MisterNice

At *wood at 100% of my stays I received a welcome gift (candy, wine, fruit etc and usually 2), also was u/p to VERY large rooms and/or suites. The exec lounges were better than most Hiltons too.

I have no actual complaint regarding HH at this time as I have not seen much falling off other than a few forgotton water-n-cookies. If they are cheapening HH Diamond all they need to do let me know and I will adapt as required. So will many many of my friends and fellow employees. We mega-travelers spend a lotta money on the road for hotels, food and booze. We expect a little something in return I believe. At least what they "hint" in the HH more fuzzy n fuzzier literature.

MisterNice

rbedgood

Big Lar

I agree...although Diamond is easier to earn than say MR Plat (I can earn in about 1/2 the time with 1 night stays...the concept of a loyalty program is to reward loyalty. When the rewards become cheapened, harder to get, or disappear completely that is not perceived as a reward for loyal patronship. I personally have noticed in my short time as a Diamond (about 4 months) that I was treated about the same as a Gold. I have Plat with Marriott as well and find the difference to be slightly greater there. With the amount of travel I do, I will probably keep top level status with both chains w/o a problem. But right now if I was going to let one slip to gold it wouldn't be Marriott.

bruin

I just stayed at the Hilton Munich Park and was denied access to the executive lounge as a Diamond member. The desk staff told me that this is the policy and all European Hiltons now follow this policy. However, this was not the case with several other European Hiltons I stayed at within the past week. The letter explaining the new policy is as follows:

Dear Guest,

Access to the Executive Lounge goes hand-in-hand with having a room on the Executive Floor. This can be done by PAYING FOR IT or by receiving an upgrade due to Gold or Diamond VIP status.

Most of our Gold & Diamond VIP's have been fortunate in the past and have always been upgraded to the Executive Floor, however this may not always happen and it important that they are aware of this.

In Vertretung

Lee Scott

Hilton Hhonors Kundendienst Team
Cadogan Square Glasgow
[email protected]

(all capitalizations and punctuations are exactly as in the letter)

gof

That letter almost demands a letter based upon the (as you note) capitalization. They could put this much nicer by talking about the booking class of the room. As stated, they are pretty much implying CHEAP SKATE

Tazmania

Fortunate? Hey, we show a lot loyalty with Hilton, worked hard to get Gold or Diamond elite and they will try to rip off us?

SanDiego1K

This might explain what happened to us at the Colombo Hilton in Sri Lanka. I've stayed there 4 times this summer. On the first three, I got an upgrade to a suite, use of the (very poor) Executive Lounge, and free breakfast. On my last stay, just 5 days after the prior one, I received an upgrade to a suite but nothing more. On challenging this, I was told that they had been giving more than required by their agreement with Hilton and had decided to meet policy rather than exceed it.

I find this a very troubling change. It will certainly cause me to examine my Hilton loyalty if more reports emerge about diamonds being denied lounge access and breakfast. It's true that the policy does not explicitly state that we get those benefits, but until the Colombo stay, I had received them 100% of the time.

If Hilton has indeed sent new instructions out system wide, it would certainly be nice if we, their loyal customers, were so advised. Nothing creates illwill faster than unrealistic expectations.

(I am Hilton diamond.)

MIKESILV

I suggest you sent a copy of the letter to Adam Burke and ask him to comment on the context and the snotty condescending tone

The person who wrote that letter needs a course in P.R, and had I personally received such he would get a piece of my mind in return.

That being said, it seems problems similar to this always seem to occur with properties in the UK and Germany and I think is due to individual hotels misinterpreting the T&C rather than a change in HH policy.

mike

nako

Given the policy (which I quoted back, IIRC, in post 2), how are they misinterpreting the T&C? The policy guarantees either an upgrade or a "special amenity" if said upgrade is not available. There is nothing that guarantees either breakfast or lounge access.

Mike

MIKESILV

Perhaps the term I should have used is "using the literal interpretation" of the T&C.
Not withstanding if memory serves I do recall Adam Burke posting here saying quite catagorically that Gold and Diamonds should/would be provided with Continental breakfast even if lounge access is not given or available.

Perhaps I have been lucky with perhaps 25 European stays the only hotel to deny me breakfast ( they claimed they had upgrade me.. to a crappy room on the 9th floor) was the Hilton Luxembourg and after I filled in one of those guest revue cards I received a letter of apology from some HH guy in Germany.

mike

nako

I did a search through his posts for the last several years, and found absolutely nothing of that sort. If he did, then it likely goes back to the time where free continental breakfast was a specifically published benefit for Gold/Diamond at international Hilton-branded hotels (such as the terms quoted in this thread from February of 2001):

Again, I'm not saying that people won't get it - there are going to be numerous accounts of people still getting breakfast on top of everything else. My point is that, given the current T&Cs, people shouldn't be surprised, outraged, or worse, if free breakfast or lounge access doesn't come their way.

Mike

2035

In my last 2-3 stays at the Munich Park (last few months) I have been denied lounge access. I have also never received a room upgrade - they always claim they are full, though if I try to book a room on the web after I check in, executive rooms are magically available. They don't offer breakfast in the main restaurant either, but after some argument at checkin they agree to provide it free - and then try to charge when I go into breakfast. This has now happened a few times, and is annoying - so I try to avoid staying there now.

Munich City still seems to give access to lounge, but recently I have not received upgrades there either - I used to always get a one-class upgrade (standard to deluxe, deluxe to executive). They always give (a very good) breakfast to gold/diamond.

Tazmania

Was last month at the Munich City. Got an upgrade to executive level and they offered free breakfast either in die lounge or in the restaurant. Also no problems with lounge access.

Hilton Mainz (Rheinstrasse) gave me a nice room with Rhine view and coupons for breakfast. They dont have an executive floor.

srk123

As a Gold, I had an 3-nt award stay in July. At first they denied me lounge access, but after I politely insisted on it and told them I am entitled to it as a Gold, they promised to get back to me shortly about it. Thirty minutes later, they called my room and gave me lounge access and asked me to come down to give me a new key to reflect this. Lounge was in the basement, but breakfast was good. Free computer with hi-speed internet available all day until 10:30 pm.

nako

Golds are not entitled to lounge access in non-US/Canada Hiltons. Posting things like this only perpetuates the misinformation.

Again, this is the policy:

Nowhere in the policy does it say anything about breakfast or lounge access. So while it's under the discretion of non-US/Canada Hiltons to offer breakfast or lounge access, it's by no means an entitlement.

Mike

planeluvr

I have kept my Diamond status because of the great treatment from the foreign Hilton properties. If they start a downward trend, I will just switch to Starwood who would meet or exceed what Hilton would be offering.