Paladin

It sure would be nice. By next week I will have hit 100 nights. Sigh. In the past I would have stopped at Diamond and switched over to re-earning my Starwood platinum, but expenses are tight. We are targeting 10% expense to bill ratio. Lower bill rates than in the past makes it even tougher. So its southwest, super discounted hotel rate, sharing cars, etc. What a glamorous life!

If only I could look forward to still being diamond in my old age.

PaulGQ

Lifetime Gold is easily attainable.
HGVC comes with lifetime silver (for as long as you own the property) plus easy gold upgrades every year.

Max Power

Yea, they're pretty nice there - they treat me like family. I actually miss the hotel when I am away for a few weeks, it seems more like home than the house I own. Plus, no-one makes my bed and cleans up my room every day when I am at home.

PremEx

You can have lifetime status as long as you requalify for status every year...

...and stay alive.

laptop

I try to ask about lifetime diamond whenever I talk with diamond cs. Most recently (last month) I spoke with Stacy Strickland who is a manager or supervisor I think with Diamond Honors. She helped me with some other stuff and when I asked about lifetime diamond, she said it has been/is being discussed. I told her that I have lifetime platinum at Marriott, have been diamond since it began (99 I think), and that Hilton needed to keep up. She did not disagree. I don't know what the qualification is at Marriott, but I think something like 500-600 nights should earn lifetime diamond. That's 1.5 years and could be 10 years as a diamond member. Certainly we should keep the issue visible and continue to communicate the need to Hilton. The squeaky wheel .....

shinnene

Regardless of stays/nights to qulify Gold status, we can keep HHonors Gold status with Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Gold Card of Hilton HHonors at least while they keep this service.
I'm not sure if anyone else except JP residents can apply this credit card.
Also, the website does not have English edition.
http://www.hiltonhhonors.co.jp/hhono...s/VisaCard.asp

Tomphot

Does anybody know when the Diamond program began?
I've been Diamond since the early 90's - back when they didn't let you know what the standards were.

FrequentStark

Four years ago I made Diamond VIP with HHonors and received a Diamond Card with an expiration date. About 6 months after that I received another Diamond Card in the mail with "Lifetime" in the expiration field and no explanation as to why they sent it. Two years ago I only reached Gold and they sent me a Gold VIP card & I'm in the computer as Gold. I still carry the "Lifetime" Diamond card and on occasion I've been able to use it to get better room.

If I contact Hilton and tell them that I have this "Lifetime" Diamond is there any chance that they up me back to Diamond in their computer?

hhonorman

Welcome to Flyertalk FrequentStark.
You are the only person I have ever heard of who has one of these "lifetime" cards. There may well be others, I just haven't heard of it before. I am very curious; how many stays/nights did you have in the year prior to receiving the "lifetime" card? Were you spending thousands and thousands on rooms and staying 200+ nights a year? I am just curious what one has to do to get a "lifetime" diamond.

[This message has been edited by hhonorman (edited Jan 22, 2004).]

best

Can you get the card as you did, but if you do not qualify annually, HH just reduces level regardless of "Lifetime"? It seems they do that with other levels.

FrequentStark

I had exactly 60 nights in the year that I reached Diamond.

I really have no guess as to why they sent me the card...maybe a computer glitch?

tinkybelle

That is fantastic.
I wish I had got a LIFETIME one.
Wouldnt it be great if Hilton were to actually create an lifetime status.
For someone who racked up say 2M points!!!!

gregorygrady

Heck, with Hiltons screwed up way of issuing expiration dates on their cards, I'm surprise they don't issue EVERYBODY Lifetime Gold or Lifetime Diamond cards. However, only after reading the whole letter that came with the Elite card would you find that silly disclaimer that you only get to keep your status if you stay the minimum required number of nights per year.

FrequentStark

I figured as much, but I've still gotten some good use out of the "Lifetime" card. At the Istanbul Hilton the Towers floor requires Diamond level, even though the computer call me Gold, they accepted the card for the upgrade

DoubleJ

I ran across this in some HHonors material sent to me today. Evidently, the complimentary HHonors Gold status is still available, and is valid for "the duration of (one's Mitsui Sumitomo VISA) Gold Cardmembership." Not too bad for JP residents given the annual Gold card fee of approximately $125/yr, lounge access at 18 domestic JP airports including NRT, HND, and KIX, sundry point bonuses, and a few other less useful benefits. Doesn't help me personally right now as I've already got HH Gold and Diner's (which gives me lounge access to the same airports), but this info may be helpful for some other JP residents?