As one of a select few people who attended an official interactive media roundtable of Hilton at the newly built Hilton Arlington Rosslyn The Key hotel property in Rosslyn in Virginia yesterday morning, Monday, November 17, 2025, I am now able to report on the news that the new Diamond Reserve elite status tier has been confirmed by Hilton, as it will represent an exclusive level of recognition and benefits to become the new premium elite status tier as part of the evolution of the Hilton Honors membership program effective as of Thursday, January 1, 2026.
Other announcements included the reduction of requirements to earn and achieve Diamond elite status and Gold elite status; the eventual elimination of Elite Rollover Nights, and the reduction of earning points at Homewood Suites and Spark by Hilton hotel properties.
New Diamond Reserve Elite Status Tier Confirmed by Hilton; Faster Path to Elite Status
In addition to the benefits of the other tiers of elite status, the elevated benefits and highlights of the new Diamond Reserve elite status tier include:
- A Confirmable Upgrade Reward, which allows eligible members to lock in upgrades to premium rooms at the time of booking a reservation — up to a one-bedroom suite for stays of up to seven nights — through official Hilton Honors channels, which includes its mobile software application program.
- The first Confirmable Upgrade Reward is earned when achieving Diamond Reserve elite status.
- The option to earn a second reward at either the 120-night milestone or 30,000 Hilton Honors points will be available.
- Confirmable Upgrade Rewards will be valid for one year from the date of issue — and they cannot be extended.
- Confirmable Upgrade Rewards can be used on both eligible paid stays and reward stays at select global hotel and resort properties that offer complimentary upgrades prior to arrival — including from such brands within the growing luxury portfolio of Hilton as:
- Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts
- Conrad Hotels & Resorts
- LXR Hotels & Resorts
- Signia by Hilton
- Curio Collection by Hilton
- Guaranteed checkout at 4:00 in the afternoon on every eligible stay, which gives more time to relax or prepare for the onward journey. Stays that are not considered to be eligible include independent properties — such as those of Small Luxury Hotels of the World or at AutoCamp.
- Exclusive customer service support with selected specially trained team members who are dedicated to delivering personalized assistance, priority care, and unparalleled service. Becky Ploeger — who is the current global head of Hilton reservations & customer care and sales support — assured that the Diamond Reserve customer service team will consist of the select best of the best team members who are highly trained with significant experience. The number of members who are on the team will depend on how many members are Diamond Reserve, as the size of the Diamond Reserve customer service team will be continuously scalable and dynamic.
- Complimentary access to premium clubs, which is a growing collection of exclusive on-property clubs that are most commonly found at hotel and resort properties that are part of the luxury, lifestyle, or full-service brands of the Hilton portfolio. These premium clubs include:
- Elevated food and beverage offerings — including dishes that are prepared fresh by a chef on premises
- Quiet workspaces
- Other coveted features
- Highest priority for space-available upgrades which can be confirmed as early as three days before check-in.
- 120 percent bonus Hilton Honors points earned on every stay.
The minimum requirements of earning and achieving Diamond Reserve elite status are staying at least 40 stays or 80 nights and an eligible spend of $18,000.00 in United States dollars.
The earliest date that Hilton Honors members will start earning Diamond Reserve would be sometime between late March of 2026 to early April of 2026, as qualifying for Diamond Reserve cannot be achieved based on activity in 2025.
“We are just adding more for top customers without taking anything away”, Christopher Nassetta — who is the current president and chief executive officer of Hilton — said at the media roundtable with regard to Diamond Reserve elite status.
All Benefits Remain With Reduced Qualifications to Earn Elite Status Faster
Although reduced requirements mean an easier and faster track to earn and achieve elite status, the favored and flexible benefits remain.
Effective as of Thursday, January 1, 2026, you can earn:
- Gold status in one of three ways:
- Stay 25 nights — 38 percent fewer nights or 15 fewer nights
- Complete 15 stays — 25 percent fewer stays or five fewer stays
- Reach $6,000.00 in United States dollars of annual eligible spend — was 75,000 Base Points
- Diamond status in one of three ways:
- Stay 50 nights — 17 percent fewer nights or ten fewer nights
- Complete 25 stays — 17 percent fewer stays or five fewer stays
- Reach $11,500.00 in United States dollars of annual eligible spend — was 120,000 Base Points
No benefits will be removed, as members who have earned and achieved:
- Diamond elite status will continue to enjoy the same benefits — including but not limited to early confirmation of space-available room upgrades; a daily food and beverage credit or continental breakfast, which varies by brand and region; executive lounge access; 48-hour room guarantee; and 100 percent more Hilton Honors points.
- Gold elite status will continue to enjoy the same benefits — including but not limited to early confirmation of space-available room upgrades,; a daily food and beverage credit or continental breakfast, which varies by brand and region; and 80 percent more Hilton Honors points. Gold is the only mid-tier elite status among the membership programs of all lodging companies that offers food and beverage, which arguably means that it is the most valuable mid-tier elite status currently offered.
Earning and achieving Silver elite status — as well as enjoying its benefits — remains unchanged.
I asked how many more members will earn Diamond elite status or Gold elite status will the Hilton Honors membership program have as a result of the reduced requirements. Mark Weinstein — who is the current chief marketing officer and head of luxury brands at Hilton — declined to reveal the answer to that question; but he did say that the number of members who will have earned Diamond Reserve elite status will be “in the thousands and not millions.” Also, only a small percentage — perhaps four percent — of members who currently have Diamond status would qualify for Diamond Reserve elite status. The current upgrade algorithm in the Hilton Honors membership program already favors people who qualify for Diamond Reserve elite status because they are staying more often or spending more money than other Diamond members, who are already below them in terms of priority.
Unpublished Honors Society Elite Status?
Rumors claimed that in addition to the Diamond Reserve elite status tier, an unpublished elite status tier by invitation only — possibly called Honors Society — will also be introduced.
When I asked about this unpublished elite status tier, Nassetta asked, “Where did you hear that from?”
“On FlyerTalk”, I replied. “Through leaked code.”
“There are five published tiers of status”, Weinstein added. Neither Nassetta nor Weinstein outright denied or confirmed the possible existence of a new unpublished elite status tier.
Take that for what it is worth.
What About the Fate of Diamond and Gold Elite Status Tiers?
I asked about the perceived potential dilution of both Diamond elite status and Gold elite status as a result of the reduced requirements to achieve them. As two of many examples, “Will a plunger be needed to shove and cram elite members into an overcrowded lounge? Will upgrades be fewer and farther between?”
“An average of three hotels are added per day,” Weinstein replied. “Adding so many rooms means more benefits and more targets to achieve; and gives more people more reasons to stay.” The growing portfolio of Hilton currently includes greater than 9,000 hotel and resort properties, with more in the pipeline.
The goal is to retain members in staying at hotel and resort properties that are part of the Hilton portfolio of brands. “Customers seek a backup program when they get to just ‘good enough’. We are trying to avoid that.” More access to elite status to more people translates to increased customer retention.
Weinstein felt that the “30 night difference between Silver and Gold was too much of a barrier”; so that was halved to a difference of 15 nights. By lowering the threshold in this particular example, Weinstein believes that more people who have Silver elite status will be more inclined to earn and achieve Gold elite status — especially when they initially did not believe that would stay as many nights as they realize later in the year.
Hilton is currently the only lodging company to offer qualifying for elite status three different ways — four ways if the Hilton Honors American Express cards are counted.
Thoughts on Loyalty at Hilton
“Loyalty is not something we take lightly. We’ve spent years listening to our members. Diamond Reserve was created to recognize and reward those who entrust their travel to Hilton,” Weinstein said. “We know that enhancing the stay experience is the foundational building block to driving loyalty, which is why we have thoughtfully designed a suite of ultra-premium benefits intended to make staying with Hilton even better.”
Weinstein believes that loyalty is the responsibility of the company to the customer and not the customer to the company. He said that he is careful with regard to Hilton that promises are to be delivered and not just said. Customers should not be promised anything if those promises cannot be delivered — which is the main reason why the introduction of a new pinnacle of elite status by Hilton took such a long time: they wanted to be absolutely sure that they would be able to deliver on all of the components of Diamond Reserve before officially launching it.
Other News and Announcements
Other news and announcements that were revealed include:
- Lifetime Diamond elite status will remain unchanged — both in terms of earning this permanent elite status and the benefits it offers — but that means that members who have earned and achieved Diamond Reserve elite status will have priority over members with Lifetime Diamond elite status.
- Elite Rollover Nights will end, as they will be rolling over for the last time in 2026 because not enough people were taking advantage of this method of retaining elite status.
- Milestone Bonuses are now earned up to 180 nights for a total of up to 210,000 Hilton Honors points annually.
- Stays at Homewood Suites and Spark by Hilton hotel properties will be reduced from earning ten points per dollar spent to only five points per dollar spent effective as of Thursday, January 8, 2026 — but not on reservations that have already been booked prior to Thursday, January 8, 2026, as old reservations will be grandfathered. Elite tier bonuses and other member benefits will remain unchanged.
- 10 billion points have been redeemed at Small Luxury Hotels of the World since its partnership with Hilton began in 2024.
- Premium clubs — such as Club Signia at Signia by Hilton and Sakura Club at Conrad — are different than executive lounges and are becoming the standard. Which hotel and resort properties will have premium clubs will be on a case-by-case basis — such as The Imperial Club at Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel as one example.
- When asked about increased redemption rates for award stays, “Members are earning more points than ever before; so redemptions need to increase as well,” according to Weinstein. “Earning points is at an all time high. But if demand is down at a property, the amount of points will be less. We would rather offer an award stay at a higher redemption rate than to offer nothing at all.” This sentiment reflects exactly what I surmised in this article pertaining to how dynamic pricing is good for travel back on Friday, July 25, 2025.
Final Boarding Call
My experience with elite status with Hilton over the years has been quite positive overall. I cannot recall a time when I thought that an executive lounge was too crowded or when I felt like I was not treated well — or when any of the other benefits of my Diamond elite status were diluted. I have almost always been warmly welcomed to a hotel property — whether it was a Conrad or a Curio or a Hampton Inn or some other brand of Hilton.
I do wish that I could have conveyed the sincerity of Chris Nassetta and the members of the panel at the media roundtable into words and photographs — as well as the fact that they really are listening to their customers. For example, I have personally met Mark Weinstein on many occasions over the years; and I have found that he has been nothing but open and honest. I typically am not a trusting person — but I do trust that the members of the team really did their homework before they announced the latest changes to the Hilton Honors membership program. One of the changes that was implemented over the years which I initially did not like was when the continental breakfast benefit at hotel and resort properties in the western hemisphere changed to a food and beverage credit — but although I would prefer to have breakfast included as a benefit of elite status, I have found by experience that more often than not, I actually benefit more from the food and beverage credit.
I personally do not see the addition of Diamond Reserve elite status affecting me negatively at all in the future — but only time will tell. In my opinion, most of the people who would qualify for Diamond Reserve elite status in 2026 likely already basically currently exist as Diamond members and probably have had that elite status in recent years. I also do not believe that lowering the requirements to achieve either elite status in 2026 will dilute the benefits that both Diamond elite status and Gold elite status offer — especially with the significant growth of capacity in terms of new hotel and resort properties and in terms of the increasing number of rooms worldwide.
Significant changes in a membership program are never perfect. I am confident that members of the team at Hilton will closely monitor the Hilton Honors membership program as it moves forward and tweak any changes if necessary…
All photographs ©2018 and ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
