Only a few days ago, inspired by a recent post in the forums, I took the plunge and asked Hilton to status match my existing IHG loyalty; I'm a platinum member purely on the back of the IHG Premium Credit Card, but by some miracle I have spent enough on the card to actually qualify for Spire membership when the next statement hits. So I gave them all the proof and today I had an email to say it had processed. Despite only wanting and expecting to be matched to Gold status for 3 months, they have given me Diamond, so I'm exceptionally happy, and hoping for some free Lounge action in my next few stays. Great timing as my first stay is next Monday. Quick edit - it gets better as I have just discovered the Moments Made Bigger promotion and registered for that ! So that's the boast ! The question is this : The status match website says that you have to hit 4 stays in the next 90 days to keep Gold or 8 stays in the next 90 days to keep Diamond. I fully expect 8 to be too much, but 4 would be easy. However, my online Hilton account says I need 60 more nights and the app says I need 30 stays to retain Diamond. Does the status match requirement over-ride these 2 ? And why does one refer to nights and one refer to stays ? I am planning to contact Hilton to ask them, but thought I'd ask you experts as well as you may have been through the same thing. And the Hilton marketing is working; by giving me Diamond I am already planning to change an existing IHG reward night booking to a paid for Hilton stay, so that it counts towards 1 of my 4 stays in 90 days, and to experience the joy of whatever extras the particular DoubleTree gives me as part of my current Diamond status.
Check the latest availability of the hotel you're staying at, so you can ask for a Diamond room upgrade on check-in would be my advice. They may well not have you down as being diamond status, so do ask about both upgrades and other diamond perks. Hope this helps - I can't answer your actual question though. You're right to check with Hilton. Steve
The status match requirements won't show on your Hilton account. You will need to keep track of your own progress. The standard way of qualifying for status is EITHER nights or stays. In theory 30 1-night stays would get you Diamond. Or if you have long stays you could end up with something like 10 stays and 60 nights and also qualify via nights. The status match / challenge is "stay-based" only. Stays are one or more consecutive nights in the same hotel. So, if you were willing to move between Hilton hotels, you could try to get 8 "stays" out of your 4 upcoming trips.
Yep, the fast track requirements (slightly annoyingly) definitely don't show anywhere on your account. In my experience, it all tracks perfectly in the background though - I had no issues at all, which is pretty rare for me and loyalty programmes these days!
Definitely email your hotel that you have now obtained a Diamond status. Their system shows your status as it were at the time of booking. And yes, as long as you complete 4 or 8 stays within 90 days of upgrading your status, your Diamond will be effective, regardless what is says on your app or account. Mine still says I need to complete 22 stays to keep diamond, but the customer service have confirmed that in fact my status is valid for the next 1.5 years as I have completed the 'task' of 8 stays.
Thanks for the replies. I'm so confident in your expertise that I'm not going to rush to contact Hilton directly. My first stay in Glasgow was impressive; free drinks and breakfast, and then unexpected free parking. The hotel I was at didn't have room upgrade options. This weekend my paid stay is at a Doubletree, so upgrades might be an option. But I've limited my chances by having to book a twin room for my friend and I, when I expect all the upgrade rooms are king size beds but not twin. However, hoping for some executive lounge type benefits, so lets see.
That's pretty impressive, first time I've heard of a route to Hilton Diamond via credit cards alone. What did you need to spend on the IHG card to achieve that? It's the points earned on the spend which are counted for the upgraded status isn't it (rather than a spend target)?
tcz8127 I spent a surprisingly large amount, after we tried hard to put every single bit of family spending on it including a couple of holidays, plus all my work expenses - fuel and any hotel stays, etc. So to be clear, I got automatic platinum IHG status by paying the annual £99 fee for their Premium credit card issued by Creation Financial Services. Missed out last year on hitting the points total required for Spire, by about 4000, but this year managed to get over the 75000 points total. So yes it's the points achieved through spending or staying that qualify for Spire status. That was partly achieved through Elite qualifying points from 18 stays during the year, but mostly from spending on their credit card. Total spend of £29234.90 What I don't know is whether the Hilton status match would have only been to Gold level if I was not close to IHG Spire status, or if they would have given me temporary Diamond status anyway to tempt me.
The doublertree stay was not too rewarding. No room upgrades as expected, and I had missed that the hotel had no exec lounge. So the only benefit for this stay was the free breakfast and free parking. My next stay in Edinburgh is definitely at a hotel with Executive Lounge so hoping to finally get to sample that benefit.
Looks like I will easily hit my status match target of 4 stays for Gold, as I'm now in Scotland in Jan for 2 consecutive nights, but different locations and hotels. So that's the 4 done. Very unlikely that 4 more will be possible before the end of Feb though.
John kindly gave me some info to write a post about this... You can read it here: https://rewardpoints.home.blog/2019...s-almost-entirely-from-everyday-spending/amp/
