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This rumor is courtesy of US Credit Card Guide though you may have also seen it discussed already today on sites like View From the Wing and OMAAT, all of which link back to US Credit Card Guide.
The rumor is that there will be a new Diamond Reserve tier and that it will take $18,000 in annual hotel spend, plus 80 nights / 40 stays.
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OMAAT also links to a “VERYLVKE” (????) article that portends to have deuced new tier levels via source code:
I don’t know which of those sites got the leak first…
Perhaps more interesting is language that discusses a Confirmable Upgrade Award for Diamond Reserve.
It also mentioned a presumably invite-only tier called The Honors Society, presumably for VIPs or hotel owners. Other brands all have this (Marriott Bonvoy has Cobalt status and Hyatt has a lesser known, but similar, Courtesy Card) and they tend to provide true VIP benefits like best possible available room/suite.
Now I have never head of Verylvke and cannot confirm ANY of the above. But given that it’s being widely shared today, I thought I’d share a few thoughts and would love to hear yours as well!
- Hilton Diamond status has clearly become unmanageable for Hilton from the perspective that the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is the only one to provide the very top tier. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card only provides middle-upper tier Platinum status (which has already clearly led to Platinum member overload). There are pathways to IHG Diamond but none simply for having a credit card and Hyatt is most guarded with Globalist status. So this has led to a blurring of the lines for Hilton’s most valuable in-hotel guests and those that simply pay $550 a year for a credit card. This has made it nearly impossible to recognize their true in-hotel elites with meaningful benefits like late checkout guarantees, suite upgrades, and the like. This definitely impacts the stickiness of the program for upper elites. I know that personally, while I love Hilton properties, I often choose Marriott or Hyatt simply for a 4pm guarantee checkout. I also tend to choose Hyatt for family vacations because I can confirm a suite at booking as Globalist with Suite Upgrade Awards (and you can use SUAs even without being Globalist).
- It makes sense, therefore, to add a new, higher tier that is closer in spirit to Hyatt Globalist or, perhaps more closely, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador (100 nights and $23,000 in annual hotel spend) – a program that has really consistently under-delivered for elites lately with hotels just not caring at all about elite benefits and corporate backing up the hotels. They even removed guarantees for lower end suites as required upgrades for elites early this year. Marriott also only offers Nightly Upgrade Awards which include lots of non-suites and are given very sparingly (you need one per NIGHT! compared to one for stays of up to 7 nights with Hyatt),
- Hilton also changed the breakfast benefit in the US to a dining credit a couple of years ago. Some love the credit because it can be used anytime on anything while others lament the loss of a pure free breakfast. I could see Diamond Reserve getting both benefits, perhaps, or I could see the now lower tier Gold level losing the credit while Diamond and Diamond Reserve maintain the existing benefit.
- In short, I hope Diamond Reserve takes some of the best perks of other programs (late checkout, suite upgrades confirmable in advance) and finally gets that into the Hilton fold. It would be interesting if the Hilton Aspire card started offering not just Diamond status, but also X number of elite nights as a head start towards Diamond Reserve. Just enough to jumpstart someone but not so many that Diamond Reserve becomes too easy to get. I do think many just get the Aspire card for Diamond status and become somewhat disincentivized to stay a lot of nights since there is no higher status to achieve.
What do you think?
Thoughts?
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