Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a Hilton Honors Diamond status match to 2025 with 14 nights – and Gold for 90 days

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

If you have considered switching your hotel stays to Hilton but don’t want to go ‘cold turkey’ because you have status with your main chain, Hilton has a solution.

Hilton Honors has offered an occasional status challenge program for years, letting you leverage your elite status from Marriott Bonvoy, IHG Rewards etc for Hilton Gold or Diamond.

The challenge is now back. The number of nights required has gone up from 2022, but your ability to actually hit the number of nights needed should be better in 2023 with most countries now fully open.

Importantly, even mid-tier elites (eg Marriott Bonvoy Gold) get a fast track to Hilton Diamond.

Hilton diamond status match

Irrespective of whether your current status is mid tier or top tier, you get Hilton Honors Gold Elite status for 90 days.

You retain your Gold Elite status if you complete eight nights in the 90 days. You will be upgraded to Diamond Elite if you complete 14 nights in the 90 days.

Your status would last until 30th March 2025.

How to get a Hilton Honors status match

Via this link, you can match your existing status with another hotel loyalty programme into Hilton Honors.  You must be at least ‘mid tier’ although Hilton will define at its discretion what counts from each particular scheme.

You can definitely match from the following programmes:

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • IHG One Rewards
  • Marriott Bonvoy
  • World of Hyatt

There is also an ‘Other’ box in the dropdown menu.

How does the Hilton Honors status match work?

The match rules are simple:

  • You will receive Hilton Honors Gold Elite status for 90 days from the date of acceptance (usually 5-7 days after you email your request)
  • To keep Gold Elite until March 2025, you need to complete eight nights for cash (reward stays do not count) within 90 days
  • To be upgraded to Diamond Elite until March 2025, you need to complete 14 nights for cash within 90 days

Note that, as well as having status in another programme, you must also have evidence of a stay within the last 24 months with that programme.

If, for example, you have Marriott Bonvoy Gold status from American Express Platinum, you would also need to show evidence of a Marriott stay within the last two years in order to be matched.

The match is only available for Hilton Silver Elite or base members. You cannot use it to get Hilton Diamond if you are already Hilton Gold.

Hilton honors status match

Is a Hilton Honors status match worth doing?

Potentially, yes.

Hilton Gold Elite is generally seen as the best mid-tier hotel status because it gets you free breakfast. In North America, you get a food and beverage credit instead of breakfast – the good news is that this can be used towards any meal or at the bar, the bad news is that it rarely covers the cost of an actual breakfast.

Hilton Diamond Elite comes with guaranteed lounge access when the hotel has a lounge, which is a good reason to push for it. You will also have a higher priority for upgrades.

Timing is key, of course. Once you are accepted, you get the benefits of Hilton Honors Gold status for 90 days.  There is no point triggering this match now unless you a stay coming up late April.

Given the fairly quick turn-around time, your best bet is to trigger the challenge when you have a trip firmed up.

You can apply for your Hilton Honors status match here. Our full review of Hilton Honors is here.

Click here for a complete guide to getting hotel elite status from UK credit cards.


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 (47)

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

  • Chris says:

    Am I getting something wrong here? I’m HH gold with AMEX Plat, however i can’t be fast tracked to Diamond as it’s only for HH Base or Silver members.

  • Rusitravel says:

    Does this apply if I am already Hilton Gold? Can I push for 14 nights and get diamond?

  • iEimis says:

    I requested the status match about a month ago before the website got updated as I had quite a few stays coming up. Not sure where I stand now because the initial email confirming my status match request has been accepted, stated I need to stay 7 nights to retain gold or 12 nights to get upgraded and retain diamond until 31st March 2025. I then received a subsequent email 2 days later which said, and I quote:

    ‘We’ve upgraded your status to Gold for the next 90 days. Just be sure to stay at least 5 nights between now and 15-Jun-2023 to extend your status through 31-Mar-2025. Even better: complete a total of 9 nights within these next 90 davs and we’ll upgrade you to Diamond.’

    A little confused to say the least.

    • Skywalker says:

      Maybe in your shoes I would just go by the conditions via the second email and use it as proof when they don’t match me after 9 nights.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        Well I’d do 9 and then if not upgraded I’d do 3 more….

        • iEimis says:

          Yep, will see how it goes. My next trip will take me to 8 nights total since I got upgraded so just need to get another night in somewhere. Annoyingly the 4 nights of the next trip I can’t stay at a Hilton property as it is much further away from the office I am visiting so it isn’t practical. Had to settle for IHG instead.

  • Diamond says:

    Have Hilton confirmed “ request a 4pm late check-out” as a benefit?

    I’ve been told the latest I can have as a Diamond is 12 noon, with a sliding scale of charges for a checkout thereafter.
    So it wasn’t that a later checkout wasn’t available, it just was charged for anyone irrespective of status.

    • Rob says:

      Wrote that off the top of my head! Will double check.

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        Definitely not 4pm, of course you can request it and it might be given but there’s no mention of the 4pm time in the rules. I’ve never had a problem with a slightly late (1pm) check out and rarely with 2pm. But fewer are willing to go beyond that although the latest I’ve had is 6pm.

        That’s my experience as a (now) lifetime diamond

    • James C says:

      Interesting. Was it previously written in as up to 4pm? I seem to recall it was and I had no issue getting a complimentary 3pm and 4pm late check at The Westminster twice in the last two weeks. And reflecting back I’ve never been asked to pay and generally have had no issues getting the complimentary late check out I wanted in circa 100 Hilton stays over the last couple of years across UK&I, EMEA and the US (where gouging is frankly rife) with exceptions at The Morrison in Dublin and the Waldorf Astoria in Dubai. The Morrison was genuinely sold out the next night when I checked but they still offered 2pm complimentary. The WA Dubai I suspect has a lot of status members staying on points given the value over a revenue booking so adopts a computer says no approach to late check out requests. A 2 min conversation with the front desk manager got me a complimentary 4pm check out.

      My operating assumption across programs is I’ll more likely struggle (though often I have no problems still) in prime locations and beach resorts to get a discretionary late check out so generally book via Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts if I’m going somewhere a 4pm check out is essential as it’s guaranteed with them.

    • Harry T says:

      Hilton has never had a proper guaranteed late checkout benefit, let alone one with 4pm in it. One of the reasons I prefer to stay with Marriott.

      • A350 says:

        Exactly. The fact even Diamonds do not get guaranteed late checkout is poor IMO. Hence why I’ve been content with keeping Hilton Gold via Amex Plat and maintaining Marriott Platinum separately.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        But also a reason to watch out of booking a suite because of the potential an Ambassador has a 4pm checkout in it the night before you and you’re stuck playing musical rooms til 6pm!

  • WaynedP says:

    Another important consideration if these offers are to become fairly regular is whether or not it’s a once-in-a-lifetime offer like the Virgin Status Match, which I used to match BA Silver status.

    When I became BA Gold, I tried to status match with Virgin Gold but was declined because I had already used the status match once before, which is fair enough, but which might have caused me to defer triggering status for Silver and wait until I’d achieved Gold had I known it was a one-off offer only.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      It’s best to assume they’re one off offers unless told otherwise. They want you to switch to their brand, not stick with the other brand then occasionally use them

  • sman9 says:

    “you must also have evidence of a stay within the last 24 months with that programme.”

    Does this include reward stays or must it be a cash stay?

  • Pike says:

    Can you uncouple your Hilton account from amex plat to lose gold status and enable this status match?

    • ecugkq30 says:

      Open a new account, and then pool it with your existing account if you have existing points you want to share/use on a redemption?

    • Chris H says:

      I was thinking the same thing. I have a holiday coming up in Nov where I could reach the 14 nights goal.
      Would it be worth the effort to open a new account and apply for a status match before I go in Nov????? Is there any easier way to downgrade to silver????
      Will there be a status match like this in Nov?????
      The best benefit for me would be the guaranteed lounge access. I have half a million Hilton points and know the best value is for 5 nights in a basic room. But I want lounge access, so currently have to book for cash in an executive room. I would now be able to book a basic room for points and know I get value from them, possibly get an upgrade, but definitely get lounge access. So, yes. It would be worth it as the status lasts until Mar 2025, provided it is still running then.

      • Rob says:

        This is a semi-permanent match offer – has been running for 3-4 years non-stop.

        • Chris H says:

          Just checking, but once you have used a status match you can’t use it again. Is that EVER, or for a set period?

          • Rob says:

            You can open a new HH account and then use the handy online feature ‘merge my two Hilton accounts together’!

  • Mike says:

    Pointless exercise if you ask me if you only want gold.
    One of the best known hacks in the industry is that the hilton gold status given through amex platinum is for life.
    So open amex platinum, get your status straight away and then close account before statement is generated and bingo you have gold for life.
    Did this in 2016, and have been hilton gold ever since, only averaged about 2 nites a year.
    Wink wink

    • Rob says:

      Whereas my wife lost her Gold despite still having the card and I had to fill in the form again to get it reinstated.

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.