Hilton HHonors - What's the "Online Bonus" 1000 points?

I was just looking at my HHonors account online, and I noticed that in addition to the 'Profile Update' bonuses I had an 'Online Bonus' of 1,000 points post on 2/1. Anyone know what that's for? I didn't make any reservations online or anything -- I always call the hotel directly to get a corporate rate, request a suite, etc.

holland, did you register for your HHonors account number online? That's one way to get the "Online Bonus".

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He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

You're going to get more than you bargained for on this one and thank you for the opportunity to enlighten. There are some general questions that I have at the end to stimulate feedback because the bonus postings have been and are severely broken. I have found this to be a continuing problem with the accounting process @HHonors. Whoever it was that set up her/his own spreadsheet has it right. It's a shame that HHonors couldn't get it right the first time, every time; it puts a damper on the experience knowing that you have to constantly check credits. Hopefully the new format will change all that. Adam, I hope you're listening to this one.

First, w/r/t your original question, periodically there is a spiff for an online reservation to avoid interacting with humans. Credit to MartinElk on 11/20/00 for posting the last one. The spiff lasted until 01/31/01 for online reservations made prior to that date and stays completed by that date (credit by 8 weeks after stay). Congratulations that you received it, but for those of us that didn't, we now have to interact with those pesky humans (except, except, except for Adam and Co.).

Now, here are the questions (use the search feature to recover the earlier threads for background) and I'm interested in the effort (contact the service center, fax, email, Adam and Co., etc.) that it takes to fix something that should have been right from the get go:

1) Has anyone else had success in getting credited for the recent online reservation bonus (through 01/31/01) [n.b. no pre-registration was required]? If so, was it consistent for all stays? If not, how are you reconciling the errors?

2) Did everyone get full credit for those double/double bonuses (after the first stay in the offering period from 11/15/01 until 02/28/01) [n.b. the bonuses do not show up with the details for the stay, but in other activity fields of your profile]? If not, how are you reconciling the errors?

3) Did you know that you can AND are you seeing two airline credits associated with your stays, whenever appropriate (the points for identifying an airline as a Hilton partner whether or not you actually flew AND the points for actually flying with a partner within 24 hours [n.b. they don't even have to be the same airline -- see the HHonors guidebook for more details]? If so, was it consistent for all stays? If not, are you missing credits even if the Bonus AL field was correctly entered on your folio AND how are you reconciling the errors?

4) Has everyone received credit for the 50,000 point promotions [n.b. the first 5000 points are attached to ther record for a stay, but the subsequent 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 point bonuses are in the other activity fields]? If not, how are you reconciling the errors?

Originally posted by BravoZulu:

2) Did everyone get full credit for those double/double bonuses (after the first stay in the offering period from 11/15/01 until 02/28/01) [n.b. the bonuses do not show up with the details for the stay, but in other activity fields of your profile]? If not, how are you reconciling the errors?

No, I was told there was a problem and they knew about it and it was going to take 30 to 60 days to get the double points over to the airline. I ended up taking extra HHonors points to solve the problem and removed that item from my list of points yet to post.

3) Did you know that you can AND are you seeing two airline credits associated with your stays, whenever appropriate (the points for identifying an airline as a Hilton partner whether or not you actually flew AND the points for actually flying with a partner within 24 hours [n.b. they don't even have to be the same airline -- see the HHonors guidebook for more details]? If so, was it consistent for all stays? If not, are you missing credits even if the Bonus AL field was correctly entered on your folio AND how are you reconciling the errors?

There are two columns on the HHonors site that display the points. I have airline partner points show in the HHonors Points column and I also have airline points show in the +Partner Miles column. Are these the two postings that you refer to?




[This message has been edited by Tolarian Wind (edited 05-05-2001).]

Tolarian Wind-

You are on the mark with the Q and that's exactly what I was trying to resolve; its not like I'm a Diamond with 40 stays per year and should know better (but I am). I've just had a sketchy experience with some hotels. The partner relationships (points & miles) rules are clear, but the experience is not in alignment.

There are two entries on your folio at checkout AL and AL Bonus (in addition to the frequent flyer and stayer numbers and the CR--car rental). Does it matter whether both fields AL and AL Bonus are filled in [n.b. chix and others say no, shareholder and others say yes]? I can't figure it out, so I've been in the habit of ensuring that both fields are filled in at checkin time. For some stays, I've had the 250 points for an airline partner without having flown. For some stays, I've had another 250 point bonus layered above. Foolish me, I asked the service center and it was characterized as 250 points for the airline, whether or not I travelled by air, and 250 points for showing my boarding pass [I'm still not convinced and it may have been that the particular hotel had some odd bonus that wasn't publicized well, but I just don't get it].

Now I know that you can get miles whether or not you fly, but have you received HHonors points without flying and then bonus HHonors points layer above for flying with a partner? I've had it both ways and I'm trying to understand what others had in the way of experience before I decide whether I had some lost points or a small windfall. It could very well be that the AL and the FF number are strictly for the miles (whether or not you fly and credited to whatever airline you chose) and the AL Bonus is for the points and it is assumed that you flew.

I just gots to know.

I am clear on your quest but not clear with your description.

You say "layering" and to me this means same column and directly above or below.

I have never seen this in all my HHonors stays. I only see the one post in the left column which adds directly to the HHonors points posted to my HHonors account and the right column which is posted to the airline FF program.

From what you indicate or what my reading of your comments are you have, in some cases, received two sets of airline partner points posted to your HHonors account balance.

TW

You're on the mark again. I'll go back to my records, but I seem to recall that there was an entry in the points column for the Airline Partner and then a separate entry that I did not expect (also in the points column); separate from that, there was the miles entry for the same Airline Partner.

For the longest time I never bothered with the Bonus AL field. I'm trying to find out whether or not it matters.