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Hotel elite status usually get you some nice benefits such as free breakfast, room upgrades and late checkouts etc. One way to gain hotel elite status is through status match. In 2015, I got lucky and matched my Starwood Gold status to Hyatt Diamond. From there, I did a Hilton status match and become a Hilton Diamond member.
How to complete Hilton status match
If you have elite status with any hotel chain other than Hilton, Hilton will match your status, usually to Gold or Diamond. Complete details can be found here.
You will need to provide:
- Proof of status of competing hotel chains (copy of membership card or screenshot)
- Proof of stay within the last 12 months with other hotel chains.
Once approved, your Hilton status will be upgraded for 90 days and you can enjoy elite benefits at all Hilton properties.
Extend Hilton elite status to March 2019
According to Hilton’s website, your elite status will be extended through March 2018. But you need to complete 4 stays (for Gold) or 8 stays (for Diamond) within the first 90 days.
However as Loyalty Lobby reports, if you complete the required stays (not nights) within 90 days, your Hilton elite status will be extended through March 2019! That is two years of elite status at Hilton!
Hilton Gold vs Diamond
Hilton gold status is free benefit of three credit cards: all versions of Amex platinum cards, Citi Hilton Reserve card, and Amex Hilton HHonor Surpass card.
I have been Hilton gold elite for quite a few years now. It gave us free breakfast and lounge access when we stay with Hilton. We enjoyed it the most at Waldorf Astoria Shanghai during our 2012 China trip. Not only did we received full daily breakfast at the restaurant, our two rooms were upgraded to river view for the entire five nights! To this date, Waldorf Astoria Shanghai remains our family’s favorite hotel in China.
View from our room at Waldorf Astoria Shanghai, thanks to my Hilton Gold status.
I did not have many stay with Hilton the past two years to fully explore the Hilton diamond benefit. One thing I did notice was the diamond status enable you to bypass the minimum stay requirement at some properties (like those in Napa Valley). Also, even if hotel is sold out, you are guaranteed room availability as long as you book 48 hours prior to arrival.
Do you have any planned Hilton stays coming up? If so, consider timing your status match with your stays and become a Hilton elite member.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Which hotel chains are competing?
Pretty much all of them — Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, Choice, Best Western, IHG, Club Carlson etc.
Free breakfast is no longer a Gold perk at Waldorf properties. We enjoyed it in 2012 in Rome but since tha trip nada
Oh really? Bummer! Often times I email hotels directly ahead of arrival and I learn that sometimes hotels have different policy from Hilton’s general guideline. They might offer more benefits, it never hurts to ask.
The WA Shanghai still provides breakfast for golds. Most WA do not, and, so far as I know, never have. WA Shanghai is our favorite hotel in the world so far. On our trip last June, as diamonds, we were lucky enough to have our room and our chiildren’s room upgraded to Waldorf Suites, in the historic section of the hotel. They are spectacular if you enjoy historic places. Our second favorite is the WA Trianon Palace at Versailles, although there are also a couple of votes for the Conrad Macau. Although we have stayed with pretty much all the different chains (including the Park Hyatt Paris, which would be way down the list) plus a few independents, Hiltons seem to outshine the rest for us.
I stayed at Conrad Macau last summer. While it was good, I still like WA Shanghai much better. The classic feel and the hospitality at WA Shanghai just cannot be compared! The hotel really does know how to treat their customers especially elite members.
The Hilton elite status will be extended through March 31st, 2018 – NOT 2019 as stated in your blog. Hence, only 1 year of elite status.
If you click on the link that takes you to Loyalty Lobby’s post, he has written confirmation from Hilton that the status would be extended through March 2019.
What hotel chains match Hilton elite status?
It is the other way around – Hilton will match your elite status from other chains, including Starwood, Marriott, IHG, Hyatt, Choice, Best Western, Club Carlson etc.
When I did this earlier in the year, I matched from IHG Platinum to Hilton Diamond
Yes, I understannd that Hilton status matches those hotels listed. But what about the other way around? Are there any hotel chains that status-match Hilton elite status?
I’d say generally speaking most of the other hotel chains, if they match status at all, will match Hilton elite status. See Hotel status match – how to match at each chain for an example, but that post is somewhat out of date but good generally speaking