While it definitely makes sense and comes hand in hand for those that travel on corporate dime frequently, the benefits and value may not be that apparent for the common travelling folks and those who take leisure trips. That is something harder to measure. It is certainly nice to get suites over rooms and that is very dreamy when you are travelling! I for sure am spoiled by some of the suites and rooms that I get simply for booking the cheapest, lowest room. On the other hand, I have to spend tons of time and money at a particular chain in exchange for this. A sort of induced “loyalty” where I will choose to stay at a certain hotel even when it is not the best deal or option. I would love to do some sharing based on my recent travelling experience and we can gauge whether it is worthwhile to chase such status!  

Hilton Diamond Status 

Let me start recapping and sharing a little about Hilton Diamond. Hilton Diamond, the top-tier status of Hilton! It requires 60 nights, 30 Stays or 120,000 Base Points to qualify or retain per year. There are 4 tiers in the loyalty program: Member, Silver, Gold and Diamond. Some of the core benefits that I find useful include:

Hilton Diamond
100% Bonus on base points (Rate and Incidentals)
Room Upgrades up to 1 Bedroom Suite
Confirmed Executive Lounge Access
Complimentary Breakfast
Complimentary Premium Wifi
5th Night Free on Award Stays (Standard Room Reward only)
Elite Status Gifting
No Resort Fees on Award Stays

How to get elite treatment without having any status?

Besides attaining elite status with a hotel chain and having to earn it the hard way with nights and stays there is another way that you can enjoy the same status without having to do so. You can do so via booking a special rate with a travel advisor. This gives you the ability to score additional perks without any sort of requirement to be loyal. This is especially true at luxury hotels and most chains have their own program like Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hyatt Privé, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, Marriott STARS & Luminous and Shangri-La Luxury Circle. You also have some third-party programs like Virtuoso and AMEX Fine Hotels & Resorts. 

Since we are talking about the Hilton Honors program, the Hilton Impresario program offers you elite-like perks for stays at LXR, Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties. They are most well used on short stays. Sometimes they also have 3rd Night Free or 4th Night Free promotion from time to time. I recently stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok where the 100 USD credit was almost 40% of the price I paid for a 1 night’s stay. Specifically, the Hilton Impresario perks are as follows:

  • Daily complimentary full breakfast 
  • A complimentary room upgrade, subject to availability at check-in
  • 100 USD property credit once per stay
  • Early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability
  • Double Hilton Honors points

How much have I “earned” for simply having Hilton’s top-tier status in the past 12 months?

I will use all my stays in the past 12 months as an example. I can’t remember when was the last time that I didn’t even get a single category upgrade. In the last 12 months, I stayed a total 17 times in Hilton Hotel & Resorts properties and a total of 64 nights. All prices below will be in SGD. For practical purposes, I will just quote the rate I paid and the rough cost of the room I got upgraded to base on a non-peak weekday rate. For points booking, I will measure it at 0.005 USD per point. These are all the Hilton stays I did till this week. Ignoring other benefits such as breakfast and lounge access I have already enjoyed approximately 9015 SGD in savings. 

Hotel Room BookedPrice Paid (SGD)Room Upgraded toActual Cost (SGD)
Hilton BonnGuest676King Deluxe Room with River View948
Hilton Antwerp Old TownGuest648Groenplaats Suite1748
Hotel Camille Paris Gare de LyonGuest378King Deluxe Room with View686
Hilton MilanQueen600Junior Suite1240
Hilton BudapestGuest688King Danube River Suite2468
Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Lisbon – Fontana Park Guest612King Premium Room736
Hilton Porto GaiaGuest764One Bedroom Suite1308
Hilton Garden Inn SevilleKing234One Bedroom Suite448
Casa Alberola Alicante Curio Collection by HiltonClara 250Carmen Room with Sea View328
Hilton Diagonal Mar BarcelonaGuest632King Executive Panorama Suite 2280
Hilton Garden Inn BaliGuest665King Room with Pool View1330
Hilton Bali ResortGuest Room Garden View72Terrace Suite Ocean View264
Conrad BaliDeluxe240King Ocean Front Room534
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Sukhumvit BangkokGuest79Deluxe Suite162
Conrad BangkokDeluxe416Executive Suite1180
Waldorf Astoria BangkokDeluxe345Deluxe Suite514
Hilton Garden Inn BaliGuest70One Bedroom Suite210
Total736916384

First thing, you can see that I have saved over 9000 SGD over my stays recently. I have not even included other tangible benefits like breakfast, lounge access, early check in and late check out. But on the other hand, I have also spent close to 7400 SGD alone in the past year on Hilton hotels. Perhaps if I stayed at some Airbnbs or other more cost-effective hotels in the places I visited, I won’t have spent that much. 

Conclusion

I was in a discussion recently where points are raised about whether is it worth getting into the chase for hotel status! The same thing goes for the airlines loyalty program! It is being brought up whether for the usual travellers, does status makes a point? Going for a mattress run, using up precious time and money before cashing in on the benefits? My consensus is yes! My status is too precious for me now to give up! I will go out of my way to stay at a Hilton property when I visit a place but definitely not just headed somewhere for a mattress run. Is it worth chasing hotel status for the average travelling folks? That is still a question that only you can answer, depending on your travelling needs and pattern.