Hilton Diamond through Velocity Platinum status

[hb13]

Hi All

I currently have Hilton Diamond status, but I will lose this by March 2023 as I have not stayed enough nights this year. If I'm able to obtain Velocity Platinum in the next few months (for the first time), I understand that Hilton Diamond is one of the benefits.

Would I still be eligible for Diamond through this perk if I have already been diamond previously?

Secondly, if I activate the perk anytime after Jan 1 2023, I should have Hilton Diamond till march 2025 - is this correct?

 

[hydrabyss]

Hi All

I currently have Hilton Diamond status, but I will lose this by March 2023 as I have not stayed enough nights this year. If I'm able to obtain Velocity Platinum in the next few months (for the first time), I understand that Hilton Diamond is one of the benefits.

Would I still be eligible for Diamond through this perk if I have already been diamond previously?

Secondly, if I activate the perk anytime after Jan 1 2023, I should have Hilton Diamond till march 2025 - is this correct?

Yes you can but I think you may need to wait till you drop in April before activating. Maybe someone may be able to confirm.

 

[serfty]

Yes you can but I think you may need to wait till you drop in April before activating. Maybe someone may be able to confirm.

You don't really need to wait until you drop, but you should. Just to eliminate the finagle human factor.

If you drop and then invoke, you should get it for another two years. If you are still Diamond when you invoke there is a possibility of such being treated as a renewal, hence 12 months.

 

[hb13]

Thanks for the responses all. I will wait till well after my status lapses next year and then apply for it.

 

[ajn89]

can confirm you'll get upgraded. If you already used the diamond status match benefit from velocity, drop back to gold and reach platinum (several years later after your diamond drops to gold) again you wont be able to "opt in" again. But in your case it looks like its your first time to ge to get platinum so its all good.

Regarding timing, Hilton works by the US financial year so your best time to get it is in Apr 23 because they have to give you a full 12 months, which they cant. This means you have diamond till 31 Mar 25. If you waited till say December 23 your expiry date will be 31 Mar 25.

 

[hb13]

can confirm you'll get upgraded. If you already used the diamond status match benefit from velocity, drop back to gold and reach platinum (several years later after your diamond drops to gold) again you wont be able to "opt in" again. But in your case it looks like its your first time to ge to get platinum so its all good.

Regarding timing, Hilton works by the US financial year so your best time to get it is in Apr 23 because they have to give you a full 12 months, which they cant. This means you have diamond till 31 Mar 25. If you waited till say December 23 your expiry date will be 31 Mar 25.

So it is best to wait till May 2023 to upgrade then?

Sorry I'm confused by your last couple of sentences - you said if I get it in April 23, I'll have diamond till 31 March 25, but you also say if if I get it in December 23, I'll have diamond till 31 March 25? Did you mean March 26?

Cheers

 

[ajn89]

You are guaranteed to get a minimum of a 12m Diamond from 1 Apr to 31 Mar the following year. If you applied for diamond in say 13th of Apr you would only only get ~11.5m of Diamond. Because Hilton has to give you at least one year they will extend the expiry out another 12months so effectively you get 23.5m of diamond.

If you waited and applied in 31Dec you would get 31Dec 23 to 31Mar 24 PLUS the additonal 12months because you werent granted a full year. So it would mean you expiry is 31 Mar 25. i.e waiting till Dec would only give you 15m of Diamond.

TDLR: Apply first week of Apr

 

[serfty]

Welcome to AFF @ajn89

your best time to get it is in Apr 23 because they have to give you a full 12 months, which they cant

Actually, if not already diamond, the best time is in January 2023 as then diamond will be granted until at least the end of March 2025.

This has been verified by people's experiences. See here:

HHonors Gold/Diamond for Velocity Gold/Plat

Of note to members is the new complimentary Gold or Diamond status for DJ Gold/Platinum members: As a Gold Velocity Member you can enjoy complimentary 12 months Gold Elite Membership in the Hilton Honors Program. The exclusive benefits of Gold Elite Membership include: Early check in...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

This is because Hilton give the remainder of the calendar year, the next year as well as the first three month when a status is attained.

 

[hb13]

You are guaranteed to get a minimum of a 12m Diamond from 1 Apr to 31 Mar the following year. If you applied for diamond in say 13th of Apr you would only only get ~11.5m of Diamond. Because Hilton has to give you at least one year they will extend the expiry out another 12months so effectively you get 23.5m of diamond.

If you waited and applied in 31Dec you would get 31Dec 23 to 31Mar 24 PLUS the additonal 12months because you werent granted a full year. So it would mean you expiry is 31 Mar 25. i.e waiting till Dec would only give you 15m of Diamond.

TDLR: Apply first week of Apr

I see, thanks for that.

Thanks all for the tips. As I will be diamond till March 2023, I will wait till April/May and then apply for it then, hopefully if I'm able to secure platinum with VA.

 

[dairyfloss]

can confirm you'll get upgraded. If you already used the diamond status match benefit from velocity, drop back to gold and reach platinum (several years later after your diamond drops to gold) again you wont be able to "opt in" again. But in your case it looks like its your first time to ge to get platinum so its all good.

Regarding timing, Hilton works by the US financial year so your best time to get it is in Apr 23 because they have to give you a full 12 months, which they cant. This means you have diamond till 31 Mar 25. If you waited till say December 23 your expiry date will be 31 Mar 25.

I'd been looking for this detail. I get the limitation on renewing HH Diamond year after year, but it does surprise me somewhat that it's a one-time kind of deal. For me, it takes some of the gloss of retaining VA WP.

Does the Companion Platinum member, if I make the extra SCs, also get the ability to request a HH Diamond upgrade?

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Danger]

Is there any issue, with either Hilton or Virgin, taking the Velocity Gold benefit to Hilton Gold, then a short time later (in the same year), taking Platinum to Diamond? Would things get messy if you were getting status in the one Hilton account, but going from Gold to Gold with one Virgin account and Platinum to Diamond with another?

 

[Stealthflyer]

Is there any issue, with either Hilton or Virgin, taking the Velocity Gold benefit to Hilton Gold, then a short time later (in the same year), taking Platinum to Diamond? Would things get messy if you were getting status in the one Hilton account, but going from Gold to Gold with one Virgin account and Platinum to Diamond with another?

My understanding is that you can do both. I plan to match to diamond once my gold status runs out. I used the gold to gold match in 2019 and subsequently attained VA platinum. Because HH has been extending status due to covid, I’m still HH gold. When it expires in march, I’ll try and activate the platinum / diamond match. It’s a shame it’s a one off.

 

[hb13]

Hi All - a bit of an update on my situation and hoping some folks could give me some advice. So I have done enough to get Velocity Platinum (confirmed via phone and in writing through email), but I will only get it around Feb 10th - which is perhaps handy in my current situation.

As expected, I didn't get enough nights to keep diamond with Hilton, however, I have now received an email from Hilton notifying me that I can keep Diamond this year with only one stay before March, which I understand many people are getting.

Obviously, it makes sense to stay one night to keep Diamond status. I assume that since I will keep platinum till at least Feb 2024, I should apply for Hilton Diamond through Velocity in Jan/Feb next year, is that the smartest thing to do? How long does the process take to get the status with Velocity?

 

[serfty]

Obviously, it makes sense to stay one night to keep Diamond status. I assume that since I will keep platinum till at least Feb 2024, I should apply for Hilton Diamond through Velocity in Jan/Feb next year, is that the smartest thing to do? How long does the process take to get the status with Velocity?

I'd still wait until April 2024 and your status drops - no need to invoke the benefit unless you need it as it's generally a one off.

As for length of time for the status to be updated after application - in the early days it was all over the place but these day it is more consistent.

 

[dairyfloss]

Hi All - a bit of an update on my situation and hoping some folks could give me some advice. So I have done enough to get Velocity Platinum (confirmed via phone and in writing through email), but I will only get it around Feb 10th - which is perhaps handy in my current situation.

As expected, I didn't get enough nights to keep diamond with Hilton, however, I have now received an email from Hilton notifying me that I can keep Diamond this year with only one stay before March, which I understand many people are getting.

Obviously, it makes sense to stay one night to keep Diamond status. I assume that since I will keep platinum till at least Feb 2024, I should apply for Hilton Diamond through Velocity in Jan/Feb next year, is that the smartest thing to do? How long does the process take to get the status with Velocity?

How confident are you of retaining VA WP this year? Or with retaining HH Diamond?

From my research into the same scenario, and where I’m not yet sure of whether I will retain VA WP, it is better for me to wait until my HH status lapses after March 2023, and then apply the VA offer to secure Diamond status to get 2 years, out to March 2025, rather than to make a stay before March is over and get an extension by only 12 months.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Happy Dude]

@hb13 did you not get the offer to retain HH Diamond with one stay before 31 March 2023? There's a thread here somewhere.

 

[hb13]

@hb13 did you not get the offer to retain HH Diamond with one stay before 31 March 2023? There's a thread here somewhere.

Yup got the offer for that - which is why I won't go for the VA offer in 2023.

Post automatically merged: Feb 3, 2023

I'd still wait until April 2024 and your status drops - no need to invoke the benefit unless you need it as it's generally a one off.

As for length of time for the status to be updated after application - in the early days it was all over the place but these day it is more consistent.

By April 2024 I don't think I'll have Platinum status - I doubt that I'd have it anyways as I can't see myself flying VA enough to maintain Platinum.

 

[hb13]

How confident are you of retaining VA WP this year? Or with retaining HH Diamond?

From my research into the same scenario, and where I’m not yet sure of whether I will retain VA WP, it is better for me to wait until my HH status lapses after March 2023, and then apply the VA offer to secure Diamond status to get 2 years, out to March 2025, rather than to make a stay before March is over and get an extension by only 12 months.

Cheers,
Matt.

Not confident at all. In fact pretty confident that I won't do enough to retain it.

So likely to lose my platinum status in Feb 2024.

 

[dairyfloss]

Not confident at all. In fact pretty confident that I won't do enough to retain it.

So likely to lose my platinum status in Feb 2024.

OK - so if I were you, and this is what I'm doing as well - I would wait until your HH Diamond status drops to Gold, and then apply the VA WP benefit to get HH Diamond status for 2 years until end of March 2025.

HH status is like QFF and many others, wherein you'll get status for the remainder of the current year, all of the next, and until the downgrades happen in the year following that. If you accept the current Hilton offer and retain your tier that way, then you would get extended only to the end of March 2024; half the time the VA option provides for. Also, as your VA WP status would likely have lapsed by March 2024, you would then only be able to match to HH Gold from VA SG.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[SYD]

The related thread is closed and rather than start another, does anyone know what happens if a VA WP hotel perk is not used and person drops to SG? Or similarly, SG doesn’t use hotel perk before dropping to PS? ie do these hang around in the system or only useable while still holding the status?

For example, I used my HH Diamond years ago (which was great while it lasted) but I have since dropped to VA SG and the HH Gold perk has been sitting there for a while. Do I need to use it before I drop to Silver or will it still be there after my review date? I’m assuming it will get swallowed into the ether.