A pandemic might not seem like the obvious moment to start thinking about elite status with a hotel chain. But many of us travel hackers started out in exactly the same place… Hilton Honors and its MVP Fast Track program.

The MVP Fast Track program requires you to:

• Register your Hilton Honors account details
• Complete 4 separate stays within 90 days of registration

In order to sign up, you are supposed to be: an athletic administrator, athlete, or affiliated with a sports entity, sports related company, sports group. However you won’t be asked for any proof, but even something as simple as a gym membership would qualify.

You might assume that you must pay for your 4 stays, but you’d be wrong… Award stays also count.

Even though Inside Flyer’s Tom likes to write about how you can buy Hilton points to use them on super-cheap award nights nowhere near you or anywhere you’d like to visit, I’d suggest that you simply book paid or award stays in places you are already interested in visiting. The important point to note is that a “stay” is defined as consecutive nights at the same hotel, irrespective of the number of times you check in and out or how many separate reservations you’ve made..

What Does Hilton Gold Status Get Me?

There’s no point pretending that you are going to see very many room upgrades when travelling in the United States. But when you head overseas, you can often be upgraded to much nicer rooms.

Otherwise, Hilton Honors hotels tend to deliver what is promised – complimentary breakfast and bonus points – with no confusing brand opt-outs…

You also benefit from Hilton’s “fifth night free” award pricing. Only available to members with status, your fifth night is free when using points to book award stays.

Because you would be qualifying for Gold status in mid-2021, your new status would be valid for the rest of 2021, ALL of 2022, and the first three months of 2023. That’s nearly two years of free breakfast and bonus points…

Beyond Hilton

I mentioned in the opening paragraph how travel hackers often “start” with Hilton Gold via this MVP Fast Track. That is because Hilton Gold status is very solid – and therefore other hotel chains are happy to accept it when considering whether to offer you a status match / challenge. So, even if the COVID pandemic keeps you from travelling much more than the 4 initial stays, you might come across a status match opportunity in late 2022 / early 2023 that would allow you to leverage this Gold status into something even better…

Click here in order to be taken to the registration page. Because your 90 days start counting from the moment of registration, you should delay signing up until a couple of days before your next Hilton Honors stay…