Free Hilton HHonors Diamond and Hertz President’s Circle as Virgin Australia Velocity Platinum elite

Loyalty programs are international. While the USA seems to get most of the high value offers, there is a great offer for complimentary HHonors Diamond membership and Hertz President’s Circle elite status for new Platinum elite members of Virgin Australia Velocity frequent flyer program.

I am not familiar with the intricacies of Virgin Australia’s Velocity program. Looks like it takes 1,000 status credits in a 12-month period (not calendar year) to reach Platinum elite.

Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Status Credits

Velocity Elite Membership Tiers

Maintaining Elite Renewal requires 20% fewer status credits, however HHonors Diamond is only earned for reaching Velocity Platinum and not for maintaining Velocity Platinum according to this Australian Business Traveller article:

Just reached Velocity Platinum? Grab free top-tier status with Hilton or IHG hotels!

The article is a concise read on the HHonors Diamond benefit. I’ll expand on some other aspects of the benefits with a USA traveler viewpoint.

Since Delta, Hawaiian and Virgin America are all airline partners of Virgin Australia Velocity, I thought there might be an incentive for some US travelers to credit US domestic flights to Virgin Australia Velocity.

However, after looking over the website it appears Virgin Australia Velocity membership is not open for US residents. There are only 11 countries listed on the enrollment address form.

• Australia,
• Christmas Island,
• Cocos Islands,
• Cook Islands,
• Fiji,
• New Zealand,
• Papua New Guinea,
• Samoa,
• Solomon Islands,
• Tonga 
• Vanuatu

I know some readers may be eligible and some readers may be hackers with a way to create an address somewhere on the other side of the world.

Anyway, here are some of the high value benefits if Virgin Australia Velocity membership and elite status is available to you.

Velocity Gold member benefits:

Complimentary Partner membership with IHG’s Rewards Club® or Hilton HHonors™

• Access to Gold Partner membership with IHG’s Rewards Club® or Hilton HHonors™.
Complimentary Partner membership with Europcar Privileges Program or Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Program
• Access to Privilege Executive membership with Europcar Privileges Program or Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star®

Basically HHonors Gold is available to Velocity Gold members. That is far better than IHG Gold for benefits.

Velocity Platinum member benefits:

Complimentary Partner membership with Europcar Privileges Program or Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Program.

• Access to Privilege Partner membership with Europcar Privileges Program or Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Presidents Circle®.

Hertz President’s Circle normally requires 40 rentals a year.

There seem to be some great benefits here for someone looking to get their way to the upper tiers of Virgin Australia Velocity membership.

*****

Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.

Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests.

Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed or subscribe to a daily email newsletter of Loyalty Traveler blog posts