How did you feel about losing your airline/hotel elite status?

[Mattg]

For those of you who've lost their elite status since all the airlines & hotels stopped giving free COVID extensions... how did you feel about this?

Were you sad to drop down to a lower tier? Relieved to be off the hamster wheel? Indifferent?

And what's your plan now - will you try to earn your status back, use it as an opportunity to try other airlines/hotels - or have your life circumstances changed and you just don't need or want any status any more?

 

[RooFlyer]

For Hotel status, I couldn’t care less about losing it. I try to move from the status match to status match but if that doesn’t align, I'm not fussed. I don’t think the value of hotel status outweighs the need to stay at certain hotels, which may not be the most convenient or priced for what you want.

Loss of my Qantas or Virgin Platinum status I’ll be more concerned about. I’ve got Qantas lifetime Gold so that loss would not that big a thing, but after 15 years or so, it would be a bit of a downer. But not so much that I feel the need to spend money for flights that I don't need to take, to retain status.

 

[jase05]

Still got a month or so of QF Gold remaining but won’t miss it one bit and happy to not have to worry about it as I’ll most likely just keep BAEC Gold or Silver going forward.
Will lose HH Diamond at end of March and TBH I won’t really miss it either as for the best part of the two years we rarely stay at a Hilton property. I guess it was a nice backup but not going to lose a lot of sleep over it

 

[tdimdad]

Having gradually been weened off from a higher status with IHG, I don't really miss it. My travels this year are likely to be quite little and with accommodation there are too many great options around to miss any statuses for now. E.g. on my next visit to Melbourne I test out Quest Docklands instead of my usual hotels (HIX, etc) and am looking forward to it.

Car rental status has scored me upgrades once in a while. It would be pity to lose that but I've learnt to book outright what I want so losing the status would not be much or a loss, after all.

OWE I'll hang on to for now, or at least to OWS. Those handcuffs are very nice compared to no status at all. Perhaps I'll also try to keep VA Gold but the value of that is lower in my anticipated travels = not much love lost if I drop down (especially given the zoo VA lounges can often be).

In essence, horses for courses. Most statuses are a nice addition but if you book outright what you need / want, a loss of status has much less bearing on your travel comfort. For me, OneWorld status has value, the rest is not a biggie.

 

[Ade]

For Hotel status, I couldn’t care less about losing it.

Absolutely agree. I don't seem to stay much in hotels anyways during my travels. Reason is, if I travel with my parents, they prefer to have a kitchen, so most likely I book an AirBnB rather than a hotel OR I stay at home (as I travel a lot to India).

I don’t think the value of hotel status outweighs the need to stay at certain hotels, which may not be the most convenient or priced for what you want.

If I travel for work, I'm restricted in how much I spend per night for a hotel, and the hotels I have status with are NEVER at or under the approved price range anyways ... It is an uphill battle to seek prior approval to stay at an expensive hotel that is a bit away, when there is a perfectly good hotel near the client site, which is under budget .... so, not worth it

Loss of my Qantas or Virgin Platinum status I’ll be more concerned about.

This I agree. WP status gives that unseen edge when travelling that is very helpful ... losing WP might not mean the end of the world, but would bring a certain question "what if things go pear shaped? or not having access to talk to someone who understand what I need" .. etc ...

I’ve got Qantas lifetime Gold

I've got *miles* to go before I achieve that ... .. will make LTS this year though

 

[Warks]

I had a bunch of free nights to use up with my hotel chain. By the time I was travelling again they'd expired them without giving me any notification or any real time to use them if they had. Turned me off going back to them. There are plenty of other chains. Not that they'll notice me gone.
Lost my QF Gold some years ago, I do have LTS for what that's worth. But I did get to VA Gold and have maintained that ever since so all good. Don't fly enough to get both airlines Gold. There's no such thing as lifetime status with VA is there? I've never heard it mentioned.

 

[drron]

Hotels are no problem. Have LTP with Bonvoy.
Hilton doesn’t like me.
Hyatt too hard.
Accor useless.
So has left IHG which we are liking and fortunately they treat us well. No problem keeping diamond with a lot of stays in Asia.

Airlines. Will miss F lounge access but will have it until end of next year after our next trip in March/April.
The plan after that was using all our FF points anyway. Thank goodness it appears TG J is coming back to LM.
We have J lounge covered with me LTP with AA and Mrsdrron being LTG with QF.

 

[Bayside Flyer]

Having been QF Platinum for a number of years, I am now a lowly LTG, which once I got over myself isn't so bad, I am a status free zone when it comes to Hotels and if I'm honest, I rather like to less stressful existence now that I'm no longer chasing status.

 

[SYD]

I was going pose something similar over in the 2024 (travels thread) but this is better.

Airlines
- QF LTG but I enjoy OWE perks and retaining QF WP isn’t that hard if you take advantage of good J fares on QR, CX etc ex Asia. QF PC has also been a game changer for earn, burn and sustain status!
- VA: don’t really care now I don’t fly them for work. I’ve been steadily soft landing and will crash mid year. Although I do have a chunk of points I need to burn! Maybe some cheeky QR redemptions…
- JX: haven’t set foot in a Starlux plane yet, but our SMs soft landed from “Insighter” (WP equivalent) to “Explorer” (SG equivalent) thru to Dec 2025!

Otherwise, not chasing airline status elsewhere but you never know what turns up on the SM Bingo board game for 2024!

I am pondering Avios collection and their future uses. I now have a grand total of 250 from my first ever flight on PG late last year… (they partner with QR but currently not a QF earn partner).

Hotels
SYD+1 and I have been travelling a lot and spending quite a bit of time in places. So AirBnBs and the like are a common theme - great for earning QFF points - not so good for retaining/attaining hotel status. So there’s my key challenge for 2024 and how to prioritise accommodation!

Hilton - this has been one of my main programs for years but I dropped to Silver last year but fortunately had a VA Gold SM up my sleeve so HH Gold for most of last year and now this year (and into 2025). There’ll probably be a 2025 SM in due course .

IHG - I was a bit miffed that the Diamond retention loop hole was closed after only one year as Diamond… Guess I just have to be content with Platinum going forward.

ALL Accor - the Ibis Biz hack was good for last year and ticked over again for another year of Gold (which does surprisingly come with some perks).

Marriott - I picked up Gold via UA Platinum and even though UA dropped back to zip, the Bonvoy Gold seems to have stuck for another year . Although probably not that useful…?

I have accumulated $$$ with Expedia and Booking.com to use - which will also eat into possible Hotel status stays/nights/spend!

 

[VPS]

I was gifted Virgin Platinum and dropped to Gold and that will likely expire in June this year but it would be nice to keep.

I'm QF LTG so that gets me into the lounges but I lose my 25 SC for the year tomorrow so haven't done much with QF this except using my Amex travel credit.

I've been Hilton Diamond for many years through a CC sign up and then the pandemic. I did use a few HH last year and they have extended diamond to the end of 2024 - the free breakfast and upgrades have been nice.

I had IHG Ambassador and won't renew that this year and will just stay at Platinum

 

[leadman]

I treasure my Marriott LTT more than airline status. And just coming off the trip to Japan/HKG, my daughter understands why that is so. I will make QF Pt again this year, but I'm getting into the zone of whether I ramp it up to go for LTP, but the $$$ figure is a bit scary.

 

[lilkid28]

Have Hilton Aspire so have Hilton Diamond automatically each year.

Have QF Gold, Qatar Platinum, Krisflyer Gold, Velocity Gold - all due to expire this year. Almost always redeem Business Reward seats so not too fussed at this stage.

 

[k_sheep]

I miss my Hilton diamond (from the late Macquarie card). Not gonna lie. But I've currently moved over to ALL and finding them sooooo much cheaper with more variety. Given I'm increasingly having breakfast later and later (often skipping until lunch) I'm not finding I miss the free breakfast quite as much.

 

[lovestotravel]

Lost the following over the last 5 years

Qantas Platinum - No great loss, as I don't fly them anymore

Hilton Diamond - No great loss as I usually book a suite and can't be bothered with the lounge/restaurant breakfast games and no upgrades as I book suites and prefer other hotel brands now as a rule.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I think I lost about 800 ALL points, due to covid, I couldn't go anywhere.
The points, in the first few months of covid, the hotel I stayed in a lot in BNE put the points back, even though I didn't stay there those dates, they helped a bit, but because covid last nearly 2 years, with Aust domestic flight restrictions, I lost about 1000 ALL points, and this time, they didn't do anything.
Nowadays, its a bit easier, but prices of hotels are still quite high, and a lot of hotels have "your dates of stay are not available".
Ibis in Adelaide city, the cheapest of the ALL brand in Adelaide, always has no availability, but the Sofitel does, but its $$$.
Accor has brought down the minimum use of points, to 1000 ALL points, so that now makes it easier to earn and burn.
Points in hotels expiring in 12 months is a pain in the bum.
Airlines points that don't expire like VA and QF if you earn and burn are good, but SQ with their fixed use it in 3 years or loose it, and (Air)NZ in 4 years is sad to see.
There are of course work arounds, but its time consuming.
IHG allows buying of points, which a plus.
---
Of course, its in the hotels and airlines interest to have expiry dates, if no activity, but would be great if they took those away, esp for us "non road warriors/non business flyers".
Maybe best not to chase status, but use the 5% or 10% discount for being a hotel group's member, but let points expire, if not flying or travelling for business every few days/weeks/months.

 

[muppet]

I will lose WP Virgin this year and couldn’t care less. Economy X is a great benefit but with all the cancellations and reschedules half the time I end up somewhere else anyway.

Even QF WP doesn’t excite me. I will still do what’s necessary though as the ability to request seats is essential if you have a few points - although I’ve no luck with this over the last few months.

 

[harryhv]

Losing QF Gold and Hilton Diamond after 10 years. Like many of your respondents above, I avoid Qantas these days but QFGold was useful for lounges on other Oneworld carriers - though they all seem to suffer from overcrowding these days. (Heathrow Galleries South? Seething scrummage. North is bigger but still more people than seats. Best plan is to get the train to one of those remote gates with its own lounge if you have time.)

Lost interest in Hilton Diamond when they dropped the breakfast benefit. Matched myself to IHG Diamond and already have lounge-membership and two guaranteed suite upgrades

 

[levelnine]

Despite having status across many hotel programs and many airlines at different times, the only status feature I would actually miss is the ability to request the release of award seats with QF WP. That's the only elite perk that has provided me with material value as opposed to simply being something nice to have. Indeed, my willingness to go to any effort to maintain that status is pretty much entirely dependent on how well that feature works for me.

 

[jakeseven7]

Hotels - Don’t care about dropping hotel status, offers not much you can’t buy pretty easily these days and I often prefer the independent hotels anyway, more unique, interesting not the ‘fake unique’ brands the big chains have tried to create!

Airlines - dropped from VA2 WP to SG - don’t care because VA2 Platinum is so anaemic an offering for me these days post the collapse, with the devaluations (eg upgrades) and the restructure of the business (eg loss of a long haul international business / loss of wide bodies / scale back of regional business etc) and all the operational issues don’t have me missing anything about that offer.

Per @levelnine above I would really hate to lose QF WP for a few reasons but the ability to secure classic awards for myself and family is one of the key ones - I have worked that benefit very hard to my advantage and value greatly. Oh and salt and pepper squid

 

[Major]

I have no status with any hotel groups any more, and couldn't care less.

Dropped from WP with VA to Gold and will drop to Silver in March. I am not travelling much at all these days so will not miss the perks.