While we’ll have to mark this as “developing” for now, it sounds like Hilton Honors is planning major changes to its elite tiers, possibly as soon as next year.
In this post:
Hilton Honors will roll out new top tier elite status
Hilton Honors may be looking to introduce a new top tier elite status. Currently, Hilton Honors’ elite tiers include Silver, Gold, and Diamond. The thing about Hilton Honors is that elite status is super easy to earn with credit cards, and you can even maintain top tier Diamond status simply by having the right credit card.
That’s great in terms of the ease with which you can earn status, though it’s less great in terms of Hilton actually consistently delivering on benefits. For example, the program doesn’t offer any sort of confirmed suite upgrades or guaranteed late check-out.
For a long time, we’ve known that Hilton Honors was exploring adding a new top tier status, as it’s something the program has surveyed multiple times. It looks like that’s finally taking shape, as flagged by US Credit Card Guide. Based on source code on Hilton’s website, we may see the company introduce a new Hilton Honors Diamond Reserve tier. This would require $18,000 in annual spending, plus either 80 nights or 40 stays.
The benefits are expected to include confirmable upgrade rewards, though details beyond that remain limited. Presumably elite perks would be a bit more competitive across the board than what Hilton Honors currently offers Diamond members.
It also looks like Hilton Honors may introduce a new “The Honors Society” tier, which would be invitation-only, perhaps for hotel owners, plus other very high spending guests. This would be along the lines of Marriott Bonvoy Cobalt, World of Hyatt Courtesy Card, etc.
As someone who simply earns Hilton Honors Diamond status by holding onto a credit card, I selfishly am not happy to see the introduction of a new higher elite tier. That being said, if Hilton Honors wants to invest into actually improving elite perks for its best customers, then this is a logical way to go about it, and I can hardly fault the program.
Hilton Honors will lower elite requirements by 30%
Interestingly, it looks like the introduction of Hilton Honors Diamond Reserve and The Honors Society may only be the start of the changes. VERYLVKE flags how the same source code on Hilton’s website indicates significant reductions in qualification requirements for existing elite tiers with Hilton Honors.
If this is to be believed, we’ll see a roughly 30% reduction in elite requirements for Hilton Honors’ existing elite tiers:
- Hilton Honors Silver status will require seven nights, three stays, or 17,500 points (compared to 10 nights, four stays, or 25,000 points)
- Hilton Honors Gold status will require 28 nights, 14 stays, or 52,500 points (compared to 40 nights, 20 stays, or 75,000 points)
- Hilton Honors Diamond status will require 42 nights, 21 stays, or 84,000 points (compared to 60 nights, 30 stays, or 120,000 points)
If Hilton Honors isn’t going to strengthen perks for existing elite tiers, then I suppose lowering requirements isn’t unreasonable either, to make them more attainable and a better value. Now, I’m curious if we could see a reduction to elite perks in some cases, like Hilton Honors Gold members no longer getting breakfast and/or a food and beverage credit.
I will say, those requirements do seem rather random, so I wonder if there’s more to this. I understand the concept of wanting to reduce status requirements by a certain amount, but seven, 28, and 42 nights, don’t exactly seem like traditional elite tiers.
Bottom line
It looks like Hilton Honors may imminently be planning some changes to its elite status program. This could include the introduction of a new Diamond Reserve tier with an $18,000 spending requirement, plus a new invitation-only elite tier. On top of that, we could see reductions to existing elite tiers.
Ultimately these changes don’t seem unreasonable if Hilton is serious about improving elite perks for its best customers, given the limited incentive there has long been to be loyal to the hotel group.
What do you make of these potential Hilton Honors elite status changes?
Someday hotels will require a 465 nights per year to get the complimentary breakfast.
And there will still be someone cheerleading for the corporations, who will say it’s better than nothing.
Can’t WAIT for DCS’ LT Diamond status to now be 2nd tier to to new Diamond Reserve. What a magical gift going into the weekend.
So now us regular Diamonds won't get the upgrades we're already not getting. Sweet!
The new tier is a massive step in the right direction assuming it won't be possible to cheat your way into it with a CC. Hilton needs to start caring about its primary business and hotel guests. I won't reach the tier because despite 95 nights or so per usual year, my spend is nowhere near the new requirements, but I'm still glad to see this development.
The next thing we need is differentiation of...
The new tier is a massive step in the right direction assuming it won't be possible to cheat your way into it with a CC. Hilton needs to start caring about its primary business and hotel guests. I won't reach the tier because despite 95 nights or so per usual year, my spend is nowhere near the new requirements, but I'm still glad to see this development.
The next thing we need is differentiation of regular Diamond and credit card Diamond so that the hotels know who actually has commercial value for them and can prioritise soft benefits accordingly.
I'm less happy about the lowered qualification requirements, why on earth would they do it? There's already too many elites.
The threshold amounts seem perfectly normal to me as they're all in multiples of 7 and presumably have been designed with premium leisure travellers in mind, be they wealthy pensioners doing slow travel or busy families who use their annual leave at beach resorts.
luckily hotel industry has a much more competition in the game that Hilton could not abuse customers like Delta by continuing treating their customers worse and worse and still profitable. I hope it goes to a competition that it is okay to ask your customers paying more but a better product and services other than just fooling with company algorithms
End of f&b credits in the us and full free breakfast abroad for being an aspire cardholder
If our Gold breakfast gets completely cut, we will eat somewhere else. It's the only perk we've enjoyed on most stays and that's often been cut since Covid. Hilton Honors Elite used to mean more when we got into this 18 years ago.
Gold used to require 40 nights, the new requirement for Diamond seems to be 42 nights. So basically anyone who is Gold now should have no issues qualifying for Diamond.
Almost everyone I know who has Gold got from cc so anyone who has gold will most likely qualify for diamond
Not likely*
Goodbye Gold breakfast.
No post about the Choice Privileges updates from earlier this week? Seems like a big deal
I'm perfectly happy as a long time Diamond who makes it by stays/nights. I am mostly at the middle tier properties and probably 50/50 for a room upgrade, as it were, usually to something with a separate sitting area. Always get my bottles of water and snack. The up front parking space is nice too.
For averaging about $120-140 a night as I'm 90% HGI/Hampton/Spark/Doubletree, what more would I want? Maybe they could separate...
I'm perfectly happy as a long time Diamond who makes it by stays/nights. I am mostly at the middle tier properties and probably 50/50 for a room upgrade, as it were, usually to something with a separate sitting area. Always get my bottles of water and snack. The up front parking space is nice too.
For averaging about $120-140 a night as I'm 90% HGI/Hampton/Spark/Doubletree, what more would I want? Maybe they could separate tiers more significantly between categories of brand. Or degrade benefits for those who earn based on credit card.
I find the points accrual decent enough and have been able to find redemptions that work for me. The guaranteed room benefit has helped me twice in the last year when the other hotel options were properties with numbers in the name.
I only use Hilton once a year in a specific location in Europe and my Gold status from Amex Platinum treats me like a king there. I always book two rooms using points (still have lots of old Hilton points) and we get breakfast for 4, room upgrade, access to spa, etc.... Can't complain at all.
DCS, what say you?
Are the asylum attendants letting him out in public these days?
Given Hilton's long history of not delivering on elite benefits, believing things will change would be like believing that a habitually cheating spouse will change.
What happens to lifetime diamond members. Would there be a lifetime diamond reserve status?
What does Lifetime Diamond even mean?
"What does Lifetime Diamond even mean?"
A small bottle of water at check in.
I was going to ask the same thing. I earned Lifetime Diamond the old fashioned way - I earned it due to 15 years of work related travel.
I'm retiring at the end of the year, so now that I get to enjoy my status it's about to be removed. So typical.
I will use my 1m points I have accumulated and move on
@David - What are you talking about? Diamond and Lifetime Diamond remain without a change. Sure, there will now be a higher tier but that only matters when competing for upgrades and I don't expect there to be many Diamond Reserve members.
I guess that's the question I am asking. Will lifetime Diamond be Diamond reserve or just regular Diamond?
maybe if they eliminate the gold breakfast, they'll increase diamonds to a full breakfast instead of a voucher.
Thanks, Lucky. Lots to digest here.