Status

I'm done traveling for 2025. My last night in a hotel was a couple of nights ago (for work). So in a completely non sequitur way, it's confession time. Why? Because it is. And it's also not the first time it's been confession time on this blog by any means but here goes another one: I'm a little bit fascinated or obsessed or whatever you want to call it with attaining status in travel rewards programs. 

There...I said it.

Now, if you know me at all, I know what you are probably thinking. It's the free stuff.

And you are totally right. It IS the free stuff. I'm not ashamed. I love getting stuff for free. I'll take anything remotely useful for free. And if it's travel-related, whether it's free hotels or flights or access to lounges or other sorts of perks, I'm all over it. I LOVE free stuff. Nothing better. I'm a moocher through and through. I mean, who isn't in love with free stuff?

There is some irony here, because in all my years of serious traveling and despite all the stuff I've gotten for free, I have rarely achieved any sort of status in any sort of travel rewards program. In 2016, if I'm remembering right, I stayed at enough Best Western properties to get either Platinum or Diamond status (can't remember which) and it got me pretty much nothing except some bonus points on future stays. Not that I'm against bonus points. These things all add up and some programs have 100% bonus points at some status levels.

Grand Hyatt Tokyo. Nice hotel. Very nice when it's free with lounge access.

The last three years (2022 through 2024) before this one were a little different. Based on my credit card spend in the years 2021 through 2023, I managed to get Hilton Diamond status. And I have to say the perks are wonderful. Room upgrades, lounge access, free food, express check-in and a custom baked birthday cake (thank you, Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik) made our travels easier, cheaper, more convenient and in the case of the birthday cake, more everything. And...100% bonus points on stays!!!

But all that other time I've spent focusing on traveling the last 12-1/2 years? I got nothing. All these years of traveling and all I have is a bit of status from two hotel chains for four years and I got the best part of that from using a credit card.

That all changed last year. Or maybe it's this year.

All that traveling for work that I sort of disliked and ranted about last year? Got me some status. Some hotel status. Some train status. Some airline status. Not all of these are the top tier but I got something from three different travel rewards programs. So what did it do for me? Well...read on.

Amtrak Select

What It Is: Select is Amtrak's first tier of actual earned status. Below Select is simply Member, which is free and conferred on anyone who signs up. I break down the Select member benefits this way: (1) a 25% bonus on points earned by traveling on Amtrak; (2) some coupons (two each one-way upgrades and 10% off); and (3) two single-visit lounge passes. Full disclosure, if you achieve Select status for the first time in a calendar year, it looks like you get the coupons and passes twice, once in the year you earn status and once at the beginning of the next calendar year.

What It's Done For Me: 

More points? Love them. As I said before, these all add up. The more you earn, the more stuff you can redeem them for. And Amtrak's points are actually really redeemable pretty easily for free trips. Coupons? I haven't used the discount coupons but I did (on this last trip) use an upgrade coupon to kick me from Acela Business Class to Acela First Class. I have to say...Acela First Class is pretty darned nice. Best food I've had on any form of transportation I've been on this year. The only thing that could make that experience better would be a smooth ride but that's not really that possible in the United States on rail. Oh well! Can't have everything I guess. 

I have also used some of the lounge passes. I have managed to visit the Metropolitan Lounge in New York's Moynihan Train Hall twice. The food is decent but not amazing or anything. Both times we've visited have been in the late morning so we've had a late breakfast or early lunch (or maybe both). I love lounges. They are far better waiting spaces than anywhere else in Moynihan and like all good lounges, it comes with free grub (although not free booze).

The Metropolitan Lounge also has one perk that most lounges skip: its balcony overlooks the main passenger hall of the Moynihan Train Hall. It's a calmer view of what is sometimes a chaotic experience down on the floor. I appreciate lounges with great views and so few lounges have them (I love the old lounge overlooking the runway in the original Washington National terminal). They are usually squirreled away in some interior space and then they sometimes make them even worse by sticking them in the basement. You don't get that with Amtrak in New York.

United Silver

What It Is: Like Amtrak Select, Silver is United's first tier of actual earned status. I break down United's Silver benefits this way: (1) a 40% bonus on points earned by traveling on United; Group 2 boarding; (3) upgraded seating (for free) at ticket purchase and check-in; (4) a free checked bag in economy; and (5) space-available upgrades. This last one is pretty much the holy grail of airline status benefits.

What It's Done For Me:

More points? Again, I'm good with more points, even if it's going to take a long, long, long time to accumulate points to get me anything free on an airline. Still, if I'm going to save up for a long time, adding 40% to each deposit helps. Maybe sometime in 2027, I can actually get a free flight.

Group 2 boarding? I do love this benefit. You can get this benefit with some United co-branded credit cards but I don't have one of those right now. Better seats at purchase and / or check-in? I also love these benefits although I resent loving this. Seats on planes are getting ever smaller so we can squeeze like an extra half-row in somewhere. This is just giving us back some of the space that they took away. Still, I'll take those two extra inches for free rather than paying $49 or $79 or whatever it costs these days. Checked bag? Can't remember the last time I checked, but I do need the Group 2 to get early access to that overhead bin.

So that leaves the space-available upgrade. As a reminder, this is the holy grail of airline status. You get to show up with an economy ticket and be magically upgraded to business or first class. Since I've had Silver status, I've taken flights to Boston (three times there and twice home), Tokyo, Calgary and South Africa and I have not even come close to getting this benefit. Am I taking the wrong flights? Maybe. Expecting too much? Probably. For perspective here, I checked the upgrade board at the gate on a June flight from Dulles Airport to Boston's Logan Airport and there were 22 people (which may be more than one upgrade each) on the board and I wasn't on it. For a flight that had maybe 24 or 28 first class seats. Upgrade? Forget about it. No holy grail for me. 

Hyatt Globalist

What It Is: Unlike Amtrak Select and United Silver, Globalist is Hyatt's top tier of status. I really worked hard (staying at hotels primarily for work) to get this and I only just made it in December 2024. I break down Hyatt's Globalist benefits this way: (1) a 30% bonus on points earned on stays at Hyatt properties; (2) eligibility for upgrades, including to suites; (3) access to Hyatt Lounges, although those are only at Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency properties; and (4) milestone rewards along the way.

What It's Done For Me: 

Like Amtrak's extra points and United's extra points, more points are always welcome. If there's a complaint here, Hyatt's top tier bonus is less than United's first tier bonus for actual status. Hilton (if you didn't pick it up earlier) gives their top status 100% bonus. 100% > 30%.

Upgrades are nice, but I have to say that in the entirety of run this year with Globalist status, I don't think I've gotten a single upgrade. This is not a comparison to other hotel rewards programs but I find Hilton and IHG are much more forthcoming with upgrades based on status.

So that leaves lounge access and milestone rewards. Here's where Hyatt pays off, especially with the milestone rewards.

Lounges in hotels can be anything from questionably beneficial to real added value in a hotel stay. We don't stay at Grands and Regencys (the only Hyatt properties with lounges, in case that was missed earlier in the post) much but we did three times this year. The lounge at the Regency in Calgary was forgettable, although that may have been because they diluted the experience somewhat because the Stampede was in town and they allowed the actual lounge space to be used as something else for the event.

The Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and the Regency in Cape Town were very, very value added. The Grand in Tokyo had just a spectacular buffet breakfast and lounge access most afternoons. I am sure lounge access here saved us a ton of money on food. Either that or we just grossly overate some meals. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, because I know for sure we overate some breakfasts. OK, all breakfasts. Free breakfasts is a perk of Globalist status but the breakfast in Tokyo was next level. 

Our regency experience in Cape Town was almost as deluxe from a breakfast standpoint but the two hour happy hour every night by the pool was much, much appreciated. It allowed us to kick back in quiet after each day of touring around the Cape and bridge our day to retiring to the room for the night. Plus we got to interact with the hotel staff at happy hour and get some insight into life in South Africa. 

Amtrak Acela First Class meal. The best meal I've had on a train or plane this year.

What I really love about Hyatt's program is their milestone rewards. 

When you earn status in Hilton's rewards program, your first milestone reward happens at 40 nights, when Hilton bonus-es you with 10,000 points (which is about 1/6 of a night in a reasonable brand in a good city). By that time with Hyatt, you could have earned a free night coupon, 9,000 bonus points (about 45% of a night using the parameters above) and a Guest of Honor Award to allow you or a guest to stay as a Globalist in a Hyatt property for up to seven nights or a suite upgrade for a similar stay. At 50 nights with Hyatt, you can add two additional suite upgrades and at 60 you can add two additional Guest of Honor Awards and another free night coupon. That's in addition to 5,000 more points.

This year, we used both our free night coupons, both suite upgrades and gifted a Guest of Honor Award to our friend Bryan so he could get Globalist benefits with us in Cape Town. The suite in the Cape Town Regency was enormous. I swear it was bigger (and much cleaner) that my first condo.

So what does 2026 hold? Well I still have Amtrak Select and United Silver status. I will continue to appreciate the extra points and the lounge in the Moynihan Hall in the train station New York. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage to get enough stays to make it to Globalist with Hyatt. I'm stuck at Explorist and will have to live with the downgraded benefits. 

But I do still have Hilton Diamond status. Hilton extended it as a courtesy for me this year after three years in the program which I very much appreciated. Next year, I had to have it again. I found a way. 

Sometimes when you stay in hotels with status, you get custom-made birthday cakes delivered to your room. Thanks, Hilton Dubrovnik.