Does a Property Know How You Received Your Diamond Status?
 

I was thinking of getting the new Hilton Amex Aspire card for the Diamond status since the cost alone will be worth not having to do a mattress run for any year that I have not already requalified for Diamond. If you have Diamond status from this card, do the properties know you have the status from the card and not from the usual qualification options? I just want to make sure that someone with the card is not thought of as a second-class Diamond upon check in. Thanks!

The hotel has access to a ton of information about your preferences and stay history in addition to your status. The hotel can view data points such as your lifetime stays/nights by hotel/brand/enterprise and your stay activity within the year for hotel/brand/enterprise. They can also see history of service recovery and other items. They can't clearly see how you earned your status that I know of. They may be able to figure out if you have no stay/history and are diamond, but I doubt it will lead to any different treatment. My experience is that the majority of hotels never look at that information. For example, I often get asked at check in "have you stayed here before?" when I am back for the 5th time. Your stay history is literally right in front of them at the computer when they check you in.

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I can't say I ever felt like I was slighted because someone surmised Diamond Status was from my credit card. I do have 100+ nights at Hilton properties and it seems like my loyalty to a particular hotel is rewarded more than anything.

I got my IHG status by (mostly) manufactured spending on a credit card, then matched it to Hilton Diamond. Since then, I've requalified for Diamond every year with (just about) 30 stays.

The very first time I stayed in a Hilton, I was greeted with "As a Diamond member, welcome back to Hilton!" And I think it was genuine, there was no "smirk"

Thanks everyone! I am going to get the card.

This is an interesting point. I've wondered before too why I wasn't greeted with a "welcome back". If it is really in front of them then I find it even more disappointing..

There are, of course, Hilton Family properties, where they follow your stay history very carefully. One hotel where the "welcome back" greeting is followed by an invitation to a dinner, a more substantial upgrade than expected, due to the stay being the 10th, 15th etc, is the Conrad BKK. IME there are few hotels I've stayed in the last couple of years, where I'm not welcomed back.

Like all service industries, it might simply be an honest oversight. Perhaps the agent misread their screen, is at the end of a 12 hour shift and was just plain tired, or was trying to serve a long line of people as quickly as possible -- not excuses but just reasons why a greeting might be overlooked. If I haven't been greeted properly, I will ask "Is my Honors Gold number in the reservation? Then, the agent must respond and acknowledge your status.

It's not about the greeting but about tangible status benefits. I've had FD fail to provide bottled water, breakfast vouchers, etc. until I brought up HHonors.