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Your Hilton status has been extended to 2022 – plus qualification levels cut and elite nights rolled

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Hilton Honors has made a major announcement this afternoon about your status level for 2022.

This is important because, even if Hilton Honors is not your major programme, the other big chains are likely to take careful note of what Hilton is doing.

There are a lot of moving parts here to get your head around, but it is all very positive. In general, the 50% cut in targets for 2021 has become a 30% cut in targets for 2022, which feels fair.

You can find out more on hilton.com here – scroll down to the ‘Keep Your Status & Benefits through March 31, 2023’ link.

Your Hilton status has been extended to 2022

Your existing Hilton Honors status has been rolled over

Whatever level of Hilton Honors status you have, you will keep it for 2022.

Because of the three month stub period, you are guaranteed to keep your current level until 31st March 2023.

Your points won’t expire

All points expiry has been paused until 31st December 2022. To be honest, this was never a major problem with Hilton because any activity, not necessary a stay, was enough to keep your points alive.

It will be far easier to earn status in 2022

Hilton has reduced its status requirements for 2022 from its usual level. This will make it easier to retain your current level for 2023.

This is what you will need to earn in 2022 to gain or renew status:

  • Silver – seven nights, three stays or 17,500 base points
  • Gold – 28 nights, 14 stays or 52,500 base points
  • Diamond – 42 nights, 21 stays or 84,000 base points

This is roughly a 30% reduction on the usual levels.

Your Hilton status has been extended to 2022

Your 2021 nights will be rolled over

To make it even easier to get status in 2022, your elite nights from 2021 will be rolled over.

(For clarity, this excludes any nights rolled over from 2020. My Hilton account currently shows 62 nights, for example, but 60 of those were rolled over from 2020. I will only carry two nights into 2022.)

This means that if you have 42 elite nights in the bag by 31st December 2021, you will renew Diamond for 2023 automatically. This is because your 42 nights from 2021 will be carried over into 2022.

Stays do not rollover – only nights. This is a bit odd but Hilton did the same thing with 2021 extensions.

Milestone bonus targets

This is less important for most people, but the 2022 milestone bonus targets will be:

  • 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points at 30 nights
  • 10,000 bonus points fo every additional 10 nights after that
  • One-time 30,000 points bonus at 60 nights

Anyone with 40 nights can gift Gold status to a friend, which can be upgraded to Diamond status at 70 nights.

Conclusion

This is an impressive move by Hilton and will put pressure on Marriott, IHG and the other big chains to reciprocate.

The smart move is the rolling over of 2021 nights into 2022. This will encourage people to move their stays for the rest of 2021 to Hilton in the knowledge that they count for next year. In effect, Hilton is giving you 15 months to earn the nights required for 2023 status.

Let’s see what the competition does …..

You can find out more on hilton.com here.

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (118)

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

  • John says:
    15 Sep15 September 16:01

    Just had the notification on extension through. Heading to Hilton at the Ageas Bowl for the Goodwood Revival for the next two nights on Dianond and have been upgraded to the President’s Suite – extra good day from Hilton today!

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    15 Sep15 September 16:30

    Hilton remain my go to loyalty program across airlines and hotels. For what they offer, and what I need, they are head and shoulders above the rest. Now, if only they would launch a UK credit card…..

  • MJ says:
    15 Sep15 September 16:30

    Does that mean on my Hilton Barclaycard that I don’t need to hit the £10k threshold to keep Gold in 2022?

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      15 Sep15 September 16:37

      You don’t to keep gold in 2022, but if you spend £10k in 2022 you should then get gold in 2023 (assuming the card lasts that long and the benefit remains)

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 17:20

      Presumably, yes.

  • TM says:
    15 Sep15 September 17:01

    Any idea if this extension will count towards diamond for life status?
    I have been Diamond since 2012 and If my memory serves 10 years of Diamond status should qualify for life status?

    • Swiss Jim says:
      15 Sep15 September 17:17

      I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that. You also have to meet one of the following far more challenging conditions:
      1) earn 2,000,000 base points; or
      2) stay 1,000 nights….

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 17:19

      Would guess so.

  • Triath5 says:
    15 Sep15 September 17:07

    Slightly off topic, but I’m 15 nights away from Marriott Platinum and for the first time ever seriously considering a mattress run. I doubt I’ll get 15 nights in a hotel before the year is over.

    Has any one done this quantity of nights for a mattress run? Any tips/recommendations for the cheapest locations and least likely to kick up a fuss if I check in the first day and don’t show up for the remaining 14 nights?

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 17:18

      It is a risk because you could be checked out early if you are obviously not there.

      I would pick somewhere empty (eg Residence Inn long stay places, which already have the cheapest rates) and make a discreet enquiry explaining your position. As long as you turn up on Day 1 to complete the legal formalities they couldn’t care less and any money is better than no money.

      • Triath5 says:
        15 Sep15 September 17:24

        Thanks for the advice. I’ll wait a bit to see if / how Marriott reacts to this move by Hilton and see what I can arrange for later in the year…

    • Chas says:
      15 Sep15 September 19:14

      I’ve been thinking of doing exactly the same, but I need 18 nights which I know is normally crazy thinking. But my local Courtyard is £45 every Sunday night for most of the rest of the year, and then I could make up the remainder with a few 2 night “stays”. Platinum status could be very useful next years for an as yet unplanned (probably 10 day European) trip which my wife and I will make next summer sans enfants.

      Can anyone talk me out of it?! Or conversely, has anyone any experience of negotiating a further discount directly with the hotel for such a scenario?

      • Chas says:
        15 Sep15 September 19:20

        @Rob – I’ve just re-read your response to Triath5. Might “discrete enquiries” work here too, as the hotel wouldn’t incur cleaning costs if I didn’t actually use the room, and hence might enable me to get a cheaper price? I hadn’t even considered being transparent in my plans to them (would go in and ruffle the bed, and leave the key card on the table),, because we all know the first rule about Fight Club….

        • Rob says:
          15 Sep15 September 20:55

          Does no harm to ask ….

        • John says:
          16 Sep16 September 08:31

          I asked in Manchester last year. Told a def no and that if the room looks like not slept in or had not been seen around hotel would notify that points should not be given.
          Obviously chose not to stay there!

      • John says:
        16 Sep16 September 05:57

        Will buying the benefits from the hotels you actually want to stay in cost less than £810 plus wasting an hour every Sunday going to check in?

        • Chas says:
          16 Sep16 September 09:07

          I guess this is what I am still debating with myself! I think that it would still work for us, as would be considering some decent properties for the 10-night stay (something like Domes) where the value of the upgrades alone should off-set the cost. Plus there’s the extra points I would earn from the current 1,500 per night offer which although small will offset the £810 cost somewhat. Negotiating a lower cost with the hotel would probably make it a much easier decision. But because it’s a lot of nights I am wondering if I am sane!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      16 Sep16 September 01:55

      Needing 15-18 nights as mattress runs you should seriously consider if it’s worth the hassle.

      You’ll be paying out the best part of £700 for what tangible benefit that you cant just pay for?

      • Magic Mike says:
        16 Sep16 September 08:41

        +1… 700 quid is a lot of breakfasts and non guaranteed upgrades ..

        • Chas says:
          16 Sep16 September 09:09

          But as Platinum you get guaranteed upgrades, which at properties like Domes more than offsets that cost, before you even get to the cost of breakfast?

          • TGLoyalty says:
            16 Sep16 September 09:25

            It’s not guaranteed. Only if you use one of the 5 SNAs

            Anyway have you both got the Bonvoy Amex which gives you 15 nights for £75 annual fee?

          • Chas says:
            16 Sep16 September 09:31

            Ah – my bad then. Yes, I’ve got the Bonvoy Amex, which with the 50% rollover nights from 2020 is why I have been considering the mattress run, as I’d never normally be in a position to even dream of Plat (I don’t travel for business). My wife also has that card, but all our Marriott stays have credited to my account this year.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            16 Sep16 September 10:32

            So 28 free and you’ve done 4 other nights to still need 18.

            You need to decide if it’s worth £800 if you only normally do 4/5 nights a year. For me you need to do Atleast 20 nights next year to make £800 even pay back on breakfast for two.

            There’s 3 months left if the year why not just travel round the U.K. a little and spend a few more £ seeing some of the towns and cities?

          • Chas says:
            16 Sep16 September 14:52

            Only 4 at Marriott so far this year because our plans (like many people) have been seriously curtailed this year, and the other nights we did were with other chains either using up free night vouchers, or for some other reason. 2019 was about 30-35 nights total, and whilst I doubt that we’ll do that many next year (or that they would all be Marriott), but there will be at least one 10-day trip, and possibly a shorter 5-7 day trip which I’ll be looking to target some high end properties for. I was probably getting a bit carried away with thinking about how a higher status would benefit me for those stays! Thanks for the sense-check.

  • John says:
    15 Sep15 September 17:25

    Stays don’t roll over.

    If you’re currently gold, you are now gold until March 2023 even if you don’t stay any more this year.

    If you don’t stay any more this year, in 2022 you will have 14 rollover nights. This means that you need 14 nights or 14 stays in 2022 to maintain gold until March 2024. If you do 28 nights or 21 stays in 2022 you will get diamond until March 2024.

    If you do 6 more stays in 2021, you will get diamond until March 2023. To renew diamond until March 2024, you still need 21 stays in 2022, but you could also do it with 22 nights (if the 6 stays were all one night) or fewer.

  • Gavin says:
    15 Sep15 September 17:36

    I’ve got 37 nights rolled over, largely due to a long stay which ended on January 2nd

    Looks like it’s worth finding 5 cheap nights to bring me up to 42. My local Hampton offers rooms with a bath which is also welcome as I don’t have one at home

  • VerdantBacon says:
    15 Sep15 September 18:03

    That’s convenient for me, have done 45 nights this year and was wondering how to fit in a few more to hit 60.
    Hopefully Marriott do something similar, have only stayed 20 nights with them and have no hope of renewing titanium for whenever it’s supposed to expire

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