My first Hilton ‘Diamond Reserve’ stay – what did I get?
Back in November, I flew to Washington to see Hilton’s CEO, Chris Nassetta, and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Weinstein to hear about the launch of the new ‘Diamond Reserve’ elite tier.
This is awarded to anyone who, from 1st January 2026, achieves 80 Elite Qualifying Nights or 40 stays and has $18,000 of pre-tax spending in a calendar year.
We covered the key benefits of Diamond Reserve here, but to summarise they are – on top of standard DIamond benefits – top priority for upgrades, guaranteed 4pm check-out and an annual ‘guarantee your upgrade at the time of booking’ voucher.
Everyone who attended the event in DC was offered a year of Diamond Reserve to try it out. This was processed in early March. My first piece of analysis, looking at what you get as your ‘guaranteed annual upgrade’ is here.
I said that I’d do a further article after I’d completed my first stay as a Diamond Reserve member. I was already due to attend Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg last week and swapped my hotel to the new Conrad Hamburg.
Let’s see what happened. HfP was at the Conrad Hamburg launch party last September and reviewed the hotel in detail so I won’t cover any of that ground again.
Room upgrade? Yes, great result
I was wary about getting a room upgrade. Not only was the Conrad sold out for the nights I was there, but it was sold out with senior executives from the aviation industry. I have no doubt a large percentage had Hilton Honors Diamond status.
I needn’t have worried. Due to crazy cash pricing, I had used 150,000 Hilton Honors points to book two nights in a base room, the lowest category available.
A week before arrival, the Hilton app showed that I had been upgraded to a King One Bedroom Suite and this is what I received on arrival.
Extra benefits? Yes
I have a unique data point here. Literally a week before I checked in, my wife was at Conrad Hamburg – in a suite which we booked for cash (Hamburg is cheap most of the time) – on a family visit. I could compare what she got with what I got.
A check-in drink
When I checked in, someone came out from the office next door and asked if I wanted a welcome drink. I was offered a Negroni or a Pisco Sour. I said the latter and it had appeared before I’d finished the formalities. This must have looked a bit odd to those in the queue behind me!
I was walked up to my suite by a member of the team, carrying my Pisco Sour.
My wife did not get a welcome drink and does not remember being asked if she wanted walking to her suite (she stayed here about 20 times when it was a Park Hyatt, she knows her way around so would have refused anyway!) This may have been a special welcome for me as a Diamond Reserve member.
A €30 F&B credit
At check-in, I was also told that I would get a €30 F&B credit as a Diamond Reserve member. This was intriguing – are hotels being encouraged to offer this, even though it is not a published benefit, or is it a one-off from Conrad Hamburg? As it turned out, I spent nothing in the hotel because I had breakfast and lounge access included and was otherwise at Aircraft Interiors Expo.
In-room amenities
In the room, I received (three of the four are visible in the top photo above!):
- a plate of macarons
- two plates of chocolates by the bed
- a large bowl of fresh fruit
- a bottle of sparkling ‘stuff’ (see below!)
My wife had received everything except the macarons on her (Gold member) suite stay the previous week. This ties in with the card below which was placed next to the macarons and implies they were an extra gift:
Other benefits
I was called by reception and asked if I wanted turndown. My wife did not receive this the previous week on any of the three nights she was there, which is odd for a Conrad and even odder for a suite guest. Looking at Flyertalk reports, it seems that turndown is rarely available here. It looks like my Diamond Reserve status did trigger it.
There was one interesting feature I can’t explain. My wife got a bottle of red wine the previous week as a Gold. I was given a bottle of sparkling 0.0% alcohol wine. This seems an odd choice as a welcome gift. I have never knowingly ordered or even drunk any 0.0% alcohol wine or beer at a Hilton property so it won’t be on my file.
The next day I was in my room when the cleaners came. We talked about the 0.0% wine and the cleaner was surprised to see it. She removed the opened bottle from the room (I thought I’d try it regardless), called someone and 10 minutes later I had Guest Relations on the phone asking me what I wanted instead. A €25 (at High Street retail) bottle of alcoholic sparkling wine duly appeared!
I received free breakfast but this is given to Gold and Diamond members too.
I received executive lounge access but this is given to Diamond members too and, irrespective, would have been included with my suite.
4pm check-out? Yes, not an issue
At reception, my key had been coded before I could say that I would like the 4pm guaranteed check-out because I had a late flight back.
Not a problem, I was told – it had already been coded into the key and my room blocked out. On the way up in the lift I was told I could have later than 4pm if needed, but this wasn’t necessary.
Conclusion
You can’t draw a lot of conclusions from this, of course, because:
- it’s just one stay, and
- I will have been one of the first few Diamond Reserve members that the hotel has had
However, I can say the 4pm check-out was granted without me needing to mention it, and the upgrade was very good and notified in advance via the Hilton app. The €30 F&B credit was an intriguing extra unpublished benefit.
The jury is out on whether it is worth moving 80 nights or 40 stays, and $18,000 of pre-tax spending, to Hilton to earn Diamond Reserve. Most people will need far more than 80 nights to hit $18,000, of course.
Hilton is estimating that only around 50,000 people globally will make it. Based on this ‘sample of one’ stay you will be well treated if you do.
I intend to do one more article in this series later in the year, when I get around to using my ‘guaranteed at the time of booking’ upgrade. At the moment I genuinely have no idea where that stay will be.