This is the third installment in our series about the different Hilton Honors status levels. You can check out the other guides here:
If you’re planning on staying at any of their brands, Hilton Honors Gold status is well worth having. It provides some great benefits and there are many different ways to become a Gold member.
Gold status includes all the benefits you receive as a Silver member, along with several others. Here’s a guide to those additional benefits and all the ways to earn this status.
Important Note: You’ll only receive these benefits when you book a hotel stay directly with Hilton, either on their website, mobile app or by phone. If you book a stay using an OTA (Online Travel Agency) like Expedia, you’re not eligible to receive any of these benefits.
Hilton Honors Gold Status Benefits
1) 25% Bonus On Base Points
You earn 10 Hilton Honors base points per dollar at nearly all their hotels. Being a Gold member means you earn an extra 2.5 points per dollar spent.
2) MyWay Hotel Benefits
You’ll also receive additional benefits based on which Hilton brand hotel you’re staying at. Any brands offering room upgrades are subject to availability.
Some of these brands provide a choice between two specific benefits. Once you have Gold status, log in to your Hilton Honors account, go to your profile and select ‘MyWay Hotel Benefits.’ You’ll then be able to select your preferences at each of the brands (where applicable).
Waldorf Astoria
- Room upgrade
- Complimentary continental breakfast for you and a guest every day of your stay OR 1,000 bonus points per stay
Conrad, Curio, Hilton, DoubleTree and Tapestry Collection
- Room upgrade
- Complimentary continental breakfast for you and a guest every day of your stay OR 1,000 bonus points per stay
Canopy
- Room upgrade
- 500 bonus points per stay
Embassy Suites
- Two snacks / refreshments per stay OR 500 bonus points per stay
Hilton Garden Inn
- Complimentary hot cooked-to-order breakfast for you and a guest every day of your stay OR 750 bonus points per stay
Hampton
- One snack or non-alcoholic beverage OR 250 bonus points per stay
Tru
- Snack and two bottles of water per stay OR 250 bonus points per stay
Homewood Suites
- Sweet snack and two bottles of water per stay OR 250 bonus points per stay
Home2 Suites
- Snack and bottle of water per stay OR 100 bonus points per stay
Hilton Grand Vacations
- 1,000 bonus points per stay
These benefits are in addition to the benefits you receive with Silver status:
- Earn Points & Points or Points & Miles
- Guaranteed discount
- Complimentary internet access
- Late check-out
- Digital check-in
- Express check-out
- Second guest stays free
- Quick reservations and check-in
- 5th night free
- 15% bonus on base points (superseded by 25% bonus on base points)
- Two complimentary bottles of water
How To Get Hilton Honors Gold Status
There are many different ways that you can earn Gold status:
1) 20 Stays In A Calendar Year
A stay is classed as “the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, whether or not a guest checks out and checks back in again.” That means you can’t book twenty consecutive one-night stays at the same hotel and check in and out each day.
The stay can be either paid stays or reward stays using points.
2) 40 Nights In A Calendar Year
This is based on the total number of nights you spend in Hilton brands rather than the number of stays. It can be done during one stay of forty nights or two stays of twenty nights or eight stays of five nights, etc.
These nights can be either paid nights or reward nights using points.
3) 75,000 Hilton Honors Base Points In A Calendar Year
You earn 10 base points per dollar spent at most of their hotels (only 5 base points per dollar spent at Home2 Suites and Tru). That means you’d need to spend $7,500 at most of their hotels in order to earn the 75,000 base points.
4) Hilton Honors Surpass American Express Credit Card
The Surpass card automatically comes with Hilton Honors Gold status. It’s therefore a great way to earn this status without having to spend a cent at one of their hotels.
This credit card does have an annual fee (currently $75). If you’re planning on staying at one of the brands that offers complimentary breakfast as a Gold member benefit, you could easily save more than $75 if you were planning on paying for breakfast at the hotel.
5) Citi Hilton Honors Reserve Credit Card
There’s a second Hilton credit card that comes with Gold status – the Reserve card issued by Citi. This card has an annual fee as well (currently $95), but again – it could be worth the fee if you’d be spending more than that on breakfast.
For example, many Hilton hotels charge at least $12 per person for breakfast. If two of you were staying at one of those hotels, you’d only need to stay four nights in order to be saving money by having this credit card compared to paying for breakfast.
6) Status Match
If you have status with any other hotel chains, Hilton sometimes offer to match your status. The availability and terms of the status match change throughout the year, but check this official Hilton site to see what the current offer is.
7) American Express Platinum Credit Card (Business And Personal)
One of the benefits that comes with the Platinum credit card by American Express is Gold status in the Hilton Honors scheme.
The card comes with a high annual fee – $450 for the business version of the card and $550 for the personal version. Needless to say, you shouldn’t get this card solely for the Gold status, but it’s a great benefit if you were getting the card anyway.
8) FoundersCard
FoundersCard is a membership network that provides discounts and perks with many companies, from travel to lifestyle to business services.
One of the current benefits is Hilton Honors Gold status. Be aware though that membership of FoundersCard is $395 per year. It’s therefore not worth getting just to have status with Hilton, but might be worthwhile if you can take advantage of some of the other benefits.
If it’s something you’re interested in, be sure to do a Google search for FoundersCard. They have a referral scheme where you might be able to get a discounted membership fee if you’re referred by an existing member.
Those discounts are time-limited though, so the discount mentioned on a blog post may no longer be available.
9) Hilton Honors American Express Credit Card
This is a different credit card to the Surpass card we mentioned above. This is the no annual fee card that comes with automatic silver status.
One of the benefits of this card is that you earn Gold status when spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year, with the status being valid through to the end of the following calendar year.
10) Citi Hilton Honors Visa Signature Credit Card
I know, this is confusing. American Express have two Hilton Honors credit cards, as do Citi. This particular Citi card is similar to the American Express card listed above as this also has no annual fee and comes with Silver status.
It’s also similar in that you earn Gold status when spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year.
Summary
Hilton Honors Gold status is, in my opinion, one of the best status levels of any hotel chain. It’s easily attainable as you can get it by applying for a credit card that has a $75 annual fee.
Although Gold status doesn’t provide many additional benefits, getting complimentary breakfast at many of their brands has the potential to save you a huge amount of money if you frequently stay at any of those brands.
Next up, we’ll explore Hilton’s top tier status – Diamond.
Question
What are your experiences as a Hilton Honors Gold member? Do you regularly receive room upgrades or any other kind of unpublished benefits? And are there any other ways you know of to get Gold status?
Let us know in the comments below.
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