I am not on the road often, how do I get Hotel Elite by doing Match and challenge?

If you are not on the road often, most likely it’s hard for you to gain Hotel Elite status. I am not the person on the road often, however, I got some Elite status by doing two things, Match and Challenge.

1. Why Elite?

Before we get into detail of how to gain Elite, let us take a look at an example benefits of Hyatt Elite Diamond. Below are a few benefits or privileges lured me most.

§  Achieve rewards even faster with a 30% point bonus when choosing points

§  Receive exclusive access to the Regency Club or Grand Club lounge featuring complimentary continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres. Enjoy daily complimentary full breakfast in hotels without a club lounge

§  Treat yourself to a suite upgrade at the time of reservation four times annually on paid room nights

§  Stay connected with complimentary in-room Internet access

§  Expedite check-in at a dedicated area for elite members

§  Ensure a room is always available with our 48-hour guarantee

§  Extend your stay until 4:00 p.m. with a late check out request

And you are right, more points, free Internet/breakfast and upgrade to suite. There are quite a lot of credit cards to get you instant elite status as long as you hold the card, such as Citi/AMEX Hilton, Chase Priority Club card, you can search in Million Mile secret here. Also, I gained my Hilton Gold status by the trick below

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/01/28/free-hilton-gold-status-free-breakfast-internet/

2. Match

Each hotel has different level of Elite, the above example is the top level of Diamond and it is hard to get and match, but you can email the hotel company with your other hotel elite status to see what level they can offer you. Sometimes, it’s a surprise. for example, Club Carson matched me Gold with just an email and I gained 30% more points.
Go to each loyaty program to see the match results and you can search for the forum to see what they have to offer
http://milepoint.com/forums/categories/hotel-programs.17/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotel-programs-389/

3. Challenge

Some hotels, like SPG and Hyatt will not match your elite from other hotels, instead they are willing to do a challenge.
I enrolled Hyatt trial for a 12 nights within 60 days to their top level Diamond and my elite reflected Diamond within 24 hours. I plan to complete the challenge as I do have a 12 nights in Sept in Tokyo, Japan on my radar. However, here is the trick, upon receiving Diamond status, you are entitled for 4 stays suite upgrade, some people can’t complete the challenge but they use this trial Diamond to get their Suite upgrade in that timeframe. I am not a big fan “abusing” it, but I don’t think Hyatt does care about it anyway.

Call to action

If you like to become elite and enjoy those benefits, you don't have to be on the road quite often, follow the simple steps below

1. Get Hilton Gold above #2
2. email those hotels to match your Hilton Gold by sending them a screen shot
3. complete the challenge if you could if the hotels can't match your Hilton elite. I will consider Mattress Run if it justifies the benefits.