After years of devaluing its points, gifting its status to anyone with a Hilton credit card, getting rid of almost all US Executive Lounges, and no longer offering free breakfast in the US, Hilton has now decided to introduce a new status tier above Diamond, called Diamond Reserve. Unlike other status tiers, however, this one will not be attainable only through a certain number of nights or stays, but will require a minimum spend of at least US$18,000 (~€15,529)! At the same time, the requirements for Gold and Diamond are being lowered.
Table of Contents
New Diamond Reserve Status
This new status will be the highest Hilton status. To earn it, you will need:
- 80 nights OR 40 stays
- AND US$18,000 (~€15,529) spend
While 80 nights or 40 stays seem like a reasonable ask for a top-tier status, the minimum spend of US$18,000 (~€15,529) is really high. If one were to really stay 80 nights at Hilton hotels, those 80 nights would have to cost at least US$225 (~€194) per night, presumably before taxes & fees. This makes it almost impossible to earn the status with mid-tier brands or in countries with lower price levels.
These will be the new benefits of the status:
- Better upgrades: Lately, many have complained that upgrades were getting worse. Now, Diamond Reserve members will apparently get better upgrades. Also, they will get one Confirmable Upgrade Reward per year, allowing them to directly upgrade a booking of up to 7 nights to a 1-bedroom suite.
- Guaranteed 16:00 late checkout: There were also quite a few complaints about the late checkout lately. This has now been addressed, as Diamond Reserve members will get a guaranteed 16:00 late check-out. That’s actually quite a good benefit.
- 120% bonus points: Diamond Reserve members also get 20% more bonus points than normal Diamond members. However, the points have been so heavily devalued in the past years that this is still pretty worthless.
- Premium Club Access: Hilton seems to be introducing Premium Clubs, which aren’t considered as usual Executive Lounges. In other words, this is a way to offer a lounge but no longer offer it to Diamond members (let alone Gold members as it used to be). It remains to be seen how many hotels will implement this, but it sounds like bad news for Diamonds.
- Exclusive Customer Service: A dedicated 24/7 hotline. Nothing to brag about.
For a status that’s supposed to get people to spend US$18,000 (~€15,529) per year at Hilton hotels, the benefits could be better. At IHG, for instance, you get confirmable upgrades much more easily, and only need to pay US$225 (~€194) per year to get the guaranteed 16:00 late check-out at InterContinental hotels. The value of the Premium Club Access also depends on how many of those clubs Hilton intends to open. If it’s not many, the benefit has little to no value. And the bonus points and hotline are a joke anyway.
New (Lower) Status Requirements for Gold & Diamond
Hilton has also announced a change to the status requirements of their Gold and Diamond status.
- Gold:
4025 nights- OR
2015 stays - OR
$7500US$6,000 (~€5,176) annual spend
- Diamond:
6050 nights- OR
3025 stays - OR
$12000US$11,500 (~€9,921) annual spend
This can be good or bad news. If you were struggling to reach the status before, this can be a good relief. If, however, you were qualifying with ease, you’ll probably have more members to compete with for upgrades, etc. The number of guests receiving free breakfast and lounge access will probably also increase, which may lead to worse service. I’ve already noticed that the food quality and quantity at executive lounges has gotten much worse at many properties in Europe (e.g. at the Hilton Düsseldorf, Hilton Berlin, or Hilton Lille). I could imagine these changes accelerating that trend. It also remains to be seen what effect the new Premium Clubs will have.
It should be noted that these changes are valid for 2026 to qualify for 2027. This year, you still need to complete the old requirements for next year’s status. Also, no changes have been made to the requirements of Lifetime Diamond (10 years of Diamond + either 1,000 nights or US$200,000 (~€172,542) spend). As of now, there will be no Lifetime Diamond Reserve status.
Further Changes to the Program
Hilton has also announced some other changes to its program:
- Stays at Homewood Suites and Spark will now earn 5 points per USD, instead of 10. Considering how badly points were devalued, this seems like a bad joke. Luckily, there aren’t many Homewood Suites in Europe, but it was one of my favourite brands in the US.
- No more Elite Rollover Nights. Previously, if you earned more nights than required, they would roll over to the next year. Well, that’s over. The only positive is that the lowered tier requirements probably even this out for most members.
- Confirmable Upgrade after 120 nights. If you hit the 120-night milestone reward, you’ll get a confirmable upgrade voucher for a suite on a stay of up to 7 nights. This would be the 2nd voucher for Diamond Reserve members, and the first for those who hit the nights without hitting the minimum spend. It should be noted that 120 nights is a ridiculous number for such a benefit.
Conclusion
These Hilton changes benefit two travellers: Those who spend A LOT at Hilton hotels, and those who were struggling to meet the current qualification requirements. Everyone else will see their status benefits diluted in one way or another. It’s a strange decision that Hilton didn’t use this opportunity to motivate members to stay more nights at all hotels of their portfolio, but instead incentivised them to only book expensive luxury hotels, and otherwise even stay fewer nights at Hilton hotels than before. I guess that Hilton found the current requirements to be too high for casual tourists and too low for business travellers and thought this was an adequate solution.