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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.)

Comments (118)

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

  • SteveJ says:

    Makes the Platinum Amex less necessary

  • Ian M says:

    I fear they’ll be a huge number of diamond members as a result of all of this.

  • Kev says:

    Interesting US perk that does not appear for UK Hilton Barclaycard members – or does it Rob?:

    How long will Bonus Points count towards Elite tier qualification?
    Bonus Points earned through eligible purchases on your Hilton Honors American Express card that post to your Hilton Honors account between now and December 31, 2022 will be considered Base Points that count toward Elite tier qualification and Lifetime Diamond Status.

    • Rob says:

      Was not in the U.K. press release.

      • Kev says:

        Again – since Hilton International sold out to the US Hilton group we lost our shareholder discount and there is an inherent bias for US customers. Some credit card customers in the US are Diamond just from paying for their credit card annual fee!! Now they can progress lifetime status just on credit card spend. How can that be equitable?? How do we seek representation to ensure the same privilege to loyal Hilton Barclaycard Visa UK holders?

  • Graham says:

    I’m 6 night short for diamond at the moment with 13 stays in 2021 (the remaining rolled from 2022). What are people’s thoughts on a mattress run to make up those 6 nights? It seems worth it? I had a quick look and I can get a day room for £65 not far from me. What’s a good price for a mattress run?

    • Grahame H says:

      Depends entirely on the value of diamond to you ie how many stays in 2022?

    • John says:

      You have a typo somewhere but if you have 13 stays in 2021 you can get diamond with 2 more stays this year

      6 nights short means what? If you have 36 nights in 2021 then you should do 6 nights in 2022 and you will have diamond to March 2024

      • Graham says:

        Ugh – you’re right, sorry. I wrote stays instead if nights! 11 nights from 2020 that were rolled over, 13 nights in 2021 so need another 6 this year to hit diamond.
        I think it’s worth it for exec lounge access as my business travel picks up next year

        • John says:

          Yes I’d do it, Sunday nights best, I try to pay less than £50 but depends on how easily you can get to the cheaper properties

  • Munch says:

    Any news on a Hilton transfer bonus from Amex? I’m sure they’ve run bonus promotions during Autumn for the last couple of years?

  • Simon says:

    Could someone please remind me – does the free breakfast for Gold extend to everyone staying in the room (e.g. family of 2 adults & 2 children) or just to the Honors member, or just the adults, etc. Thanks in advance.

    • Simon says:

      Ignore me. Just found the Ts & Cs. (it’s 2 people per Gold member)

      • Redeyedonkey says:

        It won’t always be. I’ve had, for example, the airport doubletree at Heathrow extend it to 4 adults and 1 child staying in 2 sep rooms that I’d booked so… YMMV but you’re correct they were being generous/ they didn’t have to give the others anything.

    • John says:

      Kids eat free in many hotel restaurants, age limit varies

    • Claire says:

      We are 2 adults and 2 children and ALWAYS get breakfast for 4 no matter which country 🙂 This has been as a gold then a diamond.

      • thehornets says:

        Officially the benefit is for two, unofficially many give for all four family members. Most recently succesfull for 2+2 at Hilton Glasgow.

    • Bob says:

      Had it honoured for 3 adults in 1 room at HGI Snowdonia in Aug

  • Cat says:

    The status extension would still apply if I got gold through my platinum card, but cancelled it, right? After making the most of the £200 restaurant credit, obviously!

  • Andrew says:

    In adjacent news, looks like Accor have made the “any earning extends points validity” that seemed to work anyway official (I kept mine alive at the end of last year with an Amex>Air France>Accor transfer). Had an email from them overnight to that effect.

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

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