Hilton Diamond Status Match

As you LCD readers know, my father is a huge SPG loyalist, though he's been known to cheat with Hyatt from time to time.

But when Hyatt started matching to their top tier Diamond status last month, Hilton also jumped into the fray as well. For convenience, you can request the Hilton HHonors Diamond status match online here until January 11, 2016.

So my father signed up and submitted a jpg file of his SPG Platinum Account page. This morning, he received this email.

We've had some nice Hilton stays in the past few years where we definitely enjoyed the complimentary breakfasts, including:

1. December 2015 - Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Costa Rica
2. February 2015 - Doubletree Charleston, SC
3. June 2014 - Hilton Zurich, Switzerland
4. April 2014 - Conrad Hong Kong
5. February 2013 - Conrad Koh Samui, Thailand

That being said, Hilton's Diamond status isn't that much better than the mid-tier Gold status that my parents already had through their Citi Hilton Reserve Visa credit card. Even with Gold, they receive complimentary breakfast and in-room wifi, so the top tier Diamond just earns you more HHonors points and possibly increases your chances at a complimentary room upgrade.

Regardless, we thought that we might be frequenting non-Starwood hotels in 2016 (given the pending Marriott acquisition), so we might as well try out some Hilton properties while holding Diamond status.

Thanks, United for the 5 Upgrades!

Flight #122 - United Airlines 1446
Liberia (LIR) – Newark (EWR)
Friday, December 18, 2015 
Depart: 2:50PM / Arrive: 8:30PM 
Duration: 4hr 40min
Aircraft: Boeing 737 
Seat: 1B, 1E, 1F, 4A and 4B (Business)
Flown: 2,186 miles
Lifetime Miles: 224,098 miles

This is one of the few times I've flown with extended family. We all started on one single reservation with 2 of us having United Gold status (my father and my grandmother) while my mother and I having United Silver status and my aunt with no status whatsoever.

We originally booked this flight a few months ago on a great $266 fare they were having. For a roundtrip from Newark to Liberia that was a steal! So as our Costa Rican adventure came to a close, we starting preparing for our return home.

When we checked in online yesterday, we saw that there were only 5 people booked for Business Class out of a total 16 available seats. So we took our chances and put ourselves on the upgrade list. The seats themselves weren't the great lay-flat ones, but this would get us a free lunch on board instead of paying $9 for a slice of Costa Rican airport pizza.

The downside case would be that we'd have 5 separate reservations now, instead of being all in a single booking. Should there be any flight changes, there's a chance we'd each be rebooked on different flights, but given the weather didn't seem to be bad, we took those odds.

Probably because they had United status on their booking, my parents and my grandmother each cleared the upgrade list shortly after checking in last night. They were going to be sitting up front, but my aunt (no status) and me (United Silver, but not using it on this booking) were still on the Upgrade Waitlist. However, we were #1 and #2, respectively, with still another 5 big seats available. As you can see, we didn't stress out about it.



So this afternoon, we headed over to the airport like usual. When we arrived at the gate, the agent gave us 2 new tickets with our upgrade. Score!

Andaz Papagayo - Diamond Breakfast Benefit

One of the best benefits of Hyatt Diamond status is free breakfast. Not to be accurate, Diamond status members are supposed to get Club Lounge access where they serve complimentary breakfast.

But for hotels that don't have lounges, the restaurant breakfast is offered instead (a much better alternative!) and sometimes even free room service breakfast.

The Andaz breakfast is set up at the Rio Bhongo restaurant as a self-serve buffet with a made-to-order omelette station, though they also offered an a la carte menu as well. The sticker price for the buffet breakfast was $32/person plus the additional 10% service charge and 13% taxes. So definitely not cheap!



But thankfully, my mother landed Hyatt Diamond Status just before our stay. Now the 5 of us on the trip could all enjoy a hearty breakfast each morning, without ever seeing the bill. Here's what the breakfast spread looked like.

The Continental Breakfast Part

Not pictured, but my father's favorite part was the Bread Pudding of the Day. My father loves Bread Pudding.

The Hot Buffet

The hot food options rotated, but they usually had gallo pinto (rice & beans), plus eggs, plus some protein (bacon or sausage) and some vegetable.

And for the healthy guests that didn't want carbs and fats, they also had a great selection of fresh fruits and juices.

Now, since we know not everyone has Hyatt Diamond status or wants to pay $32+ per person for breakfast, the best option seemed to be the $12 Gallo Pinto item off the menu. It looked like a better presented sampling of the exact same items from the hot buffet section, but it would be a much better alternative if you wanted to save money.

Hyatt - Diamond Status Match

A few weeks ago, Starwood announced it would be acquired by Marriott. While the transaction won't close until mid-2016, Starwood elites such as my parents were definitely not happy.

Hyatt (Starwood's most direct competitor) decided to capitalize on the opportunity and offer Starwood top tier Platinum elites the chance to status match to Hyatt's top tier Diamond status.

While my father loves Starwood hotels and the SPG program, he also recognizes that Hyatt's Diamond status benefits are arguably better than SPG's Platinum in several areas, including confirmed suite upgrades and complimentary true breakfast.

So we took Hyatt up on their offer to match us a few weeks ago via email and just yesterday, (right before our Costa Rica trip where we're staying 5 nights at Hyatt's Andaz Peninsula Papagayo), we received this great surprise email from Hyatt.

Now we get free breakfast for our entire stay! Looks like I won't have to cook for my parents anymore!

SPG 50 Nights = 10 New Suite Night Awards

With this most recent stay at the W Ft Lauderdale, we hit 50 nights at Starwood for the year. While we already qualified for SPG 2016 Platinum (by getting 25 stays), reaching 50 nights gets you a special bonus.

This year, we were given choices for our gift, including:

A. 10 Suite Night Awards
B. Gift SPG Gold status to someone
C. 4 free Uber rides (up to $25 each)
D. $85 credit towards TSA Pre-Check application
E. $100 Amazon gift card
F. $100 Unicef donation

Since my family generally receives out-sized benefit from our suite upgrades, we elected the 10 Suite Night Awards, which have MORE value to us than the $85-100 benefit options. For example, when we used them to get upgraded at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale and my mother wanted to take an afternoon nap in the Heavenly King bed with blackout shades, my father and I just shut the bedroom door and hung out in the separate living room.

I've written about SPG's Suite Night Awards several times (2014 and 2015), so I won't rehash the finer details. But as a reminder, these awards allow you to express a preference on which stays you would like a complimentary upgrade to a suite (and which type of suite). Here's an actual example for our upcoming stay at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT.

Since 2015 is coming to a close, the Suite Night Awards we earned last year are expiring. So now, we have a fresh batch of 10 SNA's to use for our 2016 SPG stays (or until the Marriott acquisition closes). Now, back to planning our next hotel suite upgrade strategy...

United Silver Status for Everyone

Flight #119 - United Airlines 2020
Newark (EWR) – Ft Lauderdale (FLL)
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Depart: 11:31AM / Arrive: 2:36PM
Duration: 3hr 5min
Aircraft: Boeing 737
Seat: 10D, 10E and 10F (Economy)
Earned: 1,065 miles
Lifetime Miles: 217,661 miles

My father has held United Gold status since 2010. Having status has dramatically improved our travel experiences, from getting access to free Same Day Changes and 2 free Economy Plus seats at booking. There are other perks as well, but those are less valuable or can be replicated through other means (credit cards benefits).

But this year, we didn't fly as much internationally so it was difficult for him to reach 50,000 miles flown on United or Star Alliance carriers. Even with his extra 5,000 Premier Qualifying Miles earned from his Chase United Select credit card, he would only get to 36,000 miles. So he would have to be content with falling back to United Silver status (which you earn after 25,000 miles).

However, for yours truly, it would be my first time ever having United Silver status. You might be surprised about that since I've already flown 217,661 miles in my 4 years of life. But here's why I'm only now reaching United Silver.

1. For the first two years (2012-2013), I flew as a lapchild (hence the name of the blog). Those flights didn't earn me any elite miles at all since for most of them, I didn't even have to pay (except small % for international flights).

2. After I turned 2 years old (2014), I was ineligible to fly as a lapchild and started earning frequent flyer miles. However, my family focused on having me earn Aegean Airlines miles (instead of United) to get "lifetime" Gold status with their Miles & Bonus frequent flyer program.

3. After earning "lifetime" Aegean Gold in June 2014, I started flying on award tickets (which don't earn frequent flyer miles).

4. I only started earning United miles in October 2014 on our trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (way too late in the calendar year to reach 25,000).

Long story short, 2015 would be the year that I'd finally earn United Silver status. And with our touchdown yesterday afternoon at Ft Lauderdale, I had 25,191 miles earned this year.

Coincidentally, this FLL flight was also the flight where my mother re-qualified for her United Silver status as well. So now the 3 of us in the family all have United Silver from now through Feb 2017.

SPG Platinum 2016

After our stay the other night at the Sheraton Bucks County, we hit 25 stays for the year and re-qualified for SPG Platinum status through February 28, 2017.

This was our second time staying at the property, again for the convenience of going to Sesame Place right across the street.

The best perks of having Platinum status are (a) complimentary upgrades to suites and (b) complimentary continental breakfasts each morning.

Those benefits alone keep my family on the hotel elite status hamster wheel. What do I mean by that?

Well, first you have to earn status, which means staying at that hotel chain for 25 stays (or 50 nights) a year. That's almost 2 months of hotel nights!

Then to enjoy the elite status perks once you've achieved status, you'll need to stay at the same chain the following year. After getting used to the benefits, you'll then feel compelled to continue re-qualifying for the next year, otherwise, you'll just be a "regular guest" with no upgrades, comped breakfasts or late checkouts.

So you end up staying at this chain's hotels, just to stay more at the chain's hotels. Very circular and very clever.

But whenever you tempt my father with free food, you'll almost always get him hooked.

Congrats, Dad!

Upgraded on United

My father was busy working Monday morning, when he received a pleasant little email surprise.

You've been upgraded from New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) on Tue., Apr. 21, 2015. Your new seat will be assigned upon check-in or at the departure gate. 

Sitting upfront isn't usually something to write home about, but fortunately, it wasn't just my father getting a free upgrade to business class due to his United Gold Status, but our entire family of three!

Now, my mother was United Silver, but I had no United status whatsoever. Looks like United either (a) went above and beyond for one of their mid-tier elites, (b) had an IT system glitch or (c) overbooked in Economy and needed to free up some space. Regardless, we're very thankful because we'll get some breakfast and free DirectTv.

This is likely the last time we'll get a complimentary upgrade because my parents won't be flying 50,000 miles on United this year, but we'll hopefully be well rested before our land/sea transfer over to Cozumel later this afternoon...

2014 Travel and 2015 United Status

It looks like my father will be United Gold for another year in 2015. But given he just started a new job that doesn't require that much travel, it may be his final year with United elite status.

For those of you who don't obsessively keep updated on frequent flyer program changes, United (and Delta) incorporated a $ spend requirement to reach elite status tiers starting at the beginning of 2014.

To hit Silver, a United frequent flyer must fly 25,000 miles and spend at least $2,500 on Premier Qualifying Dollars (fares excluding taxes and fees). For Gold, that's 50,000 miles and $5,000. However, given my family always seems to fly on really cheap fares (like $800 to Hong Kong) or award fares (like our trip to Rome/Athens on United miles), my father wasn't going to hit the $5,000 threshold even though he was going to fly exactly 50,010 miles as seen on the map below:

But since it's difficult to read, here's the same map without showing our single Asia trip.

And here's the same map without the European segments.

Fortunately, since he had a Chase United MileagePlus credit card and spent $25,000 on it, then the dollar requirement would be waived. And given my father's many tricks, it was pretty easy to "spend" $25,000.

However, for our 2015 travel, it looks like we won't get to rack up enough miles for my father to hit the 50,000 level again. So he'll likely have to settle for United Silver Status starting Feb 2016. I suppose it may not be that much of a difference, with the exception of (a) getting Economy Plus seating at booking, (b) international lounge access and (c) extra complimentary checked bags allowance.

Meanwhile, I'm just happy to be around my parents and could care less about all this airline status stuff.

Starwood Obsessed?

Apparently, my father is the exact kind of customer that hotel chains like Starwood want. Actively traveling and somewhat compulsively drawn to a single brand where they concentrate their travel spend.

He drank the Kool-Aid and bought into the hotel loyalty program that many consider the best in the industry, Starwood Preferred Guest.

For calendar 2013, my father hit Platinum status for the first time by spending over 50 nights in Starwood hotels. For the rest of 2013 and 2014, he enjoyed Platinum benefits, including (a) complimentary suite upgrades, (b) free breakfasts and (c) generally higher levels of service.

Now that he's been tasting the good life, he's having a hard time contemplating a future off the Loyalty Hamster Wheel. We haven't yet done a pure Mattress Run (where you stay at a hotel for no other reason than to earn credit for elite status), but we're about to as my father just booked a night at the Le Meridien Philadelphia for the Friday after Christmas.

But this upcoming mattress run isn't really for earning Platinum status (since we already locked that up in September). This Dec 26th mattress run is for completing a self-imposed challenge of staying at each of Starwood's 9 hotel brands in a single calendar year. So far this year, we've hit up 8 of them and are missing just the Le Meriden brand.


1. Aloft - Chicago, IL
2. Element - Ewing, NJ
3. Four Points - San Antonio, TX
4. Luxury Collection - Athens, Greece
5. Sheraton - Salt Lake City, UT
6. St Regis - Rome, Italy
7. W - New Orleans, LA
8. Westin - Austin, TX

So to complete his little mini-goal, we booked a one night stay in nearby Philadelphia and hit Brand #9 before December 31st.

I suppose that we could have also booked a night at the Parker Meridien in New York City and taken a subway instead of driving 2.5 hours, but we opted to use the long weekend to take a trip to a different city (and get some amazing cheesesteaks) instead of doing another Manhattan staycation. Besides, the Parker Meriden in NYC was going for $423/night or 20,000 SPG points (versus the $170/night at the LM Philadelphia). Still a bit pricey for a hotel we didn't really need, but hey, it's Christmas!

So what does my father get for hitting all 9 brands in a year? Most likely nothing at all.

Starwood did surprise people who accomplished this feat in 2012 with an award for 3 free nights. However, people reported that no such surprise gift was awarded in 2013, so this year is uncertain at best.