Deals Hotels

Hilton Status Match and Challenge – Diamond Status into 2026 in just 14 nights

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Hilton Status Match

Hilton has a great Status Match opportunity that could result you in you having 90 days of Gold status and achieving top tier Hilton Diamond status in just 14 qualifying nights. This is particularly fantastic since it would give you status through March of 2026, and you can leverage a lower tier status to achieve this.  There are several exclusions like if you’ve done in it in the past, highlighting prior stays, etc that you need to pay attention to – let’s take a look!

Go here to sign up if you’re interested!

This status match seems to be annual promotion but oddly they haven’t updated the graphics to show the status you’d attain lasting through 2026. Disregard the 2025 information – LL confirmed that it’s indeed until March 31, 2026

a screenshot of a website

What is a Hilton Status Match?

Hotels and Airlines will often allow you to match the status you maintain in a competitors program to a commensurate level of status in their program. Often times these come with stipulations that you must complete a certain number of flights, nights, or stays in order to keep that matched status after the qualification period.

Usually, as is the case in this Status Match, the period is 90 days. Hilton is looking to lure travelers to their brand by granting them a higher level of status, and the benefits that come along with it.

a man with his finger in his mouth

Can you break down what I need to do?

You’ll need to show elite status in another chain, proof of a stay in the last 24 months, and if approved, you’ll get Hilton Gold Status for 90 days. In order to maintain Hilton Gold until March of 2026, you’ll need to complete 8 paid, qualifying stays during the 90 day trial.

Want an even better bump up? If you stay just 6 more nights ( 14 total ) in 90 days, they will upgrade your status to Hilton Diamond.

Who qualifies?

  • Only Paid stays…Reward nights do not count
  • If you have Hilton Gold or Diamond cannot participate
    • I’m not saying you couldn’t create another account but your lifetime nights, etc wouldn’t count; however, you could probably merge your points since they point pooling. Haven’t tried this, but I’d imagine it’s possible.

How do you do it?

  • Submit the hotel status you’re matching from
  • Submit a stay from that hotel in the past 24 months
  • After you’re approved you’ll have Gold Status for 90 days
  • Stay 8 nights and keep Gold through March of 2026
  • Stay 14 nights an keep Diamond through March of 2026

You should be aware that you aren’t eligible if you already hold Hilton Gold or Diamond status, or if you have status matched in the past. The coolest part about Hilton Diamond status, in my opinion, is guaranteed Club Access, F/B credit ( breakfast internationally shown below ), and fingers crossed, a suite upgrade. We had absolutely great luck with Hilton Diamond status in 2019 quite a few suite upgrades, like the Waldorf Astoria Dubai, and if we didn’t hold a Hilton Aspire I’d be looking to do this status match myself. We also were upgraded to a suite in 2022 at the Conrad NYC

It looks as though this status match opportunity goes at least goes through the end of April, so if you’re interested you have some time to potentially meet the stay requirements if you earned your status from a credit card. In other words, if you’re an Amex Platinum cardholder with Marriott Gold status and haven’t stayed in the past two years, I believe you could stay before enrolling in this status match challenge expires and you’d fulfill that requirement.

Conrad New York

a room with a bed and a table

Diamond status is the reason to match…especially if you’re traveling internationally

The main reason I would consider pursuing this is the fact that Hilton has opened up top tier diamond status to those who keep a lower status in other hotel groups.

If you’re Hyatt Explorist, which is mid tier, you could status match into Hilton with this promo, and if you just stay 14 nights you’ll end up with Hilton Diamond status. If you participated in the Bilt Rewards Status Hyatt Trial and Challenge last year, you could potentially use Explorist to match to Gold and go for Diamond. You need to show a stay in the prior 24 months.

 

a table with glasses and drinks on it

How to get Hilton Status without a challenge…

By far the easiest is with a credit card.

Personally, dollar for dollar, the best hotel credit card out there is the Amex Hilton Aspire…Diamond status, $250 Hilton resort credit, $250 Amex incidental travel credit, etc. $450 ain’t cheap, but to get top tier status and benefits that easily offset the fee makes this a valuable card for those who love Hilton.

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Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

4.5
4.5/5

Hilton Honors Diamond status, annual night anywhere in the world, $400 Hilton resort credit, $200 airline credit, Priority Pass select… this is one bad mamma jamma of a card

Welcome Offer

175k Hilton Honors after $6k spend in 6 months + Free Night Certificate

Annual Fee

$550 *Rates and Fees; terms apply

Points Earned

Hilton Honors

This is hands down the best hotel card available. 

Not only do you get top tier Hilton Honors Diamond status, but you get an free night certificate that you can use anywhere in the world, $200 Hilton Resort credit Jan through June and another July through Dec, $200 airline credit broken into $50 quarterly credits, and the list goes on. 

If you’re at all thinking of staying at International Hilton properties, get this card ahead of time to enjoy the executive lounge access and free breakfast that comes along with Diamond Status.

This is a card we’ve had since it debuted and we get a lot from the annual night cert and top tier status to recoup the $550 annual fee.

  • Free night certificate after hitting minimum spend + on your account anniversary every year
  • Diamond status, top tier, as long as you maintain the card
  • Up to $400 resort credit
  • Up to $189 Clear® Plus Credit
  • Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com using your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
  • Book a 2 night minimum stay at hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com and get up to $100 in credits for qualifying charges at participating Waldorf Astoria® Hotels & Resorts and Conrad® Hotels & Resorts
  • 14x points at Hilton Hotels
  • 7x points
    • U.S. restaurants,
    • airfare booked directly with the airline/Amex travel, select car rental agencies
  • $550 *Rates and Fees; terms apply

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

Further terms and conditions

You can read the full terms and conditions here:

  • You need to have elite status with another hotel chain to qualify and submit proof of that elite status with a screen shot
    • This needs to include your current membership of your existing loyalty program and summary page – must be a jpg
    • No personal information: phone, address, social security number, DOB, username, password, credit card info, etc
  • Proof of a stay in the hotel group you’re matching from in the last 24 months is also required
  • You must be a Hilton Honors Silver or Base member and not enrolled in a status match in the past
  • If you’re already Gold or Diamond…you can’t enroll
  • You should hear in 7 to 12 days if you’ve been matched
  • Reward nights don’t count
  • You need to complete your stays within a 90 period to extend your status
    • 8 nights to keep Gold
    • 14 nights to bump up to Diamond

Overall

This is a pretty fantastic deal if you have any trips coming up in the short term that you could leverage to extract amazing benefits on a trip further out in the future.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
  • 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 2x on all other travel
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
  • Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
  • $95 Annual Fee

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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