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Last Updated on December 1, 2022 by David
The concept of status matching is simple but can get pretty in-depth especially if you plan on jumping to get a tier or rank higher. The idea is that you take a status you currently have with a hotel or an airline or even a car rental and you get a competitor to match that status or rank which in return grants you perks during your trip. For example, let’s say you have Hilton Honors Gold, but you’re staying with a Best Western. You can ask Best Western and show proof of your HH Gold and they will match your rank with an equivalent status which gets you perks like early check-in and late checkout and so on. I am only going to talk about the basics and try not to really get into much depth in this guide as there is a lot of information to cover.
Status Match vs Status Challenge
There is another term you may hear when trying to get a status match and that is a status challenge. A Status Challenge is when the hotel or airline offers a status match IF you complete a challenge. That challenge usually requires you to stay at the hotel for X amount of nights during a 90-day period or take X amount of flights before a deadline.
Gaining an initial status
Gaining the initial status is the most difficult and time consuming depending on the route you take. There are several ways to get started and I’ll try to cover most of them
1. Pay for status
The most expensive and longest method of obtaining status at a hotel or aline is actually spending money and staying with your favorite hotel or flying with your favorite airline. This can take months or in some cases even years depending on how often you stay at hotels or fly.
2. Obtain a status from Credit Card Offers
A way to fast track your way into status is by obtaining a credit card which offers hotel statuses as one of the benefits. Many credit cards do this and some are better than others. The topic of rewards credit cards is extremely in-depth and every credit card requires its article which we will get into at a later time.
3. Obtain a status as a Gift
The easiest way to get status is just to receive it as a gift from someone. For example, Hilton Honors lets you gift Gold status when they turn Diamond. They are even able to give Diamond when they have stayed 70 nights at a Hilton.
4. Buy a Hotel or Airline Status
This is something I don’t recommend but will mention as it is an option and is what a lot of people do. Just go on eBay and buy it. Your mileage may vary and remember that there are some sketchy folks out there so be sure to do your due diligence.
After the initial status
After you have your foot in the door with your first status, it’s all smooth sailing from here on out. Your next step is to figure out what programs you’re able to status match with your current status. This is where StatusMatcher.com comes in. StatusMatcher lets you see which reward programs you can match to depending on other users’ experiences. Most of the content on StatusMatcher is provided by its users.
