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We’ve written about the excellent status match / challenge offered by Hilton Honors many times over the years here at InsideFlyer. Hilton status offers great perks – even just Hilton Gold is well worth having!

It’s therefore worth a quick reminder that if you complete a status match now, you will get to keep your status all the way through until the end of March 2021:

How to request an Hilton Honors Status Match

You need to start out with elite status from one of Hilton‘s competitors. They list the usual suspects, but will likely consider many other chains such as Best Western or Radisson Rewards.

In general, Honors will match top level status to Honors Diamond (i.e. Diamond, Globalist, Spire, Platinum, etc). If the competing chain has a relevant mid-tier status, such as Marriott Gold, then this can occasionally be matched to Honors Diamond, but you might only be matched to Hilton Gold.

If approved, Honors members will enjoy their matched status for a period of exactly 90 days. This can be extended until 31 March, 2021 by completing:

• 4 stays for Gold status
• 8 stays for Diamond status 

Note that these need to be separate stays, not just 4 or 8 nights.

The process of requesting a status challenge is simple. You must fill in the online form with your first name, last name, email address, Honors account number, and the status you’re hoping to match. You must also upload proof of your competing status, as well as proof of a stay within the past 12 months with that hotel chain.

Meeting the Requirements

8 separate stays within 90 days is quite ambitious, but is obviously based on the fact that regular Diamond qualification requires 30 stays in a year (so 8/90 is roughly one quarter of the stays in one quarter of the year). This works out well for those who can accumulate many one-night stays, but is quite difficult for those who have less frequent, but longer, hotel stays.

It’s worth knowing that (to the best of our knowledge at time of writing) points stays do still count towards qualifying for elite status via the status challenge.

As regards cash rates, Fridays and Sundays tend to offer the best rates and don’t forget that there are some excellent prices available at the moment in the big Hilton Summer Sale.

Bottom line

Hilton Honors Gold is superb, and Diamond guarantees executive lounge access on top (when the hotel has one!). Being able to match and get 90 days status for free (and longer if you meet the stay requirements) is fantastic.

Apply for your Hilton Honors Status Match here.