Hilton Honors Diamond 48 Hour Guarantee

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront

Hilton Honors Diamond 48 Hour Guarantee

Have you ever tried to book a hotel stay, but the property was completely sold out? Maybe that property was one that you really wanted to stay at, or it worked out perfectly with your itinerary. The latter was the case for Natalie and I this past weekend when we were able to secure a room at a completely booked property on our way home from a wedding in Jacksonville, Florida. Until this weekend, I had thankfully never been confronted by this roadblock and never truly value the Hilton Honors Diamond Status 48 Hour Guarantee. To be quite honest, I had totally forgotten about this convenient benefit until I was met with the following somber message while trying to book the stay: "Sorry, we don't have any rooms available for those dates". No rooms available? It wasn't Super Bowl weekend, or New Years Eve, but upon check in we realized why the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront was completely booked. Yes you read correctly, we secured a room at a completely booked hotel, thanks to the Hilton Honors Diamond Status 48 Hour Guarantee. In this article I will explain exactly what the Hilton Honors 48 Hour Guarantee is and how you can quickly and easily get Hilton Honors Diamond Status to unlock this valuable benefit!  

“Sorry, we don't have any rooms available for those dates”

What is the Hilton Honors 48 Hour Guarantee?

As a top tier Hilton Honors Diamond Elite member, your reservations will be guaranteed as long as you book a paid reservation within 48 hours prior to your intended arrival. For instance, we were driving from Jacksonville to Miami, Florida, and we needed a stopover night in the Cocoa Beach area to visit family. For reasons we found out later, to our dismay the beachfront hotel's were fully booked. Luckily, we were booking this about two weeks ahead of time and I realized thanks to my Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and it's complimentary Diamond Status, I would be able to lock in this night at my desired Hilton property. Sure enough, prior to logging into my Hilton Honors account on my desktop, the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront was full, but once I logged in, I was able to book a standard room immediately with my 48 Hour Guarantee benefit.

Does a 48 Hour Guaranteed Room Cost More?

As I was about to book the stay, I wondered if I was paying more than I should for the room. To be honest we needed to book it regardless so as long as it wasn't astronomical it was going to happen. I checked weekend rates during the next several weekends, and after taxes and fees, I was only paying about $10 more. This could have been simply due to our short time period between booking and staying though. Per Hilton's terms, the 48 hour guarantee does not impact the rate, and the reservations made under the guarantee will be subject to the hotel's prevailing rate for the accommodation requested.

How to get the 48 Hour Guarantee Benefit?

To gain access to the 48 Hours Guarantee benefit you have to be a Hilton Honors Diamond Elite member. Don't worry this is probably the easiest and cheapest top tier status you can get in the hotel industry. There are several ways to earn Hilton Honors Diamond Elite status. To earn Hilton Honors Diamond Status members must complete 30 stays or 60 nights, or earn 120,00 base points in a calendar year, which equates to $12,000 in spend at Hilton properties. You can also gain Hilton Honors Diamond Status if you spend $40,000 in a calendar year on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass or Hilton Honors American Express Business Card. If you don't want to stay 60 nights or spend $40,000 all you need to do to get Hilton Honors Diamond Elite Status is get approved for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. The Aspire Card grants you complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Elite Status. The Aspire card comes with a $450 annual fee, but this fee is offset easily with an annual free weekend night certificate, $250 Hilton Credit, and $250 Airline Credit. Also, you will be earning 34x Hilton Honors points per dollar spent at Hilton properties. If you visit at least one Hilton a year, even if it's your annual free night, this card is a must have. It should be noted that our stay at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront was only $9 after the $250 Hilton credit from the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, and came with four free drink vouchers and a free breakfast buffet for two thanks to the Aspire’s complementary Diamond Status.

How do you get a hotel room if they are all booked?

Upon arrival to the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront the parking lot was packed! It really did appear that all 295 rooms were occupied. As we were checking in I asked why the hotel was completely full and received a pretty unexpected answer. Cocoa Beach is just south of Cape Canaveral, and SpaceX was about to launch a Falcon 9 Crew Dragon abort mission the very next morning. Natalie and I were totally ecstatic. This made total sense, everyone was here for front row seats beach side for the launch.

So how did we get a room when the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront was full occupancy? Per Hilton, if no rooms are available they will actually “walk” out a customer and give you their room. Generally guests that do not pre-pay and/or book with a third party agency are the most likely be walked out. The pecking order to be walked out is pretty self explanatory. In order, Hilton Honors Diamond members are least likely to be walked out, next are pre-paid customers even from third party booking agencies, then Gold status customers, Silver status customers, basic Hilton Honors members with no status, non-members and finally our 3rd party non-prepaid customers. This list really shows the value in having status. Luckily for those that get walked out, Hilton will pay for their accommodations at a nearby property that has vacancies which could be a huge win for customers who are essentially getting served with an eviction.

Does the Hilton Honors Diamond 48 Hour Guarantee work with points or free nights?

Sorry points people, this 48 hour guarantee does not work with points redemptions, or free night stays. Generally free night stays come from Hilton Honor's co-branded cards such as the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, or can be issued by Hilton for various issues or reasons.

Final Point

The Hilton Honors Diamond Status 48 Hour Guarantee is certainly a lesser known and likely lesser used benefit that actually has a good amount of value. Like most perks, if you don't use it you won't get value out of it. It is nice to have the peace of mind knowing you can book any Hilton hotel within 48 hours of needing a room, as long as you are a Hilton Honors Diamond Status member. If you have ever taken advantage of the Hilton Honors 48 Hour Guarantee comment down below, direct messaging us on our Instagram or messaging us on Facebook telling us about your experience! We love to hear from our readers stories!