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My Hilton Gold status, via the credit card, arrived – this is how it worked ….

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I wrote an article in February discussing the speedy arrival of my free night voucher from my Hilton HHonors Platinum Visa credit card.  It turned up just 13 days after I hit the £750 spending target. 

However, looking at the comments you left, it seems that I got lucky and just snuck in to the end of a batch.  I now tell people they should wait 6 weeks before chasing up.

Having got the free night, I turned my focus to getting my Hilton HHonors Gold status back.  This expired at the end of March.  I needed to spend £10,000 on the card to receive it.

You can see the benefits of Hilton HHonors Gold here.

All Hilton status cards expire in March.  The programme works on a calendar year and your old status continues until March whether or not you retain it.

The £10,000 of spending on the Hilton credit card to obtain Gold status must be done in a calendar year.  As I got my card in January, this was not a problem.  Some people are caught out by this – it is NOT a good card to get towards the end of the year.  If you don’t hit £10,000 by December 31st, your target is reset to zero and you need to start again.

This is the timeline I experienced:

I passed the £10,000 target on March 1st

The statement which included that transaction was issued on March 19th

The payment deadline for that statement was April 13th, although I had paid it earlier

On Tuesday April 20th I received an email:

Look at the dates.  I received Gold status for the rest of this year, all of 2016 and the first three months of 2017.  That is 24 months of Hilton HHonors Gold – or 24 months of free breakfast, as I prefer to see it.

The bad news for Barclaycard is that there is no need for me to keep the Hilton card now except for the fact that I receive 2,500 bonus Hilton points on my first four stays.

Once I have earned those, I will cancel it – and then reapply closer to April 2017 when my Hilton HHonors Gold will again expire.

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Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (52)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • zark says:
    12 May12 May 14:59

    With Hilton Gold, free breakfast is guaranteed.
    However, is Hilton Executive lounge also guaranteed if hotel has such a lounge – free snacks, drinks late afternoon / early evening?
    Web site seems to imply you have to be upgraded from a Standard room to an Executive Room, so does this happen upgrade automatically or is it hit and miss or does it happen most of the time?
    Presumably when using the credit card voucher one will be booked in a Standard room, but will one be automatically upgraded to a Executive lounge access room or otherwise, as above?
    Any experiences?

    • DONE4 says:
      12 May12 May 15:54

      No, executive lounge access is a diamond benefit.
      Some hotels do regularly give out upgrades to an executive room to golds, a lot don’t.

    • Danksy says:
      12 May12 May 15:57

      You aren’t guaranteed exec lounge access unless you’ve been upgraded to an executive room!

      In my case at the Hilton in Barcelona (Diagonal del Mar) I was upgraded to a better room that wasn’t executive level, and hence I didn’t get the lounge access!

    • mark2 says:
      12 May12 May 19:32

      Also remember that the Executive Lounge is often not open at weekends.

  • Brian says:
    12 May12 May 16:18

    Don’t forget that holding the card stops your points from expiring.

  • James says:
    12 May12 May 17:19

    Anyone know exactly when in March the status expires? Have a holiday in mid march next year and Hilton status might swing me towards the chain for the free brekkie.

  • Jason says:
    12 May12 May 18:43

    Recently booked a stay the at the Hilton on park lane via the recent 100 off when you spend 300 with Amex platinum travel the hotel upgraded us to the park lane suit thanks to my gold status. Also got lounge access for afternoon tea and evening canapés. Clearly very fortunate!

  • Rochelle says:
    12 May12 May 18:55

    Applied for both my parents, my mother was approved however my father who has a Barclaycard (Platinum) for almost 30 years was declined.

    Tried contacting them through the numbers on the website but went round in circles trying to talk to someone who could help!

    Anyone know the best contact number to reach them about this issue?

  • Leo says:
    12 May12 May 20:25

    Really is a free breakfast so important? Sorry – I have to ask.

    • Rob says:
      12 May12 May 20:33

      It adds up. Some sort of upgrade is also guaranteed so it is worth having.

      • James says:
        12 May12 May 21:13

        My wife insists on breakfast whenever we stay anywhere, so it is a genuine saving for us.

  • Rob says:
    12 May12 May 20:33

    I think so, yes.

  • Brian says:
    14 May14 May 01:08

    If breakfast is already included in the rate e.g. at Embassy Suites do you get any benefits in its place? Thanks

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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