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It’s been common knowledge for some time that Hilton is offering status matches – even upgrading HHonors members to their very highest “Diamond tier” on evidence of their top tier status with other hotel loyalty schemes.

What’s more, my now first-hand experience of this process is not only that it is an extremely simple process, progressed without any quibbling on Hilton’s part, but it is also lightning fast. Indeed, I submitted my upgrade request at 5.51pm and by 8pm I was a Diamond member.

So how did I do it?

I hold Elite “Spire” status with IHG Rewards Club. So, I took a screenshot of my Spire account homepage and emailed it to hhonormystatus@hilton.com with my HHonors number, asking for the upgrade. Hilton almost instantly replied, asking me to confirm the number of points in my HHonors account (for verification purposes).

I did so, and within 40 minutes I was a Diamond HHonors member.

This, I have to say, is fantastic customer service. The exact timeline was as follows:

5:51pm: I sent an email to Hilton requesting upgrade (attaching evidence of Spire status and HHonors number)

6:21pm: I received an automated response from Hilton saying they were “on it”.

7.00pm: I received an an email from Hilton customer service asking me to reply with my HHonors points balance “for verification purposes”

7:21pm: I sent the email confirming my points balance

8.00pm: I received an email confirming my upgrade (naturally I went straight to my account to double-check, and sure enough the upgrade had happened)

Truly excellent stuff. I expected a drawn out process of having to verify my IHG Rewards status somehow, perhaps through further copies of my card (I’ve lost it) or detailed points statements showing that I am a “worthy” upgrade recipient. Far from it. True to their word, as soon as I provided evidence of my status with IHG Rewards, Hilton upgraded me to Diamond.

My experience was such that, if you hold elite status with any other hotel chain you really should give this one a go. Obviously I can’t guarantee your experience will be as super-efficient as mine was, but clearly my experience is a very good sign.

What’s more, don’t be put off if you only hold mid-tier status with SPG, IHG Rewards or whomever, such that you’ll only get Hilton Gold. It’s well worth the (very minor) effort to bag Hilton Gold.

Finally, don’t forget that every day of Advent we are offering some great prizes in our InsideFlyer Advent calendar including a guaranteed additional bonus of a free night at any Hilton hotel for each day’s winner – just click here to enter.