Free Hilton HHonors Diamond Status Through 2016 Plus 25,000 AAdvantage Miles

Well *that* was unexpected.  I was just gifted Hilton HHonors Diamond status through March 31, 2016 due to my AAdvantage account.  This is a targeted offer.

We’re teaming up with Hilton HHonors to reward your frequent travel. Sign up, and you’ll be immediately rewarded with Hilton HHonors Diamond status. With Diamond status, you can enjoy complimentary space-available room upgrades, in-room and lobby Wi-Fi, and a 50% bonus on all HHonors Base Points, which helps you earn your free stays even faster.^* Plus, earn 25,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles when you complete three stays by December 31, 2014^**. Register today. There’s no time like the present for your Hilton HHonors and AAdvantage memberships to benefit you.

I had largely given up on Hilton HHonors due to many problems with the program (difficulty redeeming free nights, devaluation of points levels, and a sharp rise in requalification requirements) although I had maintained Gold or Diamond for most of the past 15 years.  I dropped to Silver status last year and had decided not to go past that minimum qualification this year, instead putting those stays (the ones where I can’t stay at Hyatt or Starwood and need a program with more small town coverage)

In an 11th hour game changer, however, it seems like the lukewarm cross-marketing relationship that AAdvantage and Hilton HHonors have formed is finally awarding some tangible benefits to members.

Here are the terms and conditions of that offer.

* Offer is valid for the recipient of this email only and is non-transferable. Members who register for the HHonors Promotion by December 31, 2014 will obtain instant HHonors Diamond status until March 31, 2016. Complete three qualifying stays between September 26, 2014 and December 31, 2014 to earn 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles. Check-out of your third stay must be on or before December 31, 2014. To earn the AAdvantage bonus miles, members must set their ‘My Way™’ Earning Style Option to ‘Points & Miles™’ in the Preferences section of their HHonors profile and select American Airlines as their preferred Airline Partner prior to completing the qualifying stays.

A ‘stay’ is defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, whether or not a guest checks out and checks back in again. You must provide your HHonors account number at the time of booking. Please allow six to eight weeks from completion of your stay for miles to appear in your AAdvantage account. Offer is not valid for groups and cannot be combined with other select offers. Standard requirements must be met to maintain HHonors Gold status after its expiration under this offer.

** Honors Diamond status benefits are subject to availability and vary by hotel. High-speed Internet access is not complimentary at properties with a resort charge. Hilton HHonors Points required for a reward night vary based on the category of hotel and whether the reward night is redeemed at a location during a peak or off-peak period. Other restrictions apply. For more information on Diamond status benefits, redemption of points for free nights, and program Terms and Conditions, please visit HHonors.com/terms.

I now need to immediately rethink my 2014 Q4 plans.  I’m still focusing on Hyatt and Starwood but I have a few cities I visit where Marriott or Hilton brands are my only options.  I had booked all of these for Marriott, even though I had already requalified for Marriott Silver, since Marriott allows me to carry over those stays to next year’s requalification.  I’m lured by 25,000 AAdvantage bonus miles – that’s a free roundtrip ticket – so I think I’ll be scrambling to rebook stays, starting with tonight’s originally booked Marriott stay!

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Footnote – this offer has apparently been rolling out to groups of AAdvantage members in waves.  Several of my fellow Executive Platinums have confirmed that they also received offers, some today, some two weeks ago – but not all offers were for Diamond status.  Many were for Gold status.

I would hypothesize that past history with both AAdvantage and HHonors might have something to do with targeting parameters.  I about to requalify for my fifteenth straight year of EXP.  I had either HHonors Gold or Diamond for at least ten of the last fifteen years and my HHonors stays have dropped off sharply in the past 36 months while my air travel has been consistent.