It’s my turn! Nick previously covered his 2026 elite plans here, and Stephen covered his plans here. Interestingly, each predicted that they would not requalify for Hyatt Globalist status this year. My approach is different. Hyatt Globalist status is the only status I’m willing to work for this year. Sure, for fun, I’ll pursue Atmos and IHG status, but I won’t mind too much if I fall short on either. Hyatt’s top-tier status isn’t perfect, but it is the only one that reliably offers excellent value from year to year.
Airlines
AA: Executive Platinum dropping to Gold
I currently have Executive Platinum status, but when the elite earning year ends at the end of February, I expect to have secured only Gold status (unless AA soft-lands me to Platinum or Platinum Pro). In the post “AA vs. Atmos: Which elite status game should I play?” I decided to pursue Atmos status going forward.
Air Canada: 25K Status
I currently have Marriott Titanium status (only through February), which gave me Air Canada 25K Status. I expected to drop down to no status with Air Canada, but Air Canada’s website shows that I have 25K status through the end of 2026. I haven’t had a chance to use this status so far. Maybe I’ll find a good use for it this year. You never know.
Air France / KLM: Gold
As described in my recent post, “My last dance with Bilt Platinum status,” my Bilt Platinum status ends next week, so I went ahead and used a Bilt Platinum benefit that lets you earn Air France/KLM Flying Blue Gold status by transferring 10,000 Bilt points to Flying Blue. Theoretically, I could use this as a leg-up towards Flying Blue Platinum status (which offers better award availability and the option to book first class with points), but I doubt I’ll do so.
Atmos: Gold (?!!), aiming for Platinum
In the post “AA vs. Atmos: Which elite status game should I play?” I decided to pursue Atmos Platinum status. I plan to earn the required Status Points primarily through Atmos Summit card spend and award redemptions.
The mystery here is why I currently have Gold status… In late December, AwardWallet told me that my status had changed from Silver to Gold. I checked my Atmos account and saw that I had only about 22,000 Status Points. That was enough for Silver, but far short of the 40,000 required for Gold. Any theories? To be clear… I’m not complaining!
Delta: Diamond
In the 2023 post “The last, great Delta mileage run,” I explained why I was going to spend like crazy to get my wife to lifetime Platinum status and many years of Diamond status. I followed that up with a post pondering my own great manufactured spending mileage run. I decided to go for it. Using a variety of manufactured spending techniques (where I increased card spend, but got most of the money back), I spent like a madman. The end result was that I secured four years of Diamond status for myself and five or six (I forget) years of Diamond status for my wife. My Diamond status is good through January 31, 2029! After that, I’ll drop to Gold status (which I secured for life as a Delta 1 Million Miler), and a few years later, I’ll move up to Platinum status when I reach 2 Million Miler status. Unless things change drastically, I can’t imagine pursuing Delta elite status in the future, beyond what I’ve already secured.
United: Silver dropping to None
I currently have Marriott Titanium status (only through February), which gave me United Premier Silver status. I expect that when my Marriott status drops, my United status will drop as well. But maybe I’ll get lucky and get another year of status, like what happened with Air Canada. We’ll see.
Hotels
Accor: Gold
On January 1, 2025, Bilt offered a one-day status match to Accor. Since I had Bilt Platinum status, I was able to match to Accor Platinum status. On January 1 of this year, Accor downgraded my status to Gold, but I still have the two Suite Night Upgrades from my Platinum status days, and they appear to be valid through the end of this year.
Hilton: Gold
I’m happy enough with Gold status, which I get from my Amex Platinum card. I don’t have plans to pursue Diamond or, certainly not, Diamond Reserve.
Hyatt: Globalist
This is the elite status I value the most. Globalist status offers great perks, such as free parking on award stays, waived resort fees on all stays, upgrades, free breakfast, lounge access, etc. And, along the way to earning Globalist status, you earn great Milestone Rewards like Guest of Honor certificates and Suite Upgrade Awards.
I nearly ended 2025 short of the 60 nights required for Globalist status, but I made a last-minute push to spend $10K on my Hyatt business card (which resulted in 5 elite-qualifying nights) and $5K on my consumer Hyatt card (which resulted in 2 more elite-qualifying nights). The end result was that I made it! This year, I expect to earn Globalist status again through a combination of real-world stays and credit card spend.
IHG: Diamond dropping to Platinum, aiming for Diamond again
My current IHG Diamond status is about to run out. At that point, I expect to have Platinum status thanks to my IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card. My plan is to spend $40K on this card early this year so that I can secure Diamond status again for the rest of this year and all of the next. As a business owner (Frequent Miler is my business), I pay a lot in quarterly taxes, so it’s pretty easy for me to meet big spend goals like this one (see: How to pay taxes via credit card).
Leading Hotels of the World: Sterling
Amex Platinum cards now offer free Leading Hotels of the World Sterling Status. That doesn’t offer much above base membership, but I’ll take it for free!
Marriott: Titanium dropping to Platinum
I’ve earned Titanium status for several years in a row, but this year I ended with only around 51 qualifying nights. That was way too far from the 75 nights required for Titanium for me to make an end-of-year push to get there. Plus, I haven’t noticed any better treatment for being Titanium vs. Platinum. I have lifetime Platinum status, so going forward, I’ll settle for that unless my regular stays get me close to Titanium again.
Preferred Hotels: Titanium
I “earned” Titanium status a while ago, thanks to a short-term deal that I don’t even remember now. Fortunately, the status seems to have stuck long-term (knock on wood).
Wyndham Diamond
The Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card offers automatic top-tier Diamond status. That, plus the card’s annual 15K points, plus the ability to earn 8x at gas stations and 5x for utilities, makes this a long-term keeper for only $95 per year.
Conclusion
In most cases, I have elite status simply because it was easy to earn: I have the right credit cards, I participated in status matches, etc. In a couple of cases, I plan to spend my way to status (Atmos & IHG), not because it makes sense, but because I’m in a fortunate position where big spend is easy, and I allow myself to make some irrational decisions like these. The only status pursuit that actually affects my behavior (aside from credit card spending) is with Hyatt. When all else is equal, I’ll choose a Hyatt or Mr & Mrs Smith property over others in order to earn more elite qualifying nights. Hyatt Globalist status is the one status that I think I would miss most if I were to lose it.
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Looking forward to reading more about Atmos v AA – hope it works out for you. (Obviously if they just give you status without earning the status points, that works out quite well!).
I just don’t love the partner earning ratio of 3:1 $:status point, but if you can just run spend on their cards, certainly can make sense (even if that is still 2:1 $:status point on the Summit). Math still works better for me with AA Exec / AA Hotels, even with the new 25k LP bonus cap / 25% bonus (versus no cap / 30%).
I recommend adding the Hyatt Regency in Kotor Bay, Montenegro. It is a Category 4 and I redeemed my award night for a $458 stay. It is in a beautiful location, rooms are gorgeous, and Montenegro is a relatively inexpensive location. Also would consider adding the Regency in Sofia, Bulgaria. The value there was only $180-$200 and it is a Category 2. But the hotel itself is fantastic.
For those of us traveling long enough (decades), it’s almost hard not to hit lifetime statuses. We have lifetime Star Alliance Gold as United Million Milers and lifetime Marriott Platinum from 600+ nights. Hilton Lifetime Diamond will also happen automatically, so we only chase Alaska Titanium.
the cost of any spending should be compared to what you would otherwise earn if you maximize the return using any card. For example, if you own the BOA premium rewards + platinum Hhonors, the return of that card is 2.625% in cash return. So the “cost” of spending $100k on Alaska card is not 1.75%*100k, but rather (2.625% – 1.75%)*100k. Also, I don’t see you factored in the annual fee of the Alaska car in the cost of earning the status.
I cannot speak to Hilton experiences in the US. Most of my travel is international, 40ish days abroad a year. I have found that having Hilton Diamond via the Aspire has gotten me tremendous value. I am upgraded 80% of the time, for example I was upgraded to a suite at the Conrad Dublin last November. Is Hyatt Globalist as good/better abroad? Or is the benefit more noticeable in the US? (I have booked two trips abroad for 2026 already. 10 days worth of Hyatt’s so far.)
Delta Diamond and Hyatt Globalist seem most worthwhile. Might as well ditch the rest.
Diamond provides outsized value with the 4 GUCs, $700 credit card reimbursement, and 4 RUCs along the way. While the likelihood of complimentary upgrades is greater, it’s not to be relied upon. If you can get the 4x MQD Headstart with the 4 premium Amex Delta cards (personal and business DL Platinum and DL Reserve), you should be able to pull this off with regular spend and a few international trips, carefully credited to Delta. Best of luck!
Which do you see securing for yourself?
I got alaska gold too in dec. Anyone know why? I have their preimum credit card.
I was given 1500 Atmos points in December, for no reason i can figure out (it was marked as “Special marketing”).
If you’re willing to spend $40K to get IHG Diamond I’m curious why not just buy it via the points offer? I got your reasoning in the podcast but it still seems a little puzzling. I feel like the opportunity cost of $40K spend on an IHG card is higher than the “cost” of buying IHG points, even though you say you have a ton. They’re still worth around half a cent each so the net cost seems pretty low for free breakfast and upgrades. Admittedly I’m not even sure it was worth it for me but I’ve had a few very nice breakfasts and upgrades due to IHG status over the years… much less nice than Globalist, but to me worth the cost of the points to get it again.
Great question. My initial reasoning was that this approach gives me 2 years of Diamond status vs. one year with the buy points deal. But I forgot that there was a trick with the buy points deal to make it last for 2 years: wait until late in the day on Dec 31 (wait until it is Jan 1 in England), then pull the trigger. If I remembered that, I would have done that.
The two options are very similar in cost:
IHG Offer: Buy 120K points for $800
Credit card tax spend: Buy 120K points for $626 (Pay $39,275 in taxes. 1.85% fee = $726 minus $100 statement credit for spending $20K)
The credit card spend option is cheaper, but not by a lot, whereas the IHG offer was easier.
I’d also add in the opportunity cost of having to spend $40k on an IHG card vs a 2x catch-all card of transferrable points, which is probably a gap of an additional few hundred dollars.
Is IHG Diamond really worth much? I’m genuinely asking I don’t engage with their program at all
Buy it via the points offer, or get it via CSR $75K+/year spend, if you put a lot on that card, like 4x hotels, etc. ($40K taxes is like buying the government a cheap Mercedes.)
Greg, can you share a bit more on why Wyndham Business Earner is worth keeping??? After thr Vacasa break, I have a hard time seeing any real value in the program. Without Vacasa all the spend multiplers are garbage (at this point who would get 8x Wyndham for gas when you could get 4x MR?). And at 0.625 cents per point (the price Wyndham sells point at) the 15k is worth $93 and given the cc annual fee amounts to a subscription they should valued lower. I’ve obviously got a pretty opinion on Wyndham but it’s a serious question as P2 Business Earner card annual fee coming in FEB. I use points search features that include Wyndham and have yet to see any good enough use that would warrant continuing to invest in the program.
Transferring points to Caesars, which can be redeemed for a fixed 1cpp. Other than that, you are absolutely right in your assessment.
That’s fair! There are some nice Wyndham properties out there, and so I like the idea of having points available in case my plans line up. And at only $95 per year, it doesn’t seem like much of a loss if that doesn’t happen. This year, when there was an opportunity to transfer my Wyndham points to United at a 2-to-1 ratio (thanks to two overlapping deals), I transferred all of my points so I wouldn’t have to worry about them expiring for a while. You could easily say that’s proof that keeping the card doesn’t really make sense. Hmmmm.
Thanks. Confirmed my thinking that it’s time to move on.
Both years my husband called to cancel they offered to credit the $95 fee, so he kept it. Had some solid (but not aspirational) redemptions in New Zealand.
But what do you DO with all those Wyndham points? I can’t get rid of mine.
Transferring points to Caesars, which can be redeemed for a fixed 1cpp. Other than that, you are absolutely right in your assessment.
I’m still waiting for good opportunities to use them. They’re out there. Somewhere.
But it’s not like we can hold the points forever, thanks to their stupid expiration policy.
Call me crazy but I actually bought some on the last Wyndham points sale. My targets were 15k a night rooms in cities that normally sell rooms for $200+. First test case went well- I needed to be in NYC & tried out the Wingate LIC. Not my dream location but perfectly functional, and displaced something like $400 a night during a weekend where everything in town was priced well above that. Still got a few to get through, but they do have their moments.
Greg–genuinely curious why no Aspire for Diamond status? Free breakfasts outside the USA are generally great and we’ve received some decent upgrades. And those unlimited level free nights are outstanding–I am using three for a SLH hotel that normally costs about $1500 per night or 240,000 points. Also, I’ve been able to use the 2x $200 resort credit in 2024 and 2025 and have already booked resorts in both halfs of 2026. I’m no Hilton fanboy and have concentrated on Hyatt Globalist for the past few years (probably not in 2026, which means I’ll still be good until February 2027) and am LT Titanium in Marriott thanks to you (seriously, thanks to you), but there is some real value to be had with Diamond, especially outside the USA, and you can get it with a credit card which pretty much pays for itself.
First, FYI, the free breakfast benefit is the same with Gold status, so that’s not an important consideration. But overall, it comes down to the fact that I don’t currently have an immediate need for Hilton free night certificates. This is especially true now that I’ve accumulated lots of cards that have hotel rebates of different sorts. That said, the Aspire free nights (and the Surpass free nights after spend) are awesome. When I reach a point where I think I’ll make good use of them, I’ll definitely pursue that path.
Greg, do you stay in Wyndom’s that often that it’s worth it?
No