At the beginning of this year we saw Hilton Honors introduce the new Diamond Reserve tier, which annually requires 80 nights or 40 stays, plus $18,000 in spending. The status comes with all kinds of new perks, including access to “premium” lounges. The idea is that a select number of hotels and brands didn’t offer regular Diamond members access to executive lounges, but Diamond Reserve members do receive access on a complimentary basis.
However, it looks like we’re about to see a new trend, whereby “standard” Hilton hotels claim that their lounges are “premium” as well. I can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s really sad to see the increasing delta between what loyalty programs promise and what they deliver.
In this post:
Most of the lounges you’ll see on there are what you’d expect, at brands (or sometimes just individual hotels) that didn’t previously offer elite members lounge access. This includes select properties belonging to brands like Conrad, LXR, Signia, Waldorf Astoria, etc.
But here’s where it gets interesting — the most recent addition to the premium lounges list is… the Hilton Cleveland Downtown?! This is just a run-of-the-mill Hilton, and historically if a plain Hilton had an executive lounge, it would be accessible by eligible elite members.
How is the hotel getting away with this? Well, I guess it’s calling this newly introduced lounge “The Club at Hilton,” rather than calling it an executive lounge. Actually, the hotel is referring to this as “the first of its kind,” suggesting this could also be coming to more properties going forward.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
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