Home » Posts tagged 'fast status'
Tag Archives: fast status
IHG 8 Night to Diamond offer is back!
A reader has just messaged me about an offer email that he received from IHG.
IHG brought back is fast track to Diamond offer and you can check if you are eligible here.
- Stay by March 24
- Stay 8 paid nights to get Diamond status
- Status is valid through the end of 2024
Another reader managed to sign up successfully although he didn’t receive the email.
It is almost exactly the same offer as last year. Note that however, according to the email your status will only last till the end of this year, which is unusual. Normally the status you earn (no matter how) is valid for the next calendar year too.
IHG Diamond has some solid benefits including free breakfast and room upgrade, and you should consider this offer even if you are an occasional stayer.
Work for a big company? Enjoy instant Marriott Platinum status and fast track
Marriott’s Platinum status is well sought after, as it comes with handy perks including room upgrade, free breakfast and lounge access. If you work for a large company, you may qualify for a fast track offer that grants you access to such elite status immediately.
The following companies are eligible for the Platinum Challenge:
- Abbvie
- Amazon
- AT&T
- Capital One
- Cisco
- Citigroup
- Douyin
- GE
- Lockheed Martin
- Marsh McLennan
- McKinsey
- PwC
- Samsung
- Boston Consulting
- Toyota
Offer rules are:
- You need a corporate email address to validate
- You can enrol as a new member, or with your existing Member/Silver/Gold account
- A three-month Platinum trial is awarded immediately
- Complete 15 paid nights during the trial to keep your Platinum status
- You can only participate once every three years
The trial terminates at the end of the third following calendar month, so it’s best to enrol at the beginning of a month. For example if you register on February 1st, your challenge lasts until May 31st.
Once you’ve managed the challenge, you will enjoy Platinum benefits through March 2026 which is great. If you (or anyone you know) works for an eligible company, it’s worth considering undertaking the challenge.
Instant Hilton Gold / Diamond for targeted corporate employees
Hilton is, again, running a promotion targeting select corporate partners that offers their employees a chance for instant elite status upgrade and a challenge.
There are quite a few variations:
- Instant Silver, and stay 6 nights by April 29th to upgrade to Gold
- Instant Silver, and stay 6 nights by April 29th to upgrade to Gold or 12 nights to Diamond
- Instant Gold, and stay 6 nights by April 29th to maintain Gold, or 12 nights to upgrade to Diamond
- Instant Diamond, and stay 12 nights by April 29th to maintain Diamond, or 6 nights to maintain Gold
To sign up. you must verify with an eligible corporate email address. If you manage to complete the challenge, your status will be valid through March 2026, which is over two years from now.
There’s a way to check whether your company is eligible. The following URL leads to the promo page for Shell: https://www.hilton.com/en/preferred-rates/shell/
… where you’ll see a blue banner promoting the Diamond offer. Likewise if you replace the “shell” bit in the URL with your company’s name you may see a landing page that shows the same or another offer.
Compared to its last reincarnation, Hilton is much more generous this time as the Diamond match has been extended to a lot more companies, including Amazon, Google, Apple, Oracle, Siemens, Shell, Deloitte, Accenture and Nestle, just to name a few,
It is a good offer especially if you can get the Diamond one. If you aren’t a Hilton member yet, there’s another offer which allows you to earn 3,000 bonus points after staying within six months.
Buy IHG points to maintain your Diamond status
IHG tightened its web this year by closing the Ambassador-Diamond loophole. They have however added a few initiatives, such as double elite qualifying nights to help certain members requalify for their Diamond status faster.
They have now launched a new and quite unique promotion, named Lock in Diamond Status.
If you are targeted you should have received an email. You can also log in here to see if you have an offer. My Diamond status is already through 2024 and I couldn’t even log in on that page.
In short you are invited to buy points – these points are elite qualifying so can help you retain your Diamond status, and they are also redeemable as normal on hotel stays etc.
You can buy increments of 10,000 points. The most prevalent offer looks like this:
- 10,000 points – $300
- 20,000 points – $550
- 50,000 points – $850
- 120,000 points – $1,800
One reader however has got a much cheaper deal:
At the top end, you pay $1,200 for 120,000 points (which usually costs $600), and that guarantees Diamond status for the next year. If you have an IHG credit card you are entitled to 20% discount.
The offer may make sense to some, although I don’t think that many people qualify through points, as 120,000 base points can be quite a lot compared to 70 nights, and the latter also gives you milestone rewards including lounge access.
IHG status challenge: 5 nights to Platinum
IHG brought back its fast track offer for Gold and Platinum status, which may be of interest to some customers.
You can check the offer details and register here. Once registered, you will be elevated to Gold status after 2 paid nights by the end of 2023, or Platinum after 5. The status will be valid through the whole 2024 and potentially the first two months of 2025.
In theory you need to be invited by a sales representative and book using a corporate ID. In the past however, it seems that anyone could register to the offer and get upgraded after regular paid reservations.
Claim free Hertz President’s Circle status
We wrote about an Avis promotion in 2021, in which you can claim an instant upgrade to their President’s Club status courtesy of the Mastercard partnership. There is a similar route for Hertz as well.
There are two offers to join Hertz President’s Circle:
- Strawberry Hotels Platinum members
- American Express holders of select U.S. cards
Just like the Avis offer, there isn’t any eligibility check and you can simply claim the upgrade by signing up using the link. Hertz President’s Circle benefits include free second driver, guaranteed one-level upgrade and 50% bonus points.
Hyatt acquires Mr & Mrs Smith, and remember to claim the free Gold membership
Hyatt made a surprising move yesterday by announcing the acquisition of Mr and Mrs Smith, a hotel booking platform based in London.
I don’t want to get into the very details of the news, and there are already numerous reports on many blogs covering it. Basically more than 1,500 hotels from Mr & Mrs Smith’s global portfolio are to be added to World of Hyatt in Q2, and similar to the SLH hotels they will fit into the existing redemption categories.
It is bad news to IHG and its members though, as once the acquisition is complete the existing tie between IHG and Smith is going to be cut, without a question. That’s a big loss in terms of spending IHG points.
For now however, there is one thing you need to do – we covered a fast track route to claim free GoldSmith membership (usually £400) a couple of years ago, and it still works as of today. GoldSmith isn’t hugely useful, but there’s a chance that Hyatt will offer status match or trial at least to Smith members soon, and it costs nothing to be ready!
IHG’s “Straight to Diamond” offer returns with a catch
Last year IHG initiated a “Straight to Diamond” offer for select corporate clients and made it public by mistake, and many people had signed up to it before the loophole was closed. IHG has brought back the offer now, but is being much more careful this time.
You can check the offer details here. Quite similar to what was offered last time, a member receives a 120-day Diamond trial upon successful enrolment, and they would need to stay 10 nights within 90 days to complete the status challenge.
However, you cannot sign up yourself this time. Only IHG’s sales team, or any full-service hotel in Greater China can enrol you manually. To be eligible, you need to work for a company that is invited by IHG to partake in this promotion.
If you believe you are eligible (e.g. your company has agreements with IHG), especially if you have a recent / upcoming stay with an IHG hotel in Greater China, it’s worth enquiring with the relevant department or the hotel to see if they can register you.