The Hilton group has announced that it is extending status and benefits to members of its Hilton Honors system. The new extension will mean that members will retain their privileges until March 2023 regardless of how many nights they stay in Hilton properties until 2023.
All elite status will be extended through March 2023 – so if you’re Gold or Diamond now you won’t lose that status if you aren’t travelling much at the moment.
All 2021 nights will rollover to next year- again this will help people whose travel this year has been low or non-existent.
No Points will expire until the end of 2022 – it’s worth checking when points expire with the various loyalty programmes. Some will expire if you aren’t active and adding stays to your account.
Elite status tier requirements lower than 2019 tier qualifications – this is an interesting move. Prior to 2020 a lot of the travel loyalty programmes, both for airlines and hotels had been gradually eroding the value of membership and making it increasingly harder to gain and hold status. While you can get status via some credit cards in some markets, most notably in the US, it’s not an option for everyone. If Hilton (and others) are adjusting their membership tiers to account for reduced travel patterns that could be a game changer.
Personally I’ve always been a fan of the Hilton Honors programme as it was fairly generous and the network of hotels they have is very good. It’s not a perfect system, but none of them are. And sure, over time I’ve seen some properties get quite stingy about the benefits they offer. Where you were given a proper breakfast a few years ago that got downgraded to a food and beverage credit in many US hotel properties. And of course some locations have absolutely terrible food to begin with. However you also have some fabulous properties like any of the Conrads so it does balance out pretty well. I know I would have lost most of my status if they weren’t offering this rollover!
More details here.
