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[ARCHIVE to 2014] Hilton Honors Diamond VIP Status: Is It Really Worth It?

[ARCHIVE to 2014] Hilton Honors Diamond VIP Status: Is It Really Worth It?

Old Jan 29, 2013, 11:12 am
  #721  
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Also, the $200 cash-on-the-spot penalty is an incentive for them NOT to walk you if, say, you have a seriously delayed flight, arriving very late and exhausted at a sold out property.

$400 seems well worth it if your stay count is going to end up closer to 15 than 25 stays.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 11:18 am
  #722  
 
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International is the tipping point on this, as many have said. I get great upgrades, especially in Asia! Difference in room cost would be 100+ a night on most of my stays! The Conrads make this a great value as well, they are even better than Hilton properties. With the points you get, its not the full $400, so would factor that in as stated. Use them only for high dollar properties, like Conrad Singapore etc.

If in the US only, dont think I would bother....
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 11:38 am
  #723  
 
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Originally Posted by shawntobi
International is the tipping point on this, as many have said. I get great upgrades, especially in Asia! Difference in room cost would be 100+ a night on most of my stays! The Conrads make this a great value as well, they are even better than Hilton properties. With the points you get, its not the full $400, so would factor that in as stated. Use them only for high dollar properties, like Conrad Singapore etc.

If in the US only, dont think I would bother....
This is pretty much where i'd come in on it too.

For me it is a year to year thing which i'm going for based on my plans for the coming year. When I have a want or need for diamond I go for it. When I don't I settle for gold or even silver (all stays in my world, no cc's)

But it doesn't take much at an intl property to make it worth a lot more than $400.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 11:42 am
  #724  
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Originally Posted by thetagirl99
Not only did I get a place to stay, I got a hotel room that was going for $350+ for 35,000 points.
No longer DIA benefit.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 11:55 am
  #725  
 
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Great answer! Please let this be the model and merge all the 'Is Diamond worth it?' threads.
Well, it isn't all that simple. Two recent examples that I've had in the last week got me moved to what I consider acceptable rooms for upgrades along with great treatment in Prague. There are lots of variables that don't apply across the board.

It's impossible to say if Diamond is worth it unless you've been down that road. For me, it is certainly worth $400+ per year.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 12:05 pm
  #726  
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Originally Posted by holtju2
No longer DIA benefit.
Not a stated benefit but there are many properties that will still honor that benefit.

I am getting the Trafalgar on an AXON this summer thanks to the Diamond desk even though they only have premium rooms available on hilton.com and the rate is over 400GBP per night. I also was able to get the diamond desk to get me the Bentley Miami as a diamond for points and certs before when the room rate was $1,000 a night.

Another factor to consider is if the OP stays at properties with resort fees. Every Hilton property I know of waives the resort fee for diamonds and those can add up fast. I have a stay at the Tropicana in Vegas in a few weeks and I am paying no resort fee. If I was gold that would be another $20 plus tax per night for the resort fee.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 12:20 pm
  #727  
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Gold is certainly worth $400 over silver (free Internet and breakfast worldwide) except for folks that stay exclusively at Hamptons.

Diamond....it depends. 10+ planned nights at a Hilton or Conrad is probably my breakeven for $400.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 1:37 pm
  #728  
 
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Originally Posted by holtju2
No longer DIA benefit.

I did it for new years in Denver this past month. There was no availability at the Embassy Suites downtown. After logging in, there was a standard room available.

Same for the Madison stay at the Hilton in November 2012.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 1:39 pm
  #729  
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Originally Posted by thetagirl99
I did it for new years in Denver this past month. There was no availability at the Embassy Suites downtown. After logging in, there was a standard room available.

Same for the Madison stay at the Hilton in November 2012.
This is not the same as the previous Diamond Special Arrangement.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 1:44 pm
  #730  
 
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Originally Posted by GatorBlues
Great point about the points from the spend itself. I hadn't thought about that. Even if the 60,000 points only net me a $200 reward stay, my net cost of having Diamond would be cut in half. Thanks.
Keep in mind, 60K points could be worth a lot more than $400, depending on when/where you use it. For example, DT Time Square during New years was $6000+ for 4 nights but I just used 145,000 points using AXON rewards.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 1:57 pm
  #731  
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Originally Posted by Points Scrounger
Also, the $200 cash-on-the-spot penalty is an incentive for them NOT to walk you if, say, you have a seriously delayed flight, arriving very late and exhausted at a sold out property.

$400 seems well worth it if your stay count is going to end up closer to 15 than 25 stays.
Good point about the walking. Last year I was at the Fort Lauderdale beach resort on an expensive diamond force stay (Diamond status came in handy for that stay since the property was oversold). Arrive at the hotel to find out they didn't have any rooms and were going to walk me. I arrived around midnight and was exhausted from the flight and had too much to drink and when I mentioned the $200 cash for being walked, she called the manager on duty up and they offered us a basic room instead of the suite we had booked for over $250 less for EACH night that weekend. Saved over $500 on the stay, if I would have been a gold or lower I am sure they would have just walked me.

Another benefit is if you have a flight that cancels due to irops after the cancel deadline (providing it isn't a prepay stay). I have had a couple flights cancel past the deadline and have called the diamond desk and they have managed to find me a room during bad weather in a city near the airport (the diamond desk phone number is another lifesaver in those cases with people trying to make hotel reservations due to their flights being cancelled) and have managed to get the properties to waive the first night charges for me. I have travelled with golds and silvers in the past on the same flights staying in the same properties and there were times where they were charged the first nights room when I wasn't.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 4:04 pm
  #732  
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If I were raveling mainly in the US and staying at Hamptons, HGIs, DoubleTrees - not worth it. My actual travel plans include Central and South America as well as North, Europe, Asia - and then Diamond is well worth $400 - or more.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 4:55 pm
  #733  
 
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Originally Posted by SteveHOU
You can dramatically reduce your costs for the additional spend by using the Amex Blue Bird; purchase VRs with your HHRV at $500/$3.95 or 0.8% of transaction cost vs your 2%, then make your payments via BB online payments with no transaction fee. Total out of pocket cost for the $20k would be $158 wich is offset by the additional HH points you will earn and the Diamond status.
I pay tuition using the card. I think what you wrote might be of interest, but I have read it several times, and I need some translation.

Thanks.
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 5:19 pm
  #734  
 
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There's another issue the OP need to think about -- are the points you get from using the credit card worth more somewhere else, perhaps to get Delta MQMs.

For example, most of us value Hilton points at .5 cents each, but Delta points earned with the same effort have more value.

DTWBOB
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Old Jan 29, 2013, 5:26 pm
  #735  
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Originally Posted by BobH
There's another issue the OP need to think about -- are the points you get from using the credit card worth more somewhere else, perhaps to get Delta MQMs.

For example, most of us value Hilton points at .5 cents each, but Delta points earned with the same effort have more value.

DTWBOB
I consider Hilton points to be worth a LOT more than Delta rdm's (but not MQMS). To get a delta card that gives MQMs you have to spend at least $150 a year annual fee as well

I charge the first $50K a year on my delta plat card for the 20K MQMS and then it goes in a drawer until 1/1. I value a hilton point more than I do a delta rdm, and you get at least 3 points per $ charged on a Hilton card as opposed to 1 mile on the Delta card.

Even when it comes to Delta charges, the 5 hilton points per $ charged on delta fares are worth more to me than the 2 miles/$ charge I get.

Of course YMMV, but I have received some VERY expensive hotel stays at Hilton on Axon rates (i.e. times square Dt on New years eve). I have a very expensive hotel stay booked at the Trafalgar in London using Hilton points and I can't even find avialablity to use an SUV to upgrade to business class on Delta those days if I were to pay for an M fare and the mile redemption rate is crazy.

I think Delta has a great benefit program for frequent flyers but it is an awful program for finding low redemption rates and for using SUV's and miles to upgrade
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