lattymong

My brother(Gold) and I (Diamond) and our spouses went to Italy in May. I basically saw no difference in three Hilton stays. Possibly and upgraded room in Lecce. Same "welcome gift" in Sorrento. Executive floor in Rome.

Basically no difference, so I am wondering I'm wondering if diamond is justified concerning the recent devaluation.

elkhornne

I use to earn Diamond from business travel. Now retired I mostly earn from spending on credit cards. I only travel about 30 days a year for pleasure. As a Diamond I almost always receive an upgrade, like last trip to Hawaii, a 1500 Sq. Ft. Suite upgrade for a week. IMO it's worth it to the casual traveler like me since I only stay in full service Hiltons. I like the access to the Executive floor. So to me it's worth it. JMHO

cblaisd

Fortunately, it's $95 annually.

cordelli

It all depends on a wide variety of factors.

How many upcoming stays will you have during the period of time your status is valid? If it's not that many, then no it's probably not worth it. If you continue 12 to 24 trips a year, it may be worth it.

What benefits are important to you and which hotels do you stay at? If you want upgrades and free breakfast, and stay at Embassy Suites most of the time, then no it's not worth it, as usually the upgrades are limited and everybody gets free breakfast. If you stay in Hiltons, then maybe it's worth it.

As for the honeymoon, I wouldn't chance that to some desk clerk clearing an upgrade for you based on your status. I would reserve the upgraded room and pay the extra for it.

tkelvin69

I'm a casual traveler who spends about 50% of the nights out of the country along with some WA stays. I find the diamond benefits to be very valuable for both room upgrades, lounge access, and other considerations (early check-in, late check-out, etc.). It's a pain but I do hotel hop in the same city to make it on stays.

gemac

I have about 5 stays a year at the Hilton LAX, and they have treated me very well. The rest of my stays are generally outside the US, and they also generally treat me well, with some exceptions.

poser

Thanks for the input! For the record we already have gold thanks the the Citi credit card.


My wife usually could care less about the points/miles game but when I brought this up to her she said I was an idiot for not doing it sooner She was even suggesting how we could plan this out if we visit her sister in Portland again. Doing a little calculation we should be able to hit Diamond with no mattress runs.

JDiver

I was already pulled over and cited for sleeping at the keyboard earlier. Ouch! Corrected; mahalo.

JDiver

If you can hit Diamond easily, go for it - and try to maximize your points every way you can. If it's a strain and your stays are mostly in the US, Gold will serve you reasonably well and allow greater flexibility in your lodgings.

kapkap46

No doubt if you are an International Traveller Diamond is worth it. Most of the time I get upgraded to a Suite or at least one of their best located. In the USA rarely get anything unless I reall go after it and since most of those are 1 nighters I don't care.

I find it extremely helpful to get the General Managers name and shoot him an email asking to be considered for a suite upgrade when I travel internationally.

I always make sure to say how I understand it is dependent on occupancy but I appreciate anything he can do.

I get what I ask for 90% of the time on International travel.

pantanal

If you have a business or have heavy business spend getting diamond is pretty easy

$40k spend gets you diamond using the surpass card or the city reserve card

aBroadAbroad

Agree with all who've said it's worth it if your stays are largely at non-U.S. props. We've been diamond four years plus, and saw virtually no benefit the few times we've stayed at U.S. properties. Otoh, cannot recall a single non-U.S. stay where we weren't treated exceptionally well.

EDIflyer

Totally agree - mainly as outside the US it's much more unusual to have Diamond (or even Gold) as we can only earn it on stays(/nights/base points) & don't get it with a CC. I think this smaller number of elites means the properties treat them better (IME esp in Asia). However in the US there are a lot more elites (CC & massive selection of cheaper properties for matress runs) so they tend to provide fewer benefits.

jeffers

I'm getting very close to Diamond status now (need 20,000 more points this year, which I will get soon) and I'm just curious whether people really notice a difference once they achieve this level? More upgrades, higher level of service, anything like that?

When I look at what's included in diamond status on the HH site, there really doesn't look like much that I'd take advantage of to be honest

alc

I see diamond status as more points only. Otherwise, I think a lot of people here say there are not a lot of differences. I had been questioning myself this year where I should re-qualify for diamond or not, currently sitting at only 11 stays for 2013, with only 3 booked for this month.