I'm currently signed up for the SPG gold and platinum challenges which started early November. I've already gained gold with 9 stays but now require another 9 stays for Platinum by 31st January. I'm also a gold member with Hilton and taking advantage of the current stacking points offers. Come January I will be working in London for ten nights. What would you do? Take Hilton points or go for SPG platinum and then get Hilton to do a status match to Diamond?
I guess it depends on where you are planning to stay for the rest of the year, and how you would use/value the points. The current Hilton status match is a challenge, so would require you to stay a few more nights to get Diamond, but if you can do that after gaining SPG Platinum then you've got top level status in 2 programmes (3 including SPG linked Marriott). Do bear in mind that consecutive nights in one hotel count as ONE stay, even if you book individual nights and check-in and check-out each day. This is certainly the case with Hilton (speaking from experience here!).
As Ian says, it really depends. Personally, if you're likely to travel quite a bit in the next year or 2 I would probably take the status. SPG Platinum is great (and also gets you Marriott Platinum - also great) and can be matched to Hilton Diamond as you mention. If you'd be switching hotels anyway, you're probably only really giving up the 5,000 hilton points per stay visa bonuses and maybe a bit more from triple points vs what SPG are currently offering - so say 70,000-100,000 Hilton Points (?). I value that at about £300-£400 (I value Hilton Points relatively highly).
