Hilton is one of the largest hotel groups in the world, and Gold status is Hilton’s mid-tier elite level in the Honors program. To me, Hilton Gold is arguably the most valuable mid-tier status offered by any major hotel group. Best of all, it’s easy to earn.
In this post I want to take a closer look at the benefits of Hilton Honors™ Gold Status, and in a separate post I’ll take a look at Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status, which is top tier status with the program.
In this post:
How to earn Hilton Gold elite status
There are several pathways to earning Hilton Gold status — you can earn it through stays, you can earn it just for having a credit card, and you can earn it by putting spending on a credit card.
Earning Hilton Gold status with hotel stays
If you want to achieve Hilton Gold elite status through hotel stays, you ordinarily need to earn any of the following in a calendar year:
- 40 nights
- 20 stays (with each check-in and check-out counting as one stay)
- 75,000 base points (you typically earn 10 base points per dollar at most brands, so that’s like spending $7,500 per year)
Note that both award and revenue stays count toward the night and stay total. These requirements are on the high side for mid-tier hotel status, though fortunately, there’s a much easier way to earn Hilton Gold status with credit cards.
Earning Hilton Gold status with credit cards
Hilton has a suite of co-branded credit cards that can earn you status. Specifically, all of the following cards offer Gold elite status for as long as you have them:
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) — $195 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review) — $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
- The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) — $695 annual fee (Rates & Fees) (Enrollment required) link to enroll
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) – $695 annual fee (Rates & Fees) (Enrollment required) link to enroll
On top of that, you can earn Hilton Gold elite status if you make $20,000 in eligible purchases in a calendar year on the Hilton Honors American Express Card (review), which has no annual fee (Rates & Fees).
Lastly, just to be thorough, I should mention that the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express (review) offers top-tier Hilton Diamond status for as long as you have the card.
That card has a $550 annual fee, but offers a slew of other amazing benefits, including an annual free night certificate, up to $400 in annual Hilton resort credits, up to $200 in annual flight credits, up to $199 in annual CLEAR® Plus credits, and more.
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Hilton Gold elite status benefits
With the requirements to earn status out of the way, what are the benefits of Gold elite status? Below are the benefits, roughly in the order that I value them.
Complimentary continental breakfast or hotel credit
As far as I’m concerned, the single most valuable hotel elite benefit is free breakfast, and that’s something that Gold elite offers… sort of. Across Hilton brands outside of the United States, Hilton Gold members have the option of selecting breakfast as a benefit. While this benefit is technically only for continental breakfast, in practice many hotels will offer Gold members full breakfast.
For properties in the United States, Hilton Gold members receive a hotel credit in lieu of complimentary breakfast.
The amount of the credit ranges from $10-25 per person per night, and depends on the brand and location. For full service and lifestyle brands, high-cost markets include Boston, Chicago, the District of Columbia, Key Largo, Key West, New York City, San Francisco, the county of Los Angeles, and the state of Hawaii.
Unfortunately, realistically, those credit amounts won’t cover a “reasonable” breakfast including tax and tip. However, some do appreciate the flexibility of these credits, as you can choose to use them toward something other than breakfast, such as lunch or an evening cocktail.
Executive lounge access, subject to availability
The executive lounge access policy for Hilton Gold elite members can be a bit confusing:
- Gold elite members are entitled to room upgrades up to the executive level
- If a Gold elite member receives a space-available upgrade to an executive-level room, they’ll also receive executive lounge access
- However, generally speaking if a Gold elite member isn’t upgraded to an executive room, they won’t receive lounge access
This is a point of differentiation between Gold and Diamond status, because Diamond members receive lounge access even if they’re not otherwise upgraded to an executive room.
Executive lounges offer complimentary breakfast, evening snacks, and a place to grab a coffee or drink during the day. You can generally expect that executive lounges outside the United States (in particular in Asia) will be significantly better than domestic ones.
Upgrades to preferred rooms, subject to availability
Hilton Gold elite members are entitled to room upgrades, though individual hotels have a lot of discretion. As the terms explain, Gold elite members may receive upgrades to preferred rooms, and that may include upgrades all the way up to executive rooms.
Suite upgrades are technically excluded from the upgrade pool for Gold elite members (they’re available for Diamond members), though I have sometimes received suite upgrades back when I had Gold status, so it’s not totally unheard of.
All of these upgrades are at the discretion of the hotel, and are officially granted on a space-available basis for the entire duration of the stay at the time of check-in. However, Hilton is nowadays sometimes processing upgrades in advance.
This language is a bit different than what you’ll find with Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt, which promise certain types of upgrades subject to availability, rather than at the discretion of the hotel.
It’s also worth emphasizing that technically, Hilton elite members don’t receive upgrades at nine brands, including Embassy Suites, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Motto by Hilton, Spark by Hilton, and Tru by Hilton. However, in practice you may still find that elite members often get upgrades at these properties.
80% bonus points
Gold elite members receive an 80% points bonus on Hilton stays. Members ordinarily earn 10 base points per dollar spent, so Gold members earn an additional eight points per dollar spent.
Hilton also often has global promotions to earn more points, and Hilton’s co-branded credit cards offer an excellent rate of return for Hilton spending.
When you combine all of these factors, racking up Hilton points for hotel stays is quite easy.
Hilton MyWay Benefits
Gold members receive what’s known as a “MyWay” benefit with each stay, which varies by brand. In some cases if you want continental breakfast you’ll have to select that as your choice. Here’s a breakdown of these benefits by brand:
- At Canopy by Hilton, choose 250 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Conrad, chose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Curio Collection by Hilton, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At DoubleTree by Hilton, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Embassy Suites, choose 500 bonus points or two snacks/refreshments
- At Hampton by Hilton, choose 250 bonus points or one bottle of water and one snack
- At Hilton, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Home2 Suites by Hilton, choose 100 bonus points or one bottle of water and one snack item
- At Homewood Suites by Hilton, choose 250 bonus points or two bottles of water and a snack
- At LXR, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Motto by Hilton, choose 500 bonus points or a daily food & beverage credit
- At Signia by Hilton, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Tapestry Collection by Hilton, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
- At Tru by Hilton, choose 250 bonus points or a bottle of water and a snack
- At Waldorf Astoria, choose 1,000 bonus points or continental breakfast
Note that in each of the above cases where continental breakfast is listed, the benefit would actually be the food & beverage credit at properties in the United States.
Fifth night free on awards stays
While this is a perk for all Hilton elite tiers, I still consider it to be extremely valuable. Hilton elite members receive a fifth night free on award redemptions, which can stretch your Hilton points further.
Late check-out, subject to availability
This is an area where Hilton lags. Technically all Hilton members receive late check-out subject to availability. However, this is entirely at the hotel’s discretion. Unlike at Hyatt and Marriott, no Hilton elite members receive guaranteed late check-out.
Milestone Bonuses
This will only be of value if you stay with Hilton a lot, but the program offers 10,000 bonus points every 10 nights after you’ve stayed 40 nights in a calendar year.
Differences between Hilton Gold & Diamond status
In helping people decide what status to go for, I think it’s worth just briefly comparing Hilton Gold and Diamond elite status. Diamond status is Hilton’s top-tier status, and is also offered just for having the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express.
The most significant differences between the status levels are as follows:
- Gold members receive 80% bonus points, Diamond members receive 100% bonus points
- Gold upgrades explicitly exclude suites, while Diamond upgrades include suites (though still only at the discretion of the hotel)
- Gold members only get executive lounge access when upgraded to an executive room, while Diamond members get executive lounge access even if not upgraded to an executive room
- Gold members receive standard Wi-Fi, while Diamond members receive premium Wi-Fi
Both elite tiers offer free breakfast (or food & beverage credit) and some sort of room upgrades, so both can be worth having. However, you will definitely notice a difference in treatment at some properties, especially outside the United States.
If you stay at Hiltons frequently, I do think it’s worth trying to attain Diamond status, at least if it’s easy to do so.
Bottom line
Gold elite status is in my opinion the most useful mid-tier hotel status, given that it consistently offers complimentary continental breakfast (or a hotel credit in the United States). Other perks include things like room upgrades, executive lounge access (sometimes), and bonus points.
Given how easy Gold elite status is to earn, I think this is a great elite tier. Both the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card and Hilton Honors American Express Business Card offer Hilton Gold status for as long as you have the card, so that’s great.
For the more frequent Hilton guest, I absolutely think it’s worth getting the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express in order to earn Diamond elite status. This could lead to better room upgrades, more consistent lounge access, and more bonus points.
Gold elite status compares pretty favorably to other mid-tier hotel statuses, including IHG One Rewards Platinum status and World of Hyatt Explorist status.
If you’re a Hilton Gold member, what has your experience been like?
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Hilton Honors American Express Card (Rates & Fees), The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Rates & Fees), The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), and Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees).
Been Diamond for a few years and never seen a suite! Some rooms have awful views - how about our bins Steve. Hampton the worst for status recognition. I could go on. I’ve just status matched to Radisson VIP and may try them to see how I fare.
Just returned from a trip and stayed at an Embassy Suites. On our last night, our daughter became ill and was up most of the night. The morning of our departure my wife went down to the front desk and asked if we could get a late check out, so our daughter could sleep a bit before our flight home and was told, "Rooms with 2 queen beds are not eligible for late check-outs". My...
Just returned from a trip and stayed at an Embassy Suites. On our last night, our daughter became ill and was up most of the night. The morning of our departure my wife went down to the front desk and asked if we could get a late check out, so our daughter could sleep a bit before our flight home and was told, "Rooms with 2 queen beds are not eligible for late check-outs". My wife did not mention my status(which turned out to not be on my reservation(another story) but, the desk agent didn't look anyway) and explained the situation with our daughter and was told "no" again. I went down, asked nicely and was told the same after she said, "I already informed your wife of this". I then asked, "Is late check-out not a benefit of Gold status? I hate having to sound like that's important or that I am somebody(I'm not) but as soon as I said this she asked for my Hilton Honors number. After receiving it and confirming my status, she immediately changed her tone and with a couple of clicks she said, "Your late check-out is confirmed". The 2 queen bed room miraculously became eligible for late check-out. Basically, hotel staff(among others) often just make up whatever and I expect most people take it as fact when actually in this case, the agent lied. Her expression after she typed in my number was priceless, not because of who or what I am but because she got caught in a fib.
Hilton status is a joke compared to what it used to be. Gold is essentially worthless, even Diamond gets little. Food credit has been offset by higher prices at the hotel restaurant and executive lounges have been rapidly disappearing. Forget an upgrade unless you're at a very large Hilton branded hotel. Hampton, DoubleTree, et al, your upgraded will consist of a better view of the parking lot. Conrad and Waldorf once in a while but...
Hilton status is a joke compared to what it used to be. Gold is essentially worthless, even Diamond gets little. Food credit has been offset by higher prices at the hotel restaurant and executive lounges have been rapidly disappearing. Forget an upgrade unless you're at a very large Hilton branded hotel. Hampton, DoubleTree, et al, your upgraded will consist of a better view of the parking lot. Conrad and Waldorf once in a while but recently I've seen more offers to purchase an upgraded room than get one for free.
I got my HH Gold by a status match.
In the U.K. there is a “debit card” option which costs £150, an option for those who don’t want another credit card.
In Australia, the land of almost no dedicated credit cards, at least the Amex platinum card offers Gold status. I don't stay in Hilton properties here often, but the ones I have stayed at, the included breakfast (not a dining credit) is very good. Gold seems to be the sweet spot at Hilton, the marginally better Diamond perks don't seem worth the effort.
Hitlon Honors Gold status is easy to earn... For Americans, through their credit card benefits. It seems most of the posts written the last couple of days highly focus on a US audience.
I think that’s always the case.
Coming from a country without credit cards with any sort of meaningful awards, you’re really at a disadvantage with travel status and awards these days.