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For some time now, Hilton has been offering a generous status match, with elite tiers in other hotel loyalty programmes being matched to Hilton Silver, Gold and even Diamond.

We have even shown you a way to get to Diamond with one stay at a Best Western hotel!

While the good news is that the status match offer remains, the bad news is that it now comes with a catch.If you meet the Hilton status match requirements, your status will be matched to Gold or Diamond (Silver is not available). However, the initial match will now only last 90 days. If you want the status match to continue beyond these 90 days (i.e. to the end of March 2018, which seems a long time but is the standard duration for Hilton HHonors status), then you will need to stay in a Hilton Group property the following number of times:

• To maintain Gold, 4 times in the 90 days
• To maintain Diamond, 8 times in the 90 days

How do I secure this status?

While the stay requirement for Diamond might seem fairly onerous, it is definitely doable. Don’t forget that Hilton rewards stays (i.e. stays made using points, or cash and points) will count here. As such, you can for example make use of the delightfully good value Hilton Category 1 and 2 hotels (5K/10K points a night) if you want a low cost stay.

There’s now only one Category 1 left in the UK, the Hampton by Hilton Newport East, but there’s still a few decent Category 2s:

• Hampton by Hilton Corby/Kettering
• Hampton by Hilton Liverpool John Lennon Airport
• Hampton by Hilton Newcastle
• Hilton Newport
• DoubleTree by Hilton Sheffield Park
• Hampton by Hilton Sheffield

As such, the “steps to status” are as follows:

• Get your matchable status if you don’t have it already
• If you have a haul of Hilton HHonors points, try using them to good effect to stay at Category 1/2 hotels
• If you don’t have any Hilton Points, you can always transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points (1000 MR Points = 2,000 HHonors Points), or (slightly more circuitously) from Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Flying Club to Hilton HHonors at an effective rate of 1 Clubcard Point to 3.75 Hilton Points.
• Failing that, note that even where you’re simply paying cash, the 8 stays don’t have to be at Waldorf Astorias – you can stay in Hampton Inn’s and this will count towards these 8 stays in exactly the same way.

Anything to add?

Note that if you are gunning for Gold, rather than Diamond, status, you are probably better off simply doing this status challenge, which offers Gold with just 3 stays in 90 days.