Among the major hotel loyalty programs, Hilton Honors has most consistently offered a status challenge promotion. All things considered, Hilton is one of the most generous loyalty programs when it comes to giving out status, whether it’s through a credit card or through a status challenge.
In this post, I want to take an updated look at Hilton Honors’ status challenge policy. This is the best time to start a challenge, as status could potentially be valid for around two years (this is a new development — thanks to AwardWallet for flagging this). Let’s go over the details.
In this post:
Hilton Honors status challenge basics
Hilton Honors has a published status challenge program, where you receive Gold status upfront, and then can maintain Gold or Diamond status based on staying a certain number of nights within 90 days.
With the current Hilton Honors status challenge program, you’ll automatically be matched to Gold for a period of 90 days, and then you can maintain status based on how many nights you stay in a 90 day period:
- Stay eight nights within your 90 day trial period and you’ll keep Gold status through March 31, 2027
- Stay 14 nights within your 90 day trial period and you’ll be upgraded to Diamond status through March 31, 2027
For context, Gold elite status ordinarily requires earning 40 elite nights in a calendar year, while Diamond elite status ordinarily requires earning 60 elite nights in a calendar year. So this match is pretty generous, in the sense that you have one-quarter the ordinary qualification period to earn slightly less than one-quarter of the ordinary elite nights.
How to request a Hilton Honors status challenge
In order to request a status challenge, you just have to fill out the online form with some basic details, along with the status that you’re trying to match.
Then you have to also upload proof of your status, as well as proof of a stay with a competing hotel chain in the past 12 months (which prevents you from matching based solely on status obtained through a credit card, status match, etc.).
Do note that while you have to submit proof of a stay, it’s fine if you earned that status through a credit card. For example, if you have the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) and have stayed at least one night at an IHG property, you can use your IHG One Rewards Platinum status to start a Hilton Honors status challenge.
If you’re not yet a Hilton Honors member, there’s an offer whereby you can earn up to 3,000 bonus points after completing two stays, so make sure you sign-up through that promotion. Also make sure you take advantage of Hilton Honors’ global promotion.
Hilton Honors status challenge FAQs
To answer some of the most frequently asked questions I get regarding Hilton status challenges:
- Do award nights count towards the Hilton status challenge? Unfortunately Hilton doesn’t count awards nights for status challenges
- How often can you participate in a Hilton status challenge? Only once during the lifetime of your account
- How long does it take to start a Hilton status challenge? The terms state that it takes 7-12 business days for status match requests to be processed — in the event that additional validation is required, it could take an extra 7-12 business days
- Who is eligible for a status match? Only members who are base or Silver members; Gold or Diamond members aren’t eligible, so if you’re currently a Gold member you couldn’t use a challenge like this to get Diamond status
- What are Hilton Honors elite perks like? See my post about Diamond elite benefits and Gold elite benefits
Earn Hilton Honors status with credit cards
While this is a great opportunity for a status challenge, also remember that Hilton makes it pretty easy to earn status through its suite of US credit cards, if you have access to those. These credit cards even let you earn Diamond status automatically, and not just Gold status.
The following cards let you earn Gold elite status:
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (review)— valid for as long as you have the card
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (review) — valid for as long as you have the card
- The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) — valid for as long as you have the card, registration required
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) — valid for as long as you have the card, registration required
- Hilton Honors American Express Card (review) — when you make $20,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
Meanwhile, the following cards let you earn Diamond elite status:
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) — valid for as long as you have the card
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card — when you make $40,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card — when you make $40,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
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.
Bottom line
Hilton Honors is one of the only hotel loyalty programs to consistently have a publicly available status challenge promotion.
The requirements for a Hilton Honors status challenge are quite reasonable, as you could earn Diamond status after just 14 nights within 90 days. If you started a status challenge now, status would be valid through March 2027.
While this is a great opportunity, for those in the US there shouldn’t be all that much need to even get a status challenge, given the credit cards that offer status. The Hilton Honors Aspire Card is my personal favorite, as it offers Diamond status for as long you have the card, along with so many other perks.
What do you make of Hilton Honors’ status challenge promotion? Do you plan on taking advantage of it?
Because I don't yet carry any of the Hilton cards, and I spend more time in Asia and Europe, I was very happy with the added value I got from this status match from Accor. I can easily qualify for Diamond status for two years, and then defer the decision to apply for an annual fee that awards gold status at Hilton as a baseline. I stay at Hilton hotels in the U.S., more and...
Because I don't yet carry any of the Hilton cards, and I spend more time in Asia and Europe, I was very happy with the added value I got from this status match from Accor. I can easily qualify for Diamond status for two years, and then defer the decision to apply for an annual fee that awards gold status at Hilton as a baseline. I stay at Hilton hotels in the U.S., more and more exclusively, as I suffer anything else and the elite status rewards begin to justify the difference in price nearly everywhere. Paying for the Accor programs is absolutely a bargain if you spend more than a month and half in hotels in Europe in a year.