Hilton Diamond With The Match – Even For Stragglers

As I am sure you are aware, Hilton matched Hyatt’s move by launching a status match but they made it vague by not saying anything about matching to Diamond status. Since there are a lot of Hilton Gold members (courtesy of credit cards like the Hilton Reserve, Hilton Surpass, and the American Express Platinum cards), I think most people assumed that the matched status would be to Hilton Diamond. Many people jumped on it right away. And it appears there is not a great rush since the rep did say that matches will be proccesed up through January 11, 2016!

Hilton Diamond With The Match – Even For Stragglers

Matched From Hyatt Diamond

I had planned on it but just forgot, to be honest. I finally got my screenshot of my Hyatt Diamond status sent over Monday morning. I already have Hilton Gold and, to me, there is not as much as a draw for Hilton Diamond as there would be to move up to Hyatt Diamond so I was really applying for it as more of a data point (however, who can say “no” to more diamonds?!). I do have some opportunities for Hilton stays over the next year and this will push me to try them out with my Diamond status but I am not expecting as much as I would from Hyatt Diamond. But, Hilton’s footprint is a lot larger so it is nice to have that status in the bag when I am someplace where there are no Hyatt hotels.

Congrats – Thanks For “Earning” Hilton Diamond

Sure, enough, last night I received an e-mail congratulating me for “earning” Hilton Diamond status. My account has been updated to reflect that and now I have Hilton Diamond! I was a little surprised to find that they were still handing out their Hilton Diamond status to stragglers like me. Even though they mentioned the January 11th date, I figured they would have a cut-off for matching to Diamond.

How To Do It

If you are like me and you waited, go ahead and send in your info for a shot at it. The worst that happens is “no” but you would likely get Gold if not matched to Diamond. If you do not already have Gold, it would be nice to have. I consider it to be the best of mid-tier hotel statuses for the inclusion of complimentary breakfast.

If you have not applied for it, here is what you need to do according to the Hilton rep on Flyertalk:

We’re winding down for the Thanksgiving holiday and, as a heads up, I will be out of the office until Monday, but I wanted to let you know about our status match program…

We’ve been receiving a number of requests and yes, we do match status from other programs and we’d love to be your travel home.

1. We are matching status for 2016. To make sure you’re all set for the year, please submit your request by January 11, 2016. You’ll enjoy that status through March 2017.
2. All you need is something that shows your elite tier in another program and an HHonors number.
3. Email us at hhonormystatus@hilton.com and we’ll help get you started.

Please note it may take a couple of days to process given the Thanksgiving holiday. We promise to process requests as quickly as possible and any request submitted prior to January 11, 2016, will be processed in time to enjoy your new status for the entire year.

Summary

At the end of the day, Hilton is expecting that this generous move will draw more business this way. I feel bad for the Hilton-loyal customers that earned Diamond the hard way but I seriously doubt that many of the new Diamond members will be taking many of the benefits as we will likely just not use it that much. Obviously, that is not what Hilton wants but it will probably end up being the reality.

Did you get a match? What did you match from and what did you receive?