How to get free hotel elite status from UK credit and debit cards

This article looks at the different ways you can get elite status with hotel chains via UK credit cards.

If you are just getting started with miles and points, you have probably realised by now that your travel life could be improved if you had airline or hotel elite status.

The launch of the two Hilton Honors debit cards has shaken up this corner of the market and you now have a lot more choice.

There is no easy route to airline status

If you want fast-track airline status, you’re out of luck.  There are no credit cards or other schemes which offer instant airline status.

(Virgin Atlantic Gold status is available if you pay £3,800 per year for The Centurion Card by American Express but this doesn’t really represent value for money!)

Your best option if you want British Airways Executive Club Silver status, which gets you lounge access and free seat selection at the time of booking, is probably to book yourself a Qatar Airways business class flight to Asia in their next sale.

If you start your trip in mainland Europe, you should be able to pick up a flight to Asia for a decent price in a Qatar Airways sale.  You will earn 560 tier points for this (140 x 4 legs) which is just 40 short of the 600 tier points needed for British Airways Executive Club Silver status – although you still need to fly four BA segments to be promoted.  You get a great holiday and you get to try the best business class product out there.

Another option is the double tier points offer from BA Holidays which we cover here. You would earn 320 tier points under this offer for a business class trip to, say, Athens or Malta. Do two of those and a Silver card is yours. This offer runs until at least June 2025.

Free hotel status is a lot easier to get

Hotel elite status is a lot easier to get.  It can also be more beneficial.  After all, if you are flying in Business Class or First Class anyway then status doesn’t get you much on top. British Airways gives Silver and Gold members free seat selection, and a Gold can access better lounges, but that’s about it.

Hotel status can get you an upgrade to a room you would never consider booking for cash.  It can also be valuable – getting free breakfast for two for seven nights can represent a chunky saving.

How can you get free hotel elite status from UK credit cards?

Not all hotel statuses are equal.  The benefits vary but, importantly, so does the willingness of chains to deliver them.

In general, I value a benefit which is ‘guaranteed’ substantially higher than a benefit which is ‘subject to availability’ – especially as ‘subject to availability’ tends to mean ‘if we feel like it’ rather than ‘if it is physically possible’.

Your options, summarised

• Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card – Hilton Gold status (£150 annual fee)

• Hilton Honors Debit Card – Hilton Silver status (£60 annual fee)

• Marriott Bonvoy American Express – Marriott Silver status and fast track to Gold / Platinum (£95 annual fee)

• The Platinum Card from American Express – Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, Radisson Premium and Melia Gold status (£650 annual fee)

Let’s have a look at the four UK payment cards which offer hotel elite status in more detail:

Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card

Hilton Honors covers brands such as Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, LHR, Hilton, DoubleTree and Hampton.

Hilton Honors Plus is a new card launched in September 2024.

The first key thing you need to know is that it is a DEBIT card and not a credit card. If you click through to our full review it will explain how the card works.

The second key thing is that the card has 0% FX fees globally. It is the ONLY UK travel rewards payment card which has no foreign exchange fees worldwide.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Hilton Honors points. You need to spend £2,500 in foreign currency on the card within six months to trigger this.

The annual fee is £150. This gives you automatic Hilton Honors Gold status, which you will keep for as long as you renew the card. Your Hilton Honors status will be updated as soon as you activate the card.

Hilton Honors Gold offers you:

• free breakfast (this is the best perk of any card on the list, although in the USA this is replaced with a fixed value food and beverage credit which rarely covers the cost)
• an upgrade to a ‘preferred’ room (may be a better view rather than a bigger room)
• ‘five nights for the points of four’ on Hilton Honors redemptions
• 80% bonus base points
• no resort fees on reward nights
• late check-out if available

The inclusion of free breakfast as a Hilton Gold benefit makes it, for most people, the most attractive mid-tier hotel status. You can see the benefits list on the Hilton website here.

You would normally need to complete 40 nights or 20 stays or earn 75,000 base points ($7,500 of pre-tax spending) in a calender year to earn Hilton Gold status.

Arguably, it is worth paying £150 for this card purely for Hilton Honors Gold status. The free breakfast benefit will pay for itself after just a couple of nights in Hilton properties.

You can apply for the card here.

Hilton Honors Debit Card

For completeness, I should mention that there is a second version of the Hilton Honors debit card.

It has a lower annual fee (£60 vs £150) but you only receive Silver status in Hilton Honors instead of Gold.

We do not recommend this card because the benefits of Hilton Honors Silver status are very weak as you can see here.

The £60 card is also less attractive for spending on due to a 0.5% FX fee (vs 0% on the £150 card) and a lower points earning rate.

You can apply for the card here but most people will get more value from the £150 Hilton Honors Plus debt card instead.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Marriott Bonvoy covers AC Hotels, Aloft, Autograph, Courtyard, Delta Hotels, Design Hotels, Edition, Element, Four Points, Le Meridien, Marriott, Renaissance, St Regis, Sheraton, Sonder, The Luxury Collection, The Ritz-Carlton, W and Westin.

Marriott Bonvoy gives you 15 elite status nights each year when you hold the American Express card.  This is enough to give you Silver Elite status and also puts you nearer to Gold Elite.

The benefits of Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite are not huge.  You can see the different Marriott tier levels here.

The key benefits of Silver Elite status, which usually requires 10 nights in a calendar year, are:

• 10% bonus on base points earned
• ‘Priority’ for late check-out requests

…. and that’s it, at least in terms of stuff you will find genuinely useful.  It isn’t a lot but it should stop you getting the room overlooking the bins.

If you spend £15,000 per year on the card you will be upgraded to Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy.  You can see the full list of Marriott Bonvoy Gold benefits here.

The 2pm late check-out is ‘based on availability’ so not guaranteed. The only other benefits offered will be an ‘enhanced’ room (in the category you booked) and 25% bonus points.

If you are looking for Marriott Bonvoy Gold status, you should remember that you can also get Marriott Gold for free with American Express Platinum just for holding the card.

The sweet spot with Marriott Bonvoy is Platinum Elite status. This gets you ugprades, free executive lounge access, free breakfast at most brands and guaranteed 4pm late check-out. You normally need 50 nights per year to get Platinum Elite, but the 15 elite night credits you receive via the credit card take this down to 35 nights. This is achievable for many business travellers.

You can apply for the card here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

This is a more complex card.

The Platinum Card comes with a £650 annual fee.  Because you can get a generous 50,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (converts into 50,000 Avios or 50,000 Virgin Points amongst other things) it may be worth giving the card a try to see if it works for you.

Note that, if you later cancel your Platinum card and get a fee refund, you will retain the hotel status cards until they naturally expire at the end of the year.  The definition of ‘year’ varies by programme – all Hilton status cards run until March, for example.

Our comprehensive Amex Platinum review covers the full list of card benefits.  I want to focus here on the hotel status cards offered:

• Marriot Bonvoy (Sheraton, Renaissance, Moxy, Westin, W etc) hotels Gold Elite status

• Hilton Honors (Hilton, Conrad, DoubleTree, Waldorf Astoria, Hampton) Gold status

• MeliaRewards (Melia, INNSiDE, Tryp, ME) Gold status

• Radisson Rewards (Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn) Premium status

We have looked at the benefits of Marriott Bonvoy Gold status already.  This is what the other Amex Platinum hotel cards get you:

Hilton Honors Gold offers you:

• free breakfast (this is the best perk of any card on the list, although in the USA this is replaced with a fixed value food and beverage credit which rarely covers the cost)
• an upgrade to a ‘preferred’ room (may be a better view rather than a bigger room)
• ‘five nights for the points of four’ on Hilton Honors redemptions
• 80% bonus points
• no resort fees on reward nights
• late check-out if available

The inclusion of free breakfast as a Hilton Gold benefit makes it, for most people, the most attractive mid-tier hotel status. You can see the benefits list on the Hilton website here.

MeliaRewards Gold offers the following benefits:

• 30% bonus points
• free breakfast for a companion (so basically 2-4-1)
• free wi-fi
• 3 x 20% off vouchers for room bookings
• 4pm late check-out at city hotels, 2pm at resorts

Late check-out IS guaranteed as long as the hotel is not 100% full.  You will also receive free wi-fi.  There is no upgrade benefit. You can see the benefits list on the Melia website here.

Radisson Rewards Premium status will get you:

• 10% off food and drink
• one category room upgrade “when available”
• 27 points per $1 vs 8 points per $1 for a base level member
• early check-in and late check-out “on request”
• access to ‘Discount Booster’ – extra savings if you agree to receive fewer points for your stays

Nothing is guaranteed – there is no free breakfast.  However, in my experience, you can do well as a Radisson Rewards Premium member.  Whilst Premium is not technically their top tier, hotels take it more seriously than they take, say, Hilton Honors Gold. You can see the benefits list on the Radisson website here.

You can apply for the card here.

Got a small business?

If you have your own small business, you can get the same hotel benefits with the American Express Business Platinum card.

Conclusion

It is very easy to add a couple of hotel elite status cards to your wallet purely by applying for the right payment cards and, where necessary, putting a certain level of spend through them.

For bigger spenders, especially heavy travellers, American Express Platinum is well worth a look.

The generous sign-up bonus on offer (50,000 Amex points is worth 50,000 Avios or other airline miles when transferred), airport lounge access via Priority Pass and the free hotel status cards mean that you don’t have much to lose by giving it a try.

Even if you decide to cancel your Amex Platinum card at some point, the hotel status cards should continue until they naturally expire – usually the following March.

If you are only looking to earn status in one hotel programme, your best bet is the Hilton Honors Plus debit card. £150 will get you all the benefits of Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as you hold the card.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – January 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month.