All through this year, Hilton has been very generous with status matches. In January this year, Hilton was matching status with all other chain hotels, even including their top-tier Diamond status. I made good use of this promotion to match my Hyatt Diamond with a Hilton Diamond status. Then they announced their instant Gold status match promotion for corporates, where all employees who complete 4 stays by August 31,2016 will get a Gold status valid through March 2018.

However it appears that Hilton has finally realised that doling out HHonors statuses was not necessarily resulting in revenue generation. So now Hilton have amended their program and introduced a two tier qualification level to earn and retain status on the HHonors program.

• Earning Status – Hilton HHonors will still continue to match your status with other hotel loyalty programs. Though this will be temporary.
• Retaining Status –  To retain your newly matched status you need to complete a certain number of stays with in a period of 90 days.

In order for HHonors to match your status you will need to complete this online form. You will not only have to upload your status proof with another hotel loyalty program but also a proof of completed stay within the last 12 months with that hotel brand.

To retain this provisional status, HHonors Gold members will need to complete 4 stays and HHonors Diamond members will need to complete 8 stays over the following 90 days period.  It’s a bit odd that only stays will be counted for the status challenge and the total number of nights stayed at Hilton properties during the 90 day period will be overlooked. The regular requirement for a Hilton Gold tier qualification is 20 stays or 40 nights and for Diamond it is 30 stays or 60 nights in a year.

The good news is that you can enjoy all the benefits of your provisional status during the challenge period. That way you get a flavour of the perks and benefits of being a Hilton Gold or Diamond during the challenge to help you decide for  yourself if the status is worth retaining. If you successfully complete the stays, you will get to keep this status through March 2018.

Bottomline:

While I’m sad to see that Hilton has done away with its straight status match program, I understand the reason behind this revision. By instilling a status challenge Hilton is involving new members to try out their properties with the aim of creating brand loyalty, and funnelling through the serious switches.

What do think about this new earning and retaining strategy that Hilton has introduced? Will you be trying out the HHonors program?

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