Part of Hilton Honors hub
Status: checked against official sources; automated independent review
FREQUENT FLYER GLOSSARY
What is a complimentary upgrade?
Complimentary upgrade (in hotel terms also described as a space-available upgrade) is an elite-status benefit that gives a member a better room, or access to a premium cabin, than the one booked without a separate upgrade payment. [2] [4] Hilton Honors sets out detailed rules: Gold and Diamond Elite members receive complimentary, space-available room upgrades on qualifying stays at the brands it lists, with the decision made at check-in. [4]
Facts checked: 18 October 2026
Key takeaways
- Complimentary upgrades are a tier benefit, not a purchase: Hilton attaches them to Gold and Diamond Elite status and to qualifying stays. [4]
- The benefit is space-available and settled at check-in, for the whole stay, for one room per member. [4]
- Coverage is narrow: named brands and named properties are excluded, and group bookings and certain rates may not qualify. [4]
How "complimentary" differs from a paid upgrade
Hilton's wording carries three limits at once: the upgrade is "complimentary", it is granted "space-available", and it applies on "qualifying Stays". [4] No upgrade payment is described; what the member needs is the status tier and a qualifying stay. [4] Hilton defines a "Stay" as consecutive nights at the same hotel and excludes many bookings from that definition, including wholesale and tour-operator packages, contracted crew rates, travel-agency discount rates, casino player-card packages, timeshare stays and timeshare marketing packages, complimentary or barter rooms, third-party website bookings and "opaque" channel bookings where the brand is not known at purchase. [4]
Delta's page draws a different line, between paid and complimentary premium seating. Paid premium-class upgrades bought through a Delta channel are eligible to earn Medallion Qualification Dollars, while MQDs are not awarded for complimentary access to Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta First, Delta Comfort and Preferred Seats. [2] If a member buys Delta Comfort, a paid premium-class upgrade or a Preferred Seat and Delta cannot seat them in that seat or a similar one, the purchase is refunded and no MQDs are awarded. [2] "Complimentary" also appears in airline status language: Delta says members who have flown one million miles receive annual complimentary Medallion Status. [2]
Hotels: how Hilton's space-available upgrade works
Eligibility follows the elite tier. Hilton awards Gold Elite status on 15 stays, 25 nights or US$6,000 of eligible spend, and Diamond Elite status on 25 stays, 50 nights or US$11,500 of eligible spend, in a calendar year. [4]
Gold. Gold members may receive upgrades to preferred rooms at the brands Hilton lists, based on availability at check-in. [4] Preferred rooms may include rooms that are not on the Executive Floor but confer lounge access; they exclude executive suites, villas, specialty accommodations, floors or towers, and "Club" accommodation types such as the Sakura Club at Conrad Washington DC, Club Signia, the Citrus Club at the Arizona Biltmore, and the Enclave and Club category rooms at All-Inclusive resorts unless the initial booking was itself Enclave-level. [4]
Diamond. Diamond members may receive upgrades up to and including junior, standard or one-bedroom suites, subject to availability at check-in and to the hotel's discretion, again excluding executive suites, villas and specialty accommodations, floors or towers. [4]
What the tier changes. A Gold member gets Executive Lounge access only if the upgrade is to the Executive Floor or to a room type that confers lounge access; a Diamond member gets lounge access for themselves and one registered guest even without an upgrade. [4] Members whose lounge access includes breakfast seven days a week are not eligible for the daily Food & Beverage Credit. [4]
Marriott. In the portion of the Marriott Bonvoy terms checked, "Nightly Upgrade Awards" appear only among the awards, certificates and benefits that cancelling an account may affect, and the terms there do not state how those awards are earned or applied. [3]
Airlines: what the checked pages do and do not publish
The Delta page checked explains how Medallion status is earned rather than how upgrades are given: 2027 status is earned on spending activity in the 2026 calendar year, at US$5,000 MQDs for Silver, US$10,000 for Gold, US$15,000 for Platinum and US$28,000 for Diamond, with status valid from the day it is earned until 31 January 2028. [2] The page lists "Medallion Upgrades" in its site menu, but the body text covers qualification and MQD earning. [2]
So the rules this entry can state with sources are Hilton's, and they describe a hotel benefit rather than an airline cabin upgrade process. [4]
Exceptions and limits
- Brand exclusions. Hilton names ten brands that do not offer complimentary upgrades: Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, LivSmart Studios by Hilton, Tru by Hilton, Spark by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations and Motto by Hilton. [4]
- Property exclusions. Upgrades are not offered at Napua Tower at Grand Wailea, the Imperial Floor at Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa, and certain Partner Accommodations. [4]
- Groups and rates. Group reservations and certain room rates are not eligible for suite accommodations and may not be eligible for complimentary upgrades at all. [4]
- Booking channel. Upgrades sit among the on-property benefits that require a confirmed reservation through an official Hilton brand or Hilton Honors website, Hilton Reservations & Customer Care, the Hilton Honors or Hilton mobile app, the hotel directly, or an IATA-accredited retail travel agent booking through a Hilton channel or one of the GDS channels Hilton names; benefits are not awarded for non-Hilton-direct channels, third-party websites, opaque sites, third-party packages or ineligible stays. [4]
- One room, whole stay. An upgrade applies to one room per member during a qualifying stay, regardless of additional rooms booked, and is granted for the entire stay as determined at check-in. [4]
- Paid upgrades at two airports. For Delta, a purchased Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta First or Delta Comfort paid upgrade or Preferred Seat bought at Amsterdam or Paris CDG for a Delta-operated flight earns no miles and no MQDs. [2]
- Marriott gap.
Sources
Sources checked on 18 October 2026. Not covered here: other hotel loyalty programmes, other airline programmes, credit-card upgrade products, and paid or bid upgrade systems. The captures used for American and Marriott are partial page captures, and the statements about them above refer only to what those captures contain.
- American Airlines AAdvantage status page, checked 18 October 2026
- Delta SkyMiles: How to Get Medallion Status, checked 18 October 2026
- Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme terms and conditions, checked 18 October 2026
- Hilton Honors member rewards terms and conditions, checked 18 October 2026