I'm both Marriott Platinum and Hilton Diamond, though I'm almost always at the lower end of things since I pay my own way.

With Hilton, I seem to have points coming over the transom from everywhere, and that doesn't include the free night certs I seem to get once or twice a year. The Hilton AMEX alone has generated over 100K points in the last year or so.

With Marriott, I have a nice stash, but amazingly I have never stayed on an award. Love them travel packages, though. :) I think I'll drop down to Gold next year, because the benefits are pretty much the same as Plat ans it's much more convenient in my current location to do the Hilton thing.

Other than that, I just joined the Choice program. OK properties, but they allow you to redeem at Preferred Hotels, and those places are really top end. I'm staying in one in London this Fall, so I'll let folks know how it works out.

Starwood fan back again. I can't comment on the Hilton AMEX because I don't have one - I'm so happy (right now) with the Starwood that I see no reason the explore it. So in addition to the Princeville last summer, here's this summer's trip:

145,000 Starwood points transferred to Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles program. That resulted (thanks to the bonus) in 180,000 Asia Miles. For that we got two First Class tickets on British Airways from Newark,NJ to CDG in Paris. The tickets sell for over $10,000 each! Now many of you would rightly say that it's ridiculous because I would NEVER pay that much for them. That's certainly true but isn't there SOME value there? More to the point, my regular AMEX card would get me Continental points. The only thing available through CO was coach tickets at 100,000 each or 200,000 for both of us. So I got First Class for 55,000 fewer miles than coach would have cost with the AMEX card. I can't place a dollar value on that but it's worth a lot to me and my wife!

Finally, we booked 6 nights at the Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection hotel, for 60,000 Starpoints. Even though I'm a Platinum Elite for now, I didn't want to take my chances on a suite upgrade. I was given a choice of an additional 1,500 points per night (again, 5th night free) for a Junior Suite that still has a separate living room or an additional 12,000 points per night for a full size suite. We took the cheaper one and will hope for an upgrade. But I basically booked (with no problem with blackouts or extra points) my suite for 67,500 points for 6 nights. The suite goes for about $1,000 per night.

I'll get abuse for the math and even I agree (as I said above, I certainly would not have spent the money for the FC ticket) but I got 13.8 cents per point for the flight and 8 cents for the hotel.

No one's wrong and no one's right,but I'm certainly happy! :D

FWIW, we're also spending 3 nights in Normandy at a Relais & Chateaux hotel. We got the third night for free thanks to the Merrill + card, so a free credit card saved me over $400 on that one.

Sorry for such a long post. I get very excited about this stuff!

Then I'd say you got full value for your points. :)
That's what this board is all about! I still get excited when I score a junior suite at a Garden Inn, or an upgrade on a one-hour flight.

The free nights in Europe (after a First Class trip across the pond) is so far beyond anything I thought possible just a couple of years ago, I still have trouble believing it.

Thanks to the OP for the question. I agree that there's no "right" answer, but the replies have still been useful and illuminating.

BUT, CC rube that I am, what's this about getting perpetual HH gold status through Amex? Does this mean if you have an HH Amex card and spend a certain amount on it per year, you get Gold status? If so, how much do you have to spend annually?

I was under the vague impression that if you have a HH Amex card you get some initial status for the first year, but you lose it unless your Hilton stays justify if for subsequent years. Is that correct?

Thanks for any info.

I think if u spend 20grand you automatically get gold. Perhaps HH junkies could chime in as I'm not entirely sure... Question would be, is gold worth it?

In my experience Hilton Gold is not worth much if only staying in US Hilton properties. I have had some GREAT experiences as Hilton Gold outside of the US but that has been ahile since I did those international Hilton stays.

--

That's right.

Gold is worth free breakfasts and upgrades.

BigLar-

Thanks for your response. I too still find it hard to believe that we can pull off vacations like this for, basically, free - and hope it lasts awhile longer.

It astounds me. I'm a dentist and about three years ago, we stopped sending checks to our supply companies and labs and started paying them with credit cards. We never run a balance or pay interest, we simply pay everything in full but one month later and to the credit card companies. Since it's fewer checks, it's actually less work.

And for that, last summer I got 4 nights in a suite in New Orleans, 4 nights in a suite at Mont Tremblant in Quebec and ten nights in Hawaii (including first class airfare). It boggles my mind.

Many, including my wife, think I'm obsessed, but it's amazing how many more people are asking my advice!

Yes - spend $20,000 on the HH Amex, and you are given HH Gold status.

Furthermore, because of the way HH's calendar works, you really only need to do this once every 2 years if you prefer using SPG Amex for your normal spending.

My scenario: I began using my HH Amex in January. Used it until I reached $20k, and then stopped using it. A few weeks later, I got my Gold card. Because I earned Gold in 2006, the card is valid until April 2008.

So, if I no longer care to accrue HH points, the next time I need to pull the HH Amex out of my wallet is January 2008. Then, I will use it for normal spending again, and get a Gold card valid through April 2010.

Even in the U.S., it isn't bad considering how easily they give it away. At HWV, we were given top floor, Ocean Tower, with a welcome bottle of sparkling wine, and of course access to a very nice lounge for breakfast and snacks every day. On an award stay. At all of the big properties in Chicago (which is the one U.S. city where I tend to pick Hiltons over Marriotts), I've always gotten great upgrades, corner rooms, jr. suites, and of course lounge access - on any and all rates I've booked (other than third-party agents, of course). On an award stay, we got top floor ocean view at HHV plus free breakfast certs, although no lounge access. (I'm not sure if there is one.)

So for our leisure stays, we get great value out of Gold. Breakfast, lounge access, and nice rooms. For my business stays, where I care most about bed/smoke type and general assurance that stuff won't go wrong at the hotel, having Gold is a more subtle - but still valuable - perk.

Still, I know it doesn't compare to Diamond. Those guys (on this board, anyway) are generally a pretty happy bunch as compared to MR and SPG Plats. Rumor has it that one can earn Diamond purely on CC spending by hitting unpublished thresholds, but talk of that has actually been quieter here since they published the $20k-Gold rule.

I considered continuing to spend on HH Amex all year in hopes of a surprise Diamond bump, but then I realized that it would likely be futile. My spend level on my primary CC is day-to-day personal spending plus about 2 business trips per month. Smalltime compared to many of the road warriors here. Therefore, if they were comping people to Diamond based on CC spending, we'd be reading about it often on the HH board.

How recent information are you going on regarding HH Gold vs Diamond benefits?

On the HH forum, much has been discussed of late about the RECENT change (improvement!) to Gold, where you now have "no blackouts" on award stays, something only Diamonds used to get.

Thus the differences between Gold and Diamond are now diminished, and many who previously tried to maintain Diamond are only planning to get to Gold from now on.

I've followed those threads only casually. I was always under the assumption that the real Diamond benefit had little to do with blackout dates and everything to do with capacity controls.

Have they removed the capacity control waiver for Diamonds, or have they added it for Golds? If they really have added it for Golds, all I can say is WOW, and maybe I need to rethink my own valuations on HH points vs. SPG and MR points.

Seems like the right answer to me.
LWW

Two things to keep in mind:

1. It depends on what you like; and
2. Variety is the spice of life, especially in travel.

I have Hyatt DIA, *wood PLT, Hilton DIA and PC PLT. (I refuse to deal with Marriott further, nothing personal, just business.) I know people who stay at the same places over and over, which can be great, as they get to know you and the service level (and swag) gets better. But there are just too many choices to try to limit to just one. And, each has their own great properties. And great promo's. I have been lucky to be targetted by *wood on some great promo's and definitely respond during those times. Hyatt's FFN is by far the best (though it was better before the rule changes.)

Maintaining is the important question, along with when you have to stay. Check your alternatives. Any of the programs requalification can be enhanced with paid nights combined with award nights to average the cost down, especially with the increases in room rates across the board.

Well, the "problem" is that the "Diamond force", even though it may have been capacity control waiver, was never officially described as such, only as "no blackouts". So now they've moved the same description to Gold, and so only with a lot of data from FT members who were once Diamond but drop to Gold (that'll take a while to get to an appreciable number) will we be able to judge just how closely Gold now matches Diamond before.