‘Tis the season of status matching, and now Hilton has joined the fun. Reports are that the hotel chain is now matching status up to Diamond through March 2017. While Hilton Diamond status is not nearly as great as Hyatt’s diamond status, you can definitely can a significant amount of value from it. Keep reading to find out what Hilton Diamond offers and how you can get this status match!

A Hilton Redemption Anecdote

Back in October, I spent a night at the Hilton Times Square, pictured above. As you can probably tell from the picture, this hotel is, quite literally, in the middle of one of the most busy and crowded areas in Manhattan. I used points to pay for the room, and this hotel is a Hilton Category 9, which means that a redemption costs anywhere from 50,000 to 80,000 points depending on several convoluted factors. In this case I paid 70,000 points for the one night. Rooms were going for around $450, which means I really only got about 0.64 cents of value per point–not a great redemption. Most travel hackers out there value a Hilton point at around 0.4 cents, so I did beat that by a bit.

Hilton Times Square Lobby

For the same 70,000 points I could have stayed at the Hilton Bora Bora which routinely goes for $600-$800 per night, getting quite a bit more value out of my points. That being said, I needed a room in NYC, not Bora Bora, and I didn’t want to pay out of pocket–plus I had extra Hilton points that were burning a hole in my pocket, which led me to accept a lower redemption value for this particular stay. As a quick side note, generally you can get much better value for your Hilton points in lower category hotels. For example a Hampton Inn that may be charging $130 per night can often be had for only 10,000 to 20,000 points.

The Hilton Times Square was very nice, the location was great, and I was happy that I had save the $450 to take care of some shopping and dining out in NYC. However, I could have gotten more value out of the stay if I had been a Hilton Diamond member!

What does Hilton Diamond Status offer?

Like I said earlier, Hilton Diamond Status is not equivalent to Hyatt Diamond Status which I discussed here–but it still does have some valuable benefits:

• 50% point bonus (25% for Gold)
• 48-hour room guarantee
• 5th night free on award stays (also available to Silver and Gold)
• Complimentary premium internet access
• Breakfast is included at Conrad, Curio, DoubleTree and Hilton hotels (also available to Gold)
• Late check out (also available to Silver and Gold)
• No charge for a second guest (also available to Silver and Gold)
• Complimentary fitness center access (also available to Silver and Gold)
• Room upgrades (also available to Gold)
• Executive lounge access

The three big value items on this list, in my opinion, are the 50% point bonus, the free breakfast, and the executive lounge access. Between the free breakfast and the lounge access you can save quite a bit of money on food and drinks. With the 50% bonus on points you can build your balances much quicker.

However, notice that many of the Diamond benefits are also offered to Gold members. So even if you can’t get a status match to Diamond, you may get a significant amount of value with a Gold match!

The various levels of Hilton Status

How to request a status match

In order to request the Hilton status match, email your HHonors number and proof of status in a competitor’s program to HHonorMyStatus@hilton.com. After about 24 hours I received the following automated response:

“We’re excited to honor your status and offer our elite benefits to even more members like you. If you have not already done so, please reply to this email with the following information:

1. 1. Your Hilton HHonors account number. If you’re not yet a member, you’ll need to sign up first.
2. 2. Proof of status with another hotel loyalty program. This can be a screenshot of your current account status or your membership card. We accept jpg files, word documents & PDFs.

Please do NOT send us any personal information (including your phone number, address, social security number, date of birth, user name, passwords, or credit card information).

Once your Hilton HHonors elite status has been honored, you’ll have it through March 31, 2017. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., please allow up to 5 business days for your information to be processed.”

Looks like I will have to wait a few more days to find out whether I have been offered a status match or not–but it looks promising so far.

Bottom line

Status matches are a great way to maximize value in the points and miles game because they can provide significantly more value on a hotel stay or a flight. Especially when all you have to do is send an email and a screenshot, you really have no reason not to request the status match, even if you currently have no plans to stay in a Hilton. Travel is flexible, and you never know when you might be staying somewhere you didn’t expect, or end up taking a last minute trip to NYC and staying at the Hilton Times Square–wouldn’t free breakfast be nice!