the normal rates....

stc

Let's see, Executive Lounges that are open on weekends, more Executive Lounges ...

(Yes, Hyatt probably does have some Executive Lounges that are open on weekends, but I've never found one ...)