The Hilton Honors status match comes with 90 days of Gold or Diamond status at Hilton hotels. Available to anyone that already holds an equivalent status level with another hotel loyalty program, the status match also comes with a challenge to retain the status. For a Hilton Diamond challenge, this involves staying 8 times at Hilton hotel brands during the 90 day trial period.
AFF member Anna recently visited the UK and decided to take advantage of the Hilton Diamond challenge offer. This member stayed at 8 different Hilton hotels around the UK, including three Hilton hotels in London. Anna has taken the time to document the experience and written a mini-review of each of the hotels!
HH gave me diamond status for 90 days and said they would extend it for a year if I make 8 stays in the next 3 months. With a forthcoming UK trip involving 10 nights in hotels, I channelled Celeste Barber and said ‘challenge accepted!’
One of the things that Anna wanted to test on this trip was whether it was worth holding hotel status.
I can see the point of airline status but I’ve never really bothered with hotel status, generally preferring to choose hotels on the basis of price and location rather than the possibility of a free bottle of water. So this trip will be a test for me to see if maintaining hotel status is worth bothering about.
The eight Hilton hotels reviewed in this trip report are:
- Hilton Garden Inn Aberdeen City Centre
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Aberdeen Treetops
- Hampton By Hilton Aberdeen Westhill
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Aberdeen City Centre
- Hilton Edinburgh Carlton
- The Trafalgar St. James London, Curio Collection by Hilton
- Hilton London Euston
- London Hilton on Park Lane
Anna had mixed success with these hotels. Some had glowing reviews, while others had room for improvement – in terms of both the Diamond member experience and the overall hotel quality.
Lounge access is a standard benefit for Diamond Hilton Honors members. However, this is often a moot point as many hotels do not have lounges to access. On this trip, only a few of the eight hotels did have lounges… of variable quality. Diamond membership did however offer useful benefits at most hotels, including room upgrades, early check-in, drink vouchers and a choice of bonus points or free breakfast.
Having now completed the Hilton Diamond challenge, what were Anna’s final thoughts on each of the hotels? And how many hotels didn’t bother to change their clocks after daylight savings began in the UK? View the full trip report, including photos, on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: A Tale of 8 Hiltons*
