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I posted recently about how it was possible to get 4 nights at a Hilton hotel, plus Hilton Honors Gold status, for an incredible £43.

That offer remains live, and extremely attractive. However, given the difficulty of actually staying in the vast majority, if not all, of the Hilton 5K points hotels, the likelihood is that most people will activate the 4 stays by staying in a hotel that requires more points per night.

An easier route to Hilton Gold status?

If you already have elite status with a competing hotel loyalty programme, you might want to consider the Hilton Status Match.

It’s based on nights, rather than stays, so doesn’t require hotel-hopping. The other plus is that you can benefit from temporary status while completing the requirements. The downsides are that you need 5 nights for Gold and only cash bookings count, so you can’t use points.

Check out the full details here.

What other options are there for Hilton Gold status?

To be blunt, there are not many. If the status challenge and status match to Hilton Gold don’t not work for you for whatever reason, short of simply staying your way to Gold via the standard route (which requires 20 nights, or 10 stays) you have one option.

The good news is, the one option is very easy. At the moment, it is also good value.

The simple route is signing up to the American Express Platinum card. With the American Express Platinum, you get free Hilton Gold status – a really good additional perk of the card.

But the Amex Platinum costs £575 a year!

Yes it does. However, it’s currently on offer. If you sign up via a referral link before 12 May 2021, you’ll earn 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards points when you spend £4,000 on the Platinum card in the first 3 months.

You’ll also get the 4,000 points from the £4,000 spend, so a total of 54,000 points

50,000 Amex points, which can be converted to a number of hotel and frequent flyer loyalty schemes, could easily be worth £540 if used wisely. However, for the sake of certainty, let’s assume we transfer those 54,000 points to 54,000 Avios, and then on to 86,400 Nectar points. 86,400 Nectar points has a more or less cash value of £432.

That means that using a very conservative valuation of your bonus points, the Amex Platinum card is effectively costing you £108 for a year. You can, of course, cancel the card should you wish to, whether at the end of this year or earlier (in which case you’ll also get a pro rata refund of the fee, and the Hilton Gold will continue to run until – if you obtained it now – March 2023).

That £108 doesn’t just get you the Hilton Gold though, it also gets you (amongst other things):

• MeliaRewards Gold
• Radisson Rewards Gold
• Marriott Bonvoy Gold
• Comprehensive travel insurance,
• Unlimited entry to the Priority Pass airport lounge network

All in all, a very worthwhile haul for no more than an effective £108 outlay.

Note that if you do cancel the card (e.g. after you have received the 50K bonus and signed up to the various benefits), you will get a pro rata refund of the £575 annual fee and the hotel statuses (including Hilton Gold) will run their full course. However, certain other benefits such as the insurance and Priority Pass access will fall away on cancellation.

What if the 50K bonus no longer applies?

Note that even outside of the 50,000 bonus points window (i.e. after 12 May 2021), there’s still potential value to the 30K Amex bonus points for signing up to the Amex Platinum. The Amex Platinum benefits are substantial, as noted above, and you can easily derive sufficient value from the points and the perks in relation to the card fee. You can also cancel in advance of the year term and get a pro rata refund, so we are not necessarily talking about a £575 outlay.

It is important to note though, that you will not be eligible for the sign up bonus if you hold or have held any personal Membership Rewards-enrolled American Express Card in the past 24 months (eg. personal Amex Gold/Plat). Having a Business Amex Gold/Plat doesn’t stop you getting the sign up bonus on the personal cards.