Is It Worth Chasing Hotel Lifetime Elite Status?

Diamond status for life…sounds good right? After all, what’s not to love about free breakfast, upgrades, and other elite benefits for life? Obtaining lifetime elite status with a hotel group certainly sounds enticing but is it actually as good as it sounds? In this post, we want to take a look at if lifetime elite status is worth chasing…

There are three big issues with Hotel Lifetime Elite Status…

1. Whilst most people would associate ‘lifetime’ elite status with their lifetime, it isn’t necessarily. The truth is that it’s only for the life of the loyalty program. Whilst you might think you’ll be OK with big brands e.g. Hilton, Marriot & Hyatt just ask a BMI Diamond Club Lifetime members how well that worked out for them. Whilst it was an Airline elite status the principle is the same… you never know!
   
2. The goal posts can be moved and the benefits can be changed. What might have started of as an achievable goal with benefits worth your while could change into something unattainable and worthless. SPG Gold lifetime required 250 nights + 5 years of elite status and came with some decent benefits e.g. guaranteed 4pm checkout & a welcome gift. Since the merger with Marriott it now requires 400 lifetime nights + 7 years Gold Elite status or higher. The benefits have also been downgraded with a 2pm checkout (based on availability e.g. worthless) and no welcome gift.
   
3. Lifetime elite status takes a long time to earn (years or even decades) and usually requires a massive outlay of cash. Because of this you might be choosing more expensive or even sub-optimal hotels just to earn your status.

What hotel lifetime elite statuses can I earn?

Mid-tier

The only hotel loyalty program to offer mid-tier lifetime elite status is Marriott. These are the benefits of Marriott Gold Elite lifetime status.

2pm late checkout based on availability
An enhanced Room Upgrade based on availability
25% more Marriott points on stays
Complimentary fast internet access
A welcome gift of between 250 and 500 points (£1.65 – £3.30ish)

Bear in mind the ‘best’ two benefits at the top are subject to availability (so basically worthless)

What do you need to obtain it? 400 lifetime nights + 7 years Gold Elite status or higher. It’s very difficult to see the attraction for anyone to make any extra effort to obtain it. We won’t bother with Silver elite lifetime as the benefits are even fewer than Gold Elite status.

Top-tier

Hilton, Hyatt & Marriott all offer top-tier lifetime elite status (Marriott offers their second-highest elite status as lifetime.)

Hilton Lifetime Diamond

Hilton Lifetime Diamond offers…

Space-available room upgrades including suites
Complimentary breakfast (you also get this with Hilton Gold)
Executive lounge access
100% more Hilton points on stays
Premium Wi-Fi

To obtain it you must earn Hilton Diamond status for 10 (non-consecutive) years and either 1) Complete stays totaling 1,000 paid and reward nights or 2) Earn 2 million base Points. So the shortest amount of time it could take you is 10 years AND if it did take you 10 years that would be 100 nights a year or a spend of $20,000 a year to get those 2 million base points.

Ouch right? Plus treatment of Diamond members varies a lot depending on where you go, whilst in Europe & Asia you might get decent treatment in other places like USA it’s hit & miss (US residents can get Hilton Diamond status with a credit card.) You can also get Hilton Gold with the Amex Platinum card which includes one of the major benefits of diamond, a free breakfast. Because of this, we don’t see the attraction of Hilton Lifetime Diamond either…

You can read more about the benefits of Hilton Diamond here – https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-honors/member-benefits/

Hyatt Lifetime Globalist

Hyatt Lifetime Globalist offers…

4pm late checkout
Upgrades to suites at check-in where available
Club Lounge access or Breakfast
Waived resort fees (on eligible rates and award nights)
Premium Internet
Free parking on award nights

To obtain it you only need to meet one requirement but it is a steep one! You’d need to earn 1,000,000 base points from your Hyatt stays. As you will receive 5 base points per $1 spent at Hyatt properties it means you’d need to spend a huge $200,000 to get it! Whilst the benefits are pretty solid and feedback suggests they are correctly offered who would spend $200,000 just for lifetime elite status? Not us!

You can read more about the benefits of Hyatt Globalist here – https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en/tiers-and-benefits.html#globalist

Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite

Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite offers…

4pm late checkout
Upgrades to entry-level suites where available
Complimentary breakfast at select Marriott brands
Executive lounge access
50% more Marriott points on stays
Complimentary fast internet access
A welcome gift of between 250 and 500 points (£1.65 – £3.30ish)

To obtain it you must earn Platinum Elite status or higher for 10 years and stay 600 nights. With the required nights being a little lower it feels a little more attainable than Hilton Diamond. PLUS there are currently no credit cards in the world that offer Platinum Elite status as a benefit which makes it feel more exclusive and hopefully means better treatment. The downside? 2 main ones really 1) Similar to Hilton actually receiving the advertised benefits is not always as simple as it seems to depend on how forthcoming the hotel is. 2) You don’t receive an Annual Choice Benefit unless you stay 50 nights (the best of which is the option of 5 Suite Night upgrades.) Again the work required compared to the benefits isn’t enough to convince us not to remain a free agent!

You can read more about the benefits of Marriott Platinum Elite here – https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/member-benefits/platinum.mi

Is there another way to get elite hotel status in the UK?

The information below is not a recommendation of any financial product. It is only included below for information on what UK credit cards offer hotel elite status.

Other than staying in hotels the main alternative way to get elite hotel status is with a credit card. You currently have three options to obtain elite status through credit cards in the UK. You will get IHG Gold Elite status with the IHG Rewards Club Credit Card, Marriott Silver Elite status (Upgraded to Gold Elite after £15,000 spend) with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card (£75 annual fee) & Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, MeliaRewards Gold & Radisson Rewards Gold Status with the Amex Platinum Card (£575 annual fee). Whilst with the majority of these cards you are ‘paying’ for the status you might find it better value than trying to earn lifetime elite status.

Sometimes it’s best not to be loyal…

You can choose wherever you want to stay & make the most of the best hotels (chains and independents) without feeling as though you need to stay somewhere to make use of a benefit or to get you closer to lifetime status. If you want an extra benefit or different room sometimes it’s just best to pay for it! Whether you know it or not if you are purposely choosing to stay at hotel over somewhere else to earn the status you are already doing that!

Conclusion

To be honest with the ability to have ‘lifetime’ hotel elite status with a credit card (as long as you hold it) we’d rather remain a free agent. We get decent upgrades, breakfast at Hiltons & late checkout with our credit card status. There is literally no incentive for us to chase lifetime elite status. If we want anything extra we can pay for it plus with being free agents we can pick and choose where we want to stay & make the most from every hotel brand. That being said if you would pick up lifetime elite status as a by-product of your normal stay or a few extra stays it‘s probably worth it. What do you think… Is it worth chasing hotel lifetime elite status?