Over the last week or two, rumours have been circulating about upcoming changes to the Hilton Honors program. The changes are official now, and they include some significant changes. There’s also a couple of perhaps less significant changes.
All up, you could look at the changes as a bit of a mixture. For some people, the changes will be a positive. Other people may see some of the changes as a negative.
That said, the two big changes are a new Diamond Reserve tier, slotting above Diamond, and reduce requirements for Gold and Diamond elite status.
Hilton Honors changes 2026
New Diamond Reserve Elite Tier
First up, there will be a new Diamond Reserve Tier, which will be the new highest tier within the program. As you would expect this has higher requirements to achieve than Diamond. In fact, to achieve this level, you will need to
- have 80 nights or 40 stays in Honors hotels and
- $18,000 USD annual eligible spend:
The and is significant, as you will need to achieve two hurdles. In the other tiers, you can qualify by one of the three hurdles. In addition to the Diamond benefits, Diamond Reserve will offer
- Highest Priority for complimentary upgrades, ahead of other members
- Guaranteed 4PM late check-out
- 120% Bonus Points when staying at hotels (compared to 100% for Diamond)
- Access to “premium” clubs
- Access to a special 24/7 customer service line
On top of that, Diamond Reserve members will have access to “Confirmable Upgrades”. There are potentially two of these upgrades available each year:
- 1x upon achieving Diamond Reserve status
- 1x upon achieving 120 nights (although you can opt to take 30,000 bonus points in its place)
New Lower Elite Status Requirements
From 1 January 2026, Hilton Honors will be reducing the requirements to earn Gold and Silver status. There is also a small change in that they will be using US Dollar Spend, rather than Base Points as one of the metrics. The requirements from 1 January for all the levels will be
Silver Requirements (No Change)
- 10 nights, or
- 4 stays, or
- $US2,500 in annual eligible spend
Gold Requirements from 2026
- 25 nights (down 38% from 40), or
- 15 stays (down 25% from 20), or
- $US6,000 in annual eligible spend (previously equivalent to 75,000 Base Points)
Diamond Requirements from 2026
- 50 nights (down 17% from 60), or
- 25 stays (down 17% from 30), or
- $US11,500 in annual eligible spend (previously equivalent to 120,000 Base Points)
New Diamond Reserve Requirements
- 80 nights or 40 stays, and
- $US18,000 in spending
The main takeaway from that, is that it will be easier to earn Gold or Diamond status. Or, in my case, to get back to Diamond.
Other Changes
There are a few other small changes that may, or may not, affect you.
The End or Rollover Nights
This year will be the last in which you can rollover elite nights into the next year. Basically, this allowed you to rollover any excess night about the requirements for your status tier into the next year. I guess with the reduced tier requirements, this was no longer thought worthwhile.
Milestone Bonuses
Members will now earn milestone bonuses all the way up to 180 nights in a year. This is actually a reduction from the current situation where the bonus continues all the way up to 360 nights.
This could give you up to 210,000 extra points a year. Which seems an odd piece of arithmetic, given its 10,000 points for every ten nights. The additional points come from the ability to choose a 30,000 point bonus after 120 nights.
Spend Based Earnings
In the scheme things, this is probably a simpler way to go. As mentioned previously, instead of counting base points, Hilton will count annual spend (in US$). This may make things a bit easier to keep track of.
Final Words
So there’s the changes in a nutshell. I don’t think I am in with a chance at Diamond Reserve, but perhaps getting (back) to Diamond has become that little bit easier. That said, i expect there will be winners and losers.
Winners will obviously include anyone that can get to Diamond Reserve. It offers several benefits over and above Diamond. On the other hand, it remains to be seen how this will affect Gold and Diamond numbers, and what they may do to ability of hotels to deliver the promised benefits.
