HHonors Gold/Diamond for Velocity Gold/Plat

[Deleted member 29185]

if I opt in to the benefit in January it somehow runs for 26 months?? What's the mechanics behind this??

I think it is so you get a full 12 month membership by calendar year to maintain your status level.

It's almost 27 months depending how long they take to activate the SM.

hydrabyss is correct. Basically you can take up to a full calendar year to earn status for the next year, yet the status will be awarded as soon as you achieve the requirement for it. So if you spend US$12000 (excluding taxes) on the 1st of January, you will have diamond for the remainder of that "earning year" and for the full "status" year after. Same goes for the SM. If you are lucky enough to have them activate the SM within days, you'll get the status for all that "earning" year plus the full subsequent status year.

The other little quirk is the fact they allow themselves 3 months to assess status requal (or not) after the status year is finished to allow for any late stays/retro claims to be settled before they adjust the status levels and during that 3 months, you retain the status you held during your status year, so effectively, you can hold HH diamond status for up to 27 months from a single (but expensive) night stay or a status match.

 

[serfty]

If you are already diamond but it will expire on April 1 then do not invoke until you can see the status downgrade online - generally a few days into April.

Otherwise you will just confuse things and risk only having it for another twelve months or so.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

If you are already diamond but it will expire on April 1 then do not invoke until you can see the status downgrade online - generally a few days into April.

Otherwise you will just confuse things and risk only having it for another twelve months or so.

Hasn't it been pretty much decided that doesn't happen? I'm sure I've read a number of pre-Apr SMs without problems and I can recall no reports of problems???

 

[serfty]

Hasn't it been pretty much decided that doesn't happen? I'm sure I've read a number of pre-Apr SMs without problems and I can recall no reports of problems???

There may have been, but I suspect YMMV - and who would risk it?

If already at a status level and you re-qualify, it is generally only to the end of March year after next, as distinct from qualifying and getting it to the end of March two years after next.

 

[NZflygirl]

Just to clarify for my own purpose based on above info, if VA plat, currently HH gold through a non airline match, I should request the HH diamond VA thing April 1st? (April Fools day!). Planning on focussing on Accor next yr but with all the VA changes I'm not sure I should risk delaying the HH match another yr.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Just to clarify for my own purpose based on above info, if VA plat, currently HH gold through a non airline match, I should request the HH diamond VA thing April 1st? (April Fools day!). Planning on focussing on Accor next yr but with all the VA changes I'm not sure I should risk delaying the HH match another yr.

What serfty suggested above is certainly sensible for current diamonds and those not requiring diamond status before April or May. It's your call really. Leaving it sit with VA may or may not be risky (I don't think there has been any suggestion that they are intending to can the benefit) but if you decide to push the "go" button on the SM, the timing is up to you. If you don't need it, or are happy with gold, up until April sometime, then leave it until into Apr (US time) and be sure. If you think you would like it for stays before April, I think there are enough reports on here to suggest it won't be too problematic to get the full length of status but be aware, YMMV.

 

[moa999]

Presumably there would need to be some notice of canning it.

Agree it is of some risk as unlikely to be a significant number achieving Gold/Plat for the first time now (given benefit only available once)

 

[serfty]

Just to clarify for my own purpose based on above info, if VA plat, currently HH gold through a non airline match, I should request the HH diamond VA thing April 1st? (April Fools day!). Planning on focussing on Accor next yr but with all the VA changes I'm not sure I should risk delaying the HH match another yr.

If currently gold, I suspect a Diamond benefit invoked from January 1st (i.e. next month) will give that status 'til end of March 2019.

This is due to going to a 'higher' level.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

If currently gold, I suspect a Diamond benefit invoked from January 1st (i.e. next month) will give that status 'til end of March 2019.

This is due to going to a 'higher' level.

So essentially it may not matter if the match is invoked in Jan or April, we should still see the max benefit??

Sorry to appear ignorant but I'm just trying to time everything right - I will likely have some work travel booked early next year, but not enough to requal as gold and would like to keep status for them, but also some significant personal travel in June/July and potentially Jan 2018 which would be my preference to be Diamond for (I can always charge breakfast to the company if I drop out of Gold in the interim)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Sorry to appear ignorant but I'm just trying to time everything right -

LL, if you are gold right now, you will still be gold "early" next year (up until 31 March in fact). I personally believe you would be OK with any date after 1 Jan to push the SM button (US time).

 

[Lord_Lenny]

LL, if you are gold right now, you will still be gold "early" next year (up until 31 March in fact). I personally believe you would be OK with any date after 1 Jan to push the SM button (US time).

Awesome!! I'll take a look at my schedule in Jan/Feb and then work out a good time to push the button.

Thanks to all in this thread for the help!!

 

[SYD]

Yes, in the interest of Science and the betterment of travel experiences, I'll launch the SG HH benefit the day before the flight that will return me to WP (probably mid Jan). Come Early Apr I'll see what happened over at HH and report back! Possibly after a phone call to VA....

Damn, my cunning plan has been thwarted by VFF upgrading me early to WP - 18 SCs short of the required 1000:

"In recognition of how close you are to upgrading and for being a loyal Velocity Frequent Flyer member, we would like to reward you with Platinum membership."

I guess I can't complain! but now when I go into my account summary page, it shows that I have "Available":

Complimentary Partner membership - Hotels:
Hilton HHonors™ or IHG® Rewards Club

Yet, when I click through it says:

"You opted-in to the Diamond Elite tier of the Hilton HHonors program on dd mmm yyyy".

Can a WP or SG who has already used their equivalnet Hotel benefit confrim that their status shows "Not Available" or "Used"? I have a vague recollection my used to say that when I was WP. So I'm hoping that the "Available" is a sign that I can call up VFF and activitie the Gold benefit when I'm ready?

 

[CPMaverick]

Mine says 'opted in' but I just activated it a few days ago.

 

[SYD]

Mine says 'opted in' but I just activated it a few days ago.

Yes, cheers. That's what mine used to say!

 

[Denali]

....

"You opted-in to the Diamond Elite tier of the Hilton HHonors program on dd mmm yyyy".....

DH says "You opted-in to the Diamond Elite tier of the Hilton HHonors™ program on 14 Nov 2014.", but considering it took about 4 phone calls, quite a few emails and I started a "Why is it so Hard (to get this benefit)", HHonors didnt upgrade to Diamond until January 16th - and thats only because VFF Rep intervened after reading my thread.

 

[liamsal]

How long until your HH account is updated after opting in for complimentary membership from reaching VA Gold? It said up to 20 business days but wanting to know how accurate this is.

 

[serfty]

How long until your HH account is updated after opting in for complimentary membership from reaching VA Gold? It said up to 20 business days but wanting to know how accurate this is.

Hah!

In the early days there was no consistency - anything from never (without further input) to within a few days (not reported often).

 

[ozjuice]

How long until your HH account is updated after opting in for complimentary membership from reaching VA Gold? It said up to 20 business days but wanting to know how accurate this is.

Depends how many phone calls you make to VA as mine just took 7 weeks.

 

[liamsal]

What a shame. I've been waiting for my status to hit Gold before using the $150 Amex credit which expires later this month, guess I won't hold my breath :|

 

[Jurahn]

How long until your HH account is updated after opting in for complimentary membership from reaching VA Gold? It said up to 20 business days but wanting to know how accurate this is.

I had HH Blue tier membership when I opted in for HH Gold in March last year - waited the 20 business days but nothing came through, so emailed the Velocity Gold team who said they would follow up with HH. Received an email a few days later from HH advising my account had been updated to Gold. Took just over a month all told, but I think it would have taken a lot longer (or not happened at all) if I hadn't chased it up.