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.
Hilton Cleveland Downtown claims it has a “premium” lounge
Hilton publishes a page where it lists its premium lounges, which are lounges that Diamond Reserve members get access to, but other elite tiers don’t get access to (though of course you can always pay for access).
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.
The Club at Hilton is described as offering “elevated dining, thoughtful design, curated mixology, and personalized concierge service.” When you go to the hotel’s website, it mentions “all-day, chef-crafted dining plus beverages including full bar and coffee service,” and “standout cocktails featuring Hiltons renowned mixology with a local twist, including zero proof options.”
To be fair, if alcoholic drinks are actually included, that does represent a significant step up over the old setup. Furthermore, if there’s actually food all day (beyond packaged snacks midday), that’s also a big improvement.
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Is this within Hilton Honors’ terms & conditions?
Can standard Hilton hotels simply choose whether their lounges are considered premium or not, for the purposes of elite member access? Here are the relevant terms:
Executive Lounge Access – Diamond Elite Tier Status will receive complimentary access for the Member and up to one (1) additional registered guest to Executive Lounges, even if you do not receive a room upgrade, (excluding executive suites, villas, specialty accommodations / floors / towers, and “Club” accommodation types, such as but not limited to the Sakura Club at Conrad Washington, DC, Club Signia at Signia by Hilton hotels, Citrus Club at the Arizona Biltmore, the Enclave and Club Category rooms at All-Inclusive resorts, unless the initial booking was also an Enclave-level accommodation), at hotels with Executive Lounges. Members with complimentary access to an Executive Lounge that provides complimentary breakfast seven days a week are not eligible for the daily Food & Beverage Credit.
As you can see, some specific properties are named, but that list isn’t exhaustive. The key here seems to be that any hotel can have a premium lounge by claiming that it’s not an “executive lounge,” but instead, a “club accommodation type.”
And that also explains the Hilton Cleveland Downtown situation — it’s not an executive lounge, it’s The Club at Hilton… you see, it’s a special accommodation type!
I’m not surprised that we’ve gotten to this point
Obviously I find this development to be incredibly frustrating, and I suspect that this will be the first of many “standard” executive lounges to be rebranded as “clubs.”
However, I totally see how we got here:
- Hilton centrally has been massively profiting off of its loyalty program by minting Diamond status, and it’s up to hotel owners to provide most of the benefits associated with that status; it went from a reward for loyalty, to something that you can get for simply holding onto a credit card
- Hotel owners got fed up with the costs associated with operating money-losing lounges (both in terms of the direct cost of operating them, plus the lost food & beverage revenue), so around the start of the pandemic, we saw so many hotels permanently shutter their lounges
- For that matter, executive lounges at hotels in the United States got so bad anyway, to the point that it’s not like they generated much goodwill
- Now hotels see an opportunity to once again make lounges profitable (or at least less unprofitable), by only restricting it to the very top tier elite members, and hopefully selling some rooms as well
I recently covered the frustration that many Marriott hotel owners have at the moment, where they feel like they’re being screwed over by the Bonvoy program. The truth is that I think this is something that all the major hotel groups will increasingly be dealing with.
The biggest hotel groups are publicly traded, and investors always demand more profits. There’s not that much appetite for new hotel developments, and that means loyalty programs are one way they see a lot of growth, even if it’s not in the best interest of hotel owners (along with adding more hotels through conversions, by relaxing brand standards).
I’m of course not happy to see this change, but at least for those who do have lounge access, maybe we’ll finally slowly start to see standards improve again?
Bottom line
Hilton has long had some lounges that Hilton Honors elite members haven’t received access to. With the recent introduction of the Diamond Reserve tier, we’re seeing Hilton create a list of “premium” lounges, which only Diamond Reserve members get complimentary access to.
That’s fair enough for properties that previously didn’t offer elite members lounge access. However, I think we’re about to see the start of a new trend, as the Hilton Cleveland Downtown is opening The Club at Hilton, which is not an executive lounge… or so they claim. Therefore it’s open to Diamond Reserve members, but not to other elite members.
I can’t say I’m surprised to see this, given how many hotels have shuttered club lounges, given how the landscape has changed. I have to imagine that this is the first of many properties we’ll see with such a concept.
What do you make of the Hilton executive lounge “club” loophole?