HH Diamond Status - change to T&C - no more Diamond reward force!

In one my earlier posts, I discussed the benefits of being a Diamond member of the HHonors reward scheme.

One of the better benefits of this, was the ability to 'force' the hotel to give you a reward room at 48hrs notice, regardless of availability. Well, its turns out that this benefit was a bit too good since in the T&C update of 19th July http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/terms.do they have now removed this benefit.

"Guaranteed reservations availability, subject to the restrictions stated herein, at hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio when paid reservations are made before midnight hotel local time, two or more days (48 hours) prior to intended arrival. RESTRICTIONS: This guarantee does not apply to reservations paid for in part or in full by HHonors points, free night certificates issued by Hilton Worldwide."

This is a very annoying development and removes one of the big advantages that Diamond had over Gold. You're basically now left with a small points bonus and guaranteed Exec lounge status. To me, particularly if you frequent Hiltons with no Exec lounge, it only seems worth getting to Gold, then taking your business elsewhere to try to achieve status with another chain.

All in all, a bit disappointing.