Room upgrades for Hilton Diamond?

11 replies

Glasses

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 16 Oct 2018

Total posts 7

Hello, I too have the diamond status from my VA plat. I’m wondering, if I book a mid-tier room what’s the likelihood of an upgrade and to what extent? To a suite?

eg book Family Happy Magic room (actual name!) at Tokyo Disney will I be upgraded to a suite? Or can I book a lower cat room and still be upgraded?

Brassy

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 15 Apr 2016

Total posts 36

Had this exact situation in November last year. Booked cenovo room; no upgrade but they did give us a park view, which meant we could see the fireworks. Also stayed Hilton Nagoya and Osaka. No upgrade at any property in japan.

When I mentioned it at check in for Tokyo Bay, was told they were too full to accommodate upgrades.
Honestly, the cenovo room was fine for us. The lounge at Tokyo bay is excellent and you won’t spend much time there coz you’ll be so busy (queuing) in the parks.

russell

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 04 Nov 2011

Total posts 236

Upgrades as a Diamond are hit and miss at best. No way of knowing until you check in really as there are too many variables.

Chris C.

Member since 24 Apr 2012

Total posts 1,116

Having booked the same Happy Magic Room myself for a laugh a few years back, I can say they'll only upgrade you to a Happy Magic Suite as they assume that when you book that specific room theme, that's what you want for your stay.

(Honestly, it was a pretty disappointing room - looked quite cool online but when you're there it's nothing special - so if you want the best chances of an upgrade I'd say book a 'normal' room.)

The Tokyo Bay Hilton can be incredibly busy at check-in, but there's at least a clearly signposted priority line for HH members, and at the restaurant for breakfast, HH Gold and Diamond also get a separate line (or can avoid the queues). Just check your bill carefully there: I found they'd automatically charged me for breakfast and WiFi even though these were covered via HH status, so they had to go through and remove the charges.

While it's not related to upgrades, my wife also still raves about the ramen she had at that hotel, so if you get the chance, I'm sure she'd highly recommend.

Michael Kao

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 06 Nov 2014

Total posts 164

So is it worth to go from Gold to Diamond? I've got my Macquarie HH card which will die in May. I'm trying to meet the $40k spent to achieve diamond. Is it not worth it?

xtfer

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 14 Mar 2017

Total posts 159

Three stays since hitting Diamond. Was advised I had a better room on all three occasions, however I honestly couldn't tell the difference. I find the other benefits more useful (lounge etc).

sim86on

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 08 May 2014

Total posts 48

Some time in 2018 (or maybe 2017) I had a back and forth email convo with the General Manager of Hilton Sydney (or most likely one of his staffers) on this exact topic and my frustrations with it.


He mentioned that they do hold some rooms at most room-type-levels at Hilton Sydney to allow for upgrades for Diamonds and where possible Golds. When I was gold, I never got a single upgrade at Sydney over maybe 6 stays.
As a Diamond, I'm 1 for 1 in Sydney. Got upgraded from a standard room to an Exec floor room and couldn't give me a junior suite because they were 100% booked. They offered a further upgrade to a King Suite for a heavily heavily reduced rate (which I didn't take).

Elsewhere around the world, I've found the word 'upgrade' varies greatly between Hilton Group properties. In Las Vegas, the 'upgrade' (as a HH Gold) was from the crappier tower at the back of the resort to the to the better tower at the front of the resort that was a shorter walk.

Ross

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 May 2014

Total posts 83

In 12 years of Diamond I have been upgraded once, yes once....

I find the lounge benefit worth much more than the upgrade however.

Nichokiu

Member since 13 Apr 2018

Total posts 26

Anyone have experiences as a Marriott Platinum? Do they give better upgrades than Hilton? Reading this post and experiences sounds like Hilton is very cheapskate at giving out upgrades..

moa999

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 02 Jul 2011

Total posts 834

It's always very hotel and room dependent.


If you book the cheapest normal room, there are often many levels of upgrade (Plus, Deluxe, City, Executive etc) that are effectively the same room just with difference in higher floor, slightly better view etc.

But the lounge benefit is worth it at the right hotels.


GB18

Member since 24 Oct 2018

Total posts 16

I receive “upgrades” I’d say 80% of the time normally it’s from the most basic room to an executive room and as a diamond I already get the exec lounge regardless although have gone from basic to suite a few times in North America.


The 20% where I don’t receive an upgrade is usually when I book a more expensive room such as a suite in the first place or extremely popular holiday spots such as Whistler where I also imagine there are many travellers with status.

rob01

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 10 Nov 2011

Total posts 110

I think it's the definiton of 'upgrade' that gets tricky here, hotels have so many room types now that you get 'upgraded' to the next room tier which is just the same room on a slightly higher floor, or a room with a few extra sqm, rather than a completely different room category. That being said, if I've booked a cheap room (as a Hilton Diamond) and still get lounge access I think that's very good value. I did once get upgraded at the Conrad Bali into a suite that was larger than my apartment here at home which was quite amazing!

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