How did I make diamond? 2 HH CC's? MYSTERY SOLVED!
 

I logged into my HH account last week to find I had been upgraded to diamond status.

"Congratulations! You just became a Diamond VIP. Now, you'll earn a 50% bonus on all Hilton HHonors® Base points and additional Diamond VIP benefits. "

Here are my account balances:

HHonors Diamond VIP # 841######
Current Point Balance: 156,983
Current Year Stays: 9
Current Year Nights: 15
Current Year Base Points: 9,963

How do you suppose I made diamond status? Without waking a sleeping giant, I called HH to ask, and they don't know. The status is supposed to last until April 2006 and need 19 stays before the end of this year to extend it beyond that.

With my recently acquired HH AMEX and VISA, I'm to receive complimentary upgrade to silver (I was already gold), but did I get a bump to diamond for some reason? Just curious.

maybe you registered a promotion: Silver in 2 stays Gold in 4 and Diamond in 8. ;)

I have both credit cards too, so I optimistically went to check my account online to see if I was also upgraded to Diamond. No such luck. :(

UDUNNOME, Please do a through research how you got Diamond that easily. WE ALL look forward to following the same steps... :D

Yesterday, I received my new diamond HH card showing the expiration of 4/30/2006. Today, I received a greeting card from American Express that has solved the mystery: ^

"Congratulations
You are now entitled to even more prestigious benefits as an HHonors Diamond VIP

In recognition of your exceptional loyalty to the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Express, you have been upgraded to Hilton HHonors Diamond VIP. As an HHonors Diamond VIP, you will now enjoy a whole range of unparelleled privileges to make your travel more comfortable and convenient. etc, etc, etc."

I've had the card since April and have probably spent $50,000 or so on it. I've used the card pretty much exclusively whenever I can and wherever AMEX is accepted. Purchases range from $4 for fast food to several thousands for odds and ends. I guess AMEX and Hilton are happy with my spending habits. :D

SO.
I did 62 precious nights in the bed at Hilton and because I am in OZ and unable to get these CCS.
I have to KEEP having the bod on the bed.

NOT HAPPY JAN! :mad: :( :td:

Low base points:nights ratio
 

Dunno where you're staying to only have 9,000 points for 15 nights and 9 stays.
"Current Year Stays: 9
Current Year Nights: 15
Current Year Base Points: 9,963"
You're average nightly rate is $66/nt! Pretty good for a Hilton product. :confused:

This year as Gold I have 15 stays and 27 nights and have 41,000 base points.

"In recognition of your exceptional loyalty to the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Express..." "I've had the card since April and have probably spent $50,000 or so on it." If you have spent $50,000 and only have 150,000 HH points total, then it sounds like you're missing a few points. AMEX posts within days of the statement date. Maybe you've redeemed some HH points for rewards and that's the explanation but from a veteran it sounds like you should have more points than they're showing.

Enjoy the Diamond privileges even though, from experience as a Gold VIP, the $66.00 hotels don't offer anything extra to Diamond VIPs. :(

29 stays and counting, will probably end up around 35 by years end. I could care less if they give away gold to everyone, but to give away diamond is a real slap in the face for those of us that have had to earn it.

Congratulations OP. I think it is within HH's discretion to give out these things. After all the OP burned through 50k in 6 months = that takes some doing :D so it's not like they're gifting Diamond to all and sundry. How is this different from a match? I think it is nearly the same thing: HH recognizing someone who has the potential ability to spend at their properties.

C'mon all loyalty programs do this, HH is certainly not the first nor last.

I've mostly spent time in HGI's. I received a stay credit for a business trip my wife took. She had to pay with HER corporate CC, so I don't think they gave me points for the stay. Otherwise, I've been in HGI OKC & Dallas/Allen and Hilton OKC and Milwaukee. The Milwaukee stay is what's throwing off your average calculation. Most of these other stays were in the $79-89 range (all paid with my HH AMEX)

"Probably spent $50,000" from a *quick* guess... maybe more, maybe a lot less now that you point it out. I do not see where the AMEX site will allow me to quickly discern the total spent since I received the card. From the HH site, I've earned a total of 119564 from AMEX in 5 months. I haven't redeemed anything but am planning to soon. :D

Thank you, I think.

Tough crowd. If it makes you feel any better, *I* believe HH owes me this. I've been responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from coordinating events at HH hotels from 1998-2002. I've been fairly Hilton loyal since before I knew anything about HH or points.

I suppose I was targeted for Diamond because I fit some sort of profile. Sorry if it steps on anyone's toes. Will this make me spend thousands more at HH properties until Diamond expires? Heck yeah. Let's start hearing about how best to use my new Diamond VIP status. :D

I just got this card and am putting everything on it - it leaves my other cards in the dust.

If you have $10,000 of spending at Hilton hotels in a calendar year (100,000 HHonors base points), then that will automatically bump you up to Diamond. Maybe last year's recalculation got you bumped up and/or last year's missing (possibly award) stays tossed in may have bumped you up.

First off, Welcome to FlyerTalk and thanks for posting this.

Yes. There are always whiners who complain about status being given out in promos. It goes with the territory... please don't let it discourage you from posting experiences like this. You are doing everyone a great service in evaluating various programs.

Now, for my whine: I've had the Amex since 98, spent hundreds of thousands on it, and did not receive this giveaway. "In recognition of your exceptional loyalty to the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Expres..." LOL :p

Yes, welcome to FT, sorry if I came across badly. Not meant.

Take everything you can get from them, and indeed thanks for posting this. Perhaps it is incentive for me to get the Hilton AMEX.

My issue, of course is with Hilton.

Hold on everyone!!

It may be that they did this if the OP spent a good deal of that $$$ coordinating events at Hiltons!!

My wife earned Silver status just by coordinating 2 events at a Marriott property within a year, and they promised her much more if she would do more.

So, perhaps Hiltons in conjunction with AMEX is offering something similar??

In any event, congrats to you OP on the Diamond status. :)