jeffers

Hmm, I thought so. I guess the difference in points would still work out as quite a lot if you stay a lot for the year.

missamo80

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...=diamond+worth

jeffers

Yeah I saw that, but it's very hard to get anything useful out of a 43 page thread without spending hours sifting through :/

pryonic

I've found it useful a few times to get access to the executive lounge when not upgraded to an executive floor. This happens often at the Birmingham Metropole (UK) which I stay at most weeks and is often booked up by events at the NEC - and also on holiday a few times in London (Waldorf) and Dubai (Jumeirah Beach).

Sometimes in properties without lounges you get the "full" breakfast instead of just the continental - as I found at the DoubleTree Times Square and Cologne Hilton.

Pretty minor benefits but I do make use of the lounge in Birmingham most weeks!

cordelli

You could change the number of posts per page, then it's only a sixteen page thread, and maybe that will be easier for you.

wizla

have you noticed how the lounge there used to be great but is now average?...... shame, i used to love it when kay was running it.....now to many cutbacks.
staying on topic - im a gold myself and got to admit i do miss lounge access when not upgraded....depends how much it means to you.

pryonic

Yes I've noticed the drop in quality at the Birmingham Metropole lounge - check the thread for the hotel where there's a few lists of the "cost cutting" programme the regulars, myself included, have noticed.

Still, never look a gift horse in the mouth. Boring cheese is better than no cheese!

gemac

So you prefer that someone else whose time is less valuable should spend their time sifting through the thread, and they should distill out of it everything that you would want to know and put it in a post, and omit all information that you do not want to know?

If I am interested in a topic, I research it here. I almost always find out the answers to questions that I did not know enough to even ask.

Globalist

Isn't it all about being helpful? Someone might already have gone through the many pages and can give a quick answer which is kind and saves time. That is a completely different approach than expecting someone to do the work for you when you ask the question.

If you don't have anything usefull to add, then dont bother?

Globalist

jamesteroh

There are a couple properties that it helps.

The bonus points aren't that much of a benefit anymore with the deval. Last time they did a major deval in Q4 there was a promo for just diamonds for a free night with every 10 paid nights that could be stacked with the regular q4 promo and the delta MQM promo. I don't see Blackstone doing that this year, but if he did, that is a grea tbenefit there.

The Bentley in Miami gives diamonds a full breakfast and welcome bottle of wine and waives the resort fee. The trop in Vegas gives diamonds a full breakfast instead and you can use the VIP lounge to check in and get their casino Platinum level for being a Hilton Diamond. Some properties waive resort fees for diamonds and not golds so that is a great benefit if you stay at those properties.

The Hilton Atlanta will give diamonds both a full breakfast buffet and lounge access where if you are a gold you get the lounge breakfast ONLY if you are on the exec level and if you aren't on the exec level, no lounge access and a grab and go bag breakfast.

SF Hilton in Union square gives Diamonds a full breakfast normally or if not it's at least the cont buffett in the restaurant and you can use those vouchers for breakfast and other vouchers later in the day at starbucks in the lobby where if you are a gold you only get to use the vouchers for a drink and fruit and pastry at the starbucks.

WIth all the credit card holders getting gold, I wouldn't be surprised to see their benefits deminish and IF the hotel does their job propertly you should get upgraded over a gold (doesn't appear to be working though at a lot of hotels) so you won't have as many people to compete against with an upgrade.

I am seeing more hotels in the US refusing to give golds lounge access if they aren't on the exec level now as well. The lounge access is nice overseas.

Skimanant

I'm at Birmingham Met Friday (tomo) if anyone wants a chat!

Zurich

I became Diamond a year ago and I decided to work for it this year in order to achieve Diamond next year again.
First of all, I did not experience too many upgrades beyond executive floor. Sind access to the EL is given as Diamond, I dubs this more of a 'mock' upgrade.
What I do like as Diamond is the 50% points bonus and the 1'000 points per stay. However, devaluation was faster than my appreciating the extra points. Having access to the EL is a comfortable thought, provided the hotel has a (valuable) EL.
I now started to contact general managers or front desk managers in advance of my stays and since then some remarkable upgrades are listed in my reservations. I think, Diamond status is of great help here.

slider34

I agree about being helpful and almost never comment negatively when someone asks a question that has been ask 100 times.

But even I scratched my head a little when someone says "yeah I know about that post but don't want to read through all of it."

Most of the time if someone posts a link to a thread they original poster says "great, will read through that." Instead of saying what he said...

NDDomer86

Each person values his/her time differently. Some people will spend 45 minutes to earn $2 on a survey site, others will say "not worth my time". If someone doesn't want to spend 30+ minutes deciphering through multiple pages and responses and someone else is willing to give them their answer then more power to them. I really don't understand the entitlement and snarkiness of FT'ers sometimes. No one here is better than anyone else.

TheTourVan

Varies by property for us. As Gold members we were treated very well at most properties we stay at. As Diamond members we are treated very well at most properties we stay at. The increase in points is rather nice and I can say we have been upgraded to a few different suites that I know we would not have received as Gold.

Not sure its as dramatic a jump as silver to gold, but benefits are nice.