Last week I wrote about the rumor that Hilton would be adding suite upgrades to the terms and conditions of their program for HHonors Diamond members. This was long overdue, given that:

a) Hilton’s top tier status hasn’t been competitive with Hyatt and Starwood for a long time now
b) There was virtually no difference in elite benefits between Gold (mid tier) and Diamond (top tier) members

Well, Hilton now officially has the benefit listed on their website.

The benefit is listed as follows:

Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and DoubleTree by Hilton™ Benefits

All Hilton HHonors Diamond guests will receive each of the following:

Upgrades to Preferred Rooms.
Diamond HHonors guests will receive upgrades to preferred rooms, based on availability for the entire stay at the time of check-in. Upgrades for Diamond HHonors guests may include the next-best available room from the room type booked. Upgrades may also be rooms with desirable views, corner rooms, rooms on high floors, rooms with special amenities, rooms on Executive Floors**, or suites, as identified by each property. Some exclusions based on rate and room type may apply. See Terms & Conditions for details.

It’s interesting to note that the suite upgrades only apply at Conrad, Hilton, Doubletree, and Waldorf Astoria hotels. But what’s interesting, and concerning to many, is how they phrase the benefit. They say that upgrades “may include” the next-best available room, rooms on high floors, rooms with special amenities, suites, etc. Compare that to Starwood, which promises an upgrade “to the best room at check-in including standard suites.”

Now I don’t know if Hilton’s verbiage is intentional or not, but it certainly seems to give hotels the right to deny suite upgrades, even if they’re available. Compare that to Starwood, where you might have to fight at the front desk for ten minutes, but you’ll get your suite upgrade if they’re still selling that suite. So I don’t think there’s any reason to be alarmed, though it’s definitely interesting.

The other good news, as expected, is that Diamond members no longer have to choose between the 1,000 point bonus and an upgrade/breakfast. They now get all the benefits at Conrad, Hilton, and Doubletree hotels. This was also long overdue, given that Hyatt and Starwood both offer their members a welcome amenity in addition to upgrades, etc.

It will be interesting to see if Hyatt and Starwood react to this news. It has been rumored that Starwood will start offering Platinum members free breakfast as of March 1, so I think now more than ever it’s pretty certain this will happen. It will be interesting to see if Hyatt reacts, since I’m not sure they need to. They offer Diamond members four confirmed suite upgrades a year, which I think is an awesome benefit, since you can lock in upgrades on the stays you really want. It would be nice to get space available suite upgrades in addition to that, though I’m not even sure I’d want unlimited space available suite upgrades to replace the four annual confirmed suite upgrades. I think it’s more likely that they would start counting award stays towards elite status, allow suite upgrades to be applied on award stays, etc.

Hilton Diamond members, how ya feeling? Excited? Worried about how they’re phrasing the benefit? Indifferent?

Hilton is offering those with a Visa Infinite card (a Visa card starting with 411945) instant HHonors Gold status valid for one year. You just need to enter the first six digits of the card along with your Hilton account information here.

The Gold status posts instantly, which is the best offer for Gold I’ve seen in a very long time. Hilton HHonors Gold is by far the best mid-tier hotel elite status level, given that it comes with both free breakfast/club lounge access and internet.

I’d get in on this ASAP before they pull the offer.

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Per this Milepoint thread, the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport is offering 250 Hilton HHonors points for “liking” them on Facebook. Earlier today they posted the following on their wall:

Hello from Toronto, Ontario CANADA to Hilton Garden Inn fans! The team at the HGI Toronto Airport would like you to become our Fan as well…so much so we are offering a 24 HOUR FAN BLITZ…all you have to do is LIKE us on our Facebook page in the next 24 hours and we will reward you with 250 Bonus Hilton HHonors points! Email us at yyzta-salesadm@hilton.com with your Hilton Hhonors info so we can get your points posted!

They posted this at 2:30PM CT, so I suspect it will be valid till the same time tomorrow (Thursday).

Oddly I don’t actually see the above post there anymore, though I’m not sure if that’s a function of me being stupid (fairly likely), or them having removed it. Either way, they’re interacting with people posting on the wall, so I assume it’s still live.

Now while “liking” the Hilton Garden Inn might sound like fun, if you “like” my blog on Facebook I’ll give you 250 Lucky’s coins points (the redemption chart hasn’t been published yet). Don’t all “like” at once now, or I might not be able to honor this special promotion.

(Tip of the hat to bne99)

Let’s face it, there’s a reason many retailers participate in online shopping malls — cause they need some bonus offers to sell their products. Yes, that’s why Bob’s Denture Mart, the Overpriced Chocolate Store, and the Tijuana Botox Clinic can all be found in your favorite online shopping mall (or something like that).

And then once in a while legitimately useful retailers participate in the online shopping malls, and even though the bonuses might not be great, it’s totally worth taking advantage of since they’re for purchases you would make anyway.

That’s why people are quite excited that Amazon is now partnering with a couple of airlines on the shopping mall front. You can now earn one US Airways Dividend Mile per dollar spent at amazon.com by going through their shopping portal.

Hawaiian Airlines is even more generous, offering two Hawaiian Miles per dollar spent at amazon.com through their shopping portal. Not to discount the value of Hawaiian Miles, but they’re probably not especially useful to most of us since we won’t rack up a meaningful amount, though it’s worth noting that they’re partners with Hilton. You can convert Hawaiian Miles to Hilton HHonors points at a 1:2 ratio in 5,000 mile increments.

In other words, $2,500 in spend on amazon.com earns you 5,000 Hawaiian Miles, which earns you 10,000 Hilton HHonors points.

Keep in mind that all of this is in addition to the miles you usually earn for credit card spend.

There’s not a whole lot of information about the offer yet, though Hilton HHonors’ Facebook page is advertising a 48 hour sale between 12PM ET June 14 and 12PM ET June 16.

The text reads “Save up to 40% and earn 2,500 Hilton HHonors bonus points on your next stay.”

I’m guessing the 40% off rate will be non-refundable and based on the flexible rate (so probably not 40% off an advance purchase rate), and I have no clue what the terms and conditions are for the 2,500 bonus points (whether it only applies for one booking, an unlimited number of bookings, or what).

Either way, this is worth keeping an eye on, especially in conjunction with the free Hilton HHonors Gold status offer going on right now.

Through May 3, Hilton is offering the first 80,000 people that “like” them on Facebook 250 bonus Hilton HHonors points. Just go to their Facebook page, “like” them, then click the “Like us for Points” link on the left side of the page. Once you enter your information you’ll be eligible to receive the points.

Now, not that I have any pride, but at a certain point I have to put a price tag to “liking” something, don’t I?

(Tip of the hat to Loyalty Traveler)