Hilton has announced yesterday, that there will be changes regarding the Gold & Diamond benefits in the USA. From July until the end of 2021, guests will receive a daily food & beverages credit instead of the free continental breakfast – however only in the USA.
According to OMAAT, the credit will be handed out per person and be of this amount (not yet officially confirmed by Hilton!):
- US$25 (~€23) at luxury brands, incl. Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and LXR
- US$12 (~€11) or US$15 (~€14) at full service brands, incl. Hilton Hotels & Resorts (depending on the location)
- US$12 (~€11) or US$15 (~€14) at lifestyle brands, incl. Canopy and more (depending on the location)
- US$10 (~€9) at Hilton Garden Inn
At many Hilton hotels, giving credit for the breakfast was currently being done anyways. However, you won’t be able to buy much with the mentioned amounts. I once got US$30 (~€28) breakfast credit at the Conrad Chicago, which sadly didn’t cover an à la carte breakfast including coffee and orange juice – that cost US$40 (~€38). Not to mention that at Hiltons in Asia you get huge buffets. Those fantastic breakfasts with a wide variety of warm and cold food are something that you never got in the USA anyways.
An upside to this change is that this daily food & beverage credit doesn’t necessarily have to be used for breakfast. This is good news for guests who aren’t big breakfast fans and would rather use that credit for room service in the evening or to get a drink at the bar.
Conclusion
In practice, this isn’t a big change. Gold & Diamond members never got great benefits in the USA anyways. The main reason for this is that you can get the status very easily through credit cards there and that they thus have an inflationary high amount of status members. For people who don’t value breakfast much and prefer to use that credit later in the day, this may even be a positive change.
Source: OMAAT & LoyaltyLobby – Thanks!