Hilton HHonors - A New Low For Hilton

I thought that some of you might be interested in reading a very cautionary tale about HHonors rewards redemption.

As many of you are now in the process of redeeming your HHonors points and/or obtaining the matching certificates to beat the point increase, I, too, attempted to do the same yesterday evening.

I was going down the list of the number of properties where I had made reward reservations and was tallying up the cost in HHonors points that it would "cost" me for those hotels/nights.

Finally, I came upon an entry for the London Hilton Park Lane for 2 nights this summer.

The only problem was that I never had made any reservations for the London Hilton Park Lane, at all, ever, for a reward stay much less any other sort of stay!

Yet there it was. Moreover, low and behold, the reservation number neatly and exactly matched the reservation number I had for a 2 night weekend stay at the Paddington Hilton.

So, I clicked on the reservation to see what it noted, thinking that they had just switched my hotel reward for 2 nights and that I would be reqired to stay at the Park Lane Hilton instead of the Paddington, which is what I had wanted, as I am arriving in London late at night on a Saturday evening and then am leaving early Monday morning from LHR -- so the Paddington Hilton fit that bill nicely.

Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that not only had my HHonors points rewards reservation had been switched -- without any notice to me whatsoever -- but I also then found out that my HHonors Rewards points reservation had been altered in antoher way -- it no longer was a REWARD RESERVATION!!

Yes, you read correctly, not only was I moved from where I had a confirmed reseration without any sort of notice, but my free night had morphed into my having to pay 263 GBP plus taxes for a hotel that I neither desired nor even had wanted to stay at since their treatment of HHonors Gold members (as well as Diamond members) has been, shall we say sporadic, to be charitable.

I spent the better part of an hour last night trying to figure out what had happened and the folks at HHonors attempted to do so, as well, and it appears that the Paddington Hilton unilaterally decided to move me to the Park Lane without so much as a word to me, and while they were at it, I was now required to pay for that 2 night stay!

The HHonors representative was certainly as aghast at what had been done, as I was, and I had indicated that I never had any trouble with HHonors but I had had some problems with individual properties on occasion -- as well as superior instances with individucal hotels, as well.

I was advised that the problem with the Paddington would likely be remedied overnight after they had completed their "running of their computers."

Well, guess what.

Uh, uh.

Nearly 12 hours after first discovering this problem and advising Hilton HHonors of it, nothing has been done -- I have neither received an e-mail from HHonors nor the hotel to advise as to what had happened, or more importantly, that the reservation had been restored as originally intended.

Moreover, the reservation in the "My Travels" section of the Hilton website still reads as the Park Lane Hilton as a paid stay.

What is funny is that in the comments section of the reservation, it clearly reads that I will be using an SC 4 Certificate for the 2 "supposedly free" weekend nights at the oriignally intended Paddington Hilton, as the Park Lane would have cost more in points.

Had it not been for the fact that I had logged on to have the certificate sent to me now -- before the point increase -- I could just as well have printed out the certificate at an earlier date, and would have arrived at the Paddington Hilton later this summer without even the slightest hint or notice from Hilton that my reservation at the Paddinton Hilton was no more.

My advice -- save your reservation by printing it out and/or in your computer memory, and for heaven's sake, occasionally review all your reservations -- reward as well as paid -- to make sure that they have not been altered without your being notified of such changes!

This has never happened to me at either Marriott or Hyatt, and I am well aware that HHonors personnel read these boards.

I will keep you all posted as to the outcome of this sad event, and also how much longer -- from the promises made to me last night - it will take HHonors to advise me that this issue is no longer a problem.

Wish me luck. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 05-28-2003).]

This is bizarre... I'm curious, when you made your reservation, did you do it over the phone or used the "backdoor" posted on FT? If over the phone, then whether directly with the Paddington Hilton or through the 800-number in the US? Did you get a faxed (or e-mailed) confirmation? Under any circumstances, this is alarming.

In terms of the promise to get it resolved overnight, I'd give them a few more hours (with the time difference, who knows when they were able to reach Paddington Hilton, which seems to be the offender here).

Please keep us posted.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Eugene:

This is bizarre... I'm curious, when you made your reservation, did you do it over the phone or used the "backdoor" posted on FT? If over the phone, then whether directly with the Paddington Hilton or through the 800-number in the US? Did you get a faxed (or e-mailed) confirmation? Under any circumstances, this is alarming.

In terms of the promise to get it resolved overnight, I'd give them a few more hours (with the time difference, who knows when they were able to reach Paddington Hilton, which seems to be the offender here).

Please keep us posted.</font>


Yes, Eugene it is BIZAARE.

I had made a Standard 1 night Reward reservation through HHonors in the US for a Sunday night at the Paddington as the Saturday night that I also had wanted was apparently sold out.

I then contacted the hotel via e-mail -- as an aside, I am astounded that people constantly ask what is the e-mail address of this or that hotel -- all one has to do is a GOOGLEe search of the hotel name with the additional search term "@hilton.com" and voila, 9 times out of 10 you will get a hit with the name of a reservation manager or someone connected with the hotel -- and the Reservation Manager at the hotel authorized the additional Saturday night for a REWARD STAY and manually changed the reservation to include that night, as well. Therefore, I had a 2 night WEEKEND REWARD STAY at the Paddington Hilton.

I then again contacted HHonors stateside and advised that inasmuch as the Reservation Manager had authorized the change to inlcued the Saturday night that I had wanted -- and that they could see that the reservation now included the Saturday night, as well -- that they would need to simply revise the REWARD RESERVATION'S Comments section to note that a 2 night Reward Certificate would be used and not the 1 night Certificate that had been originally noted. This was done, and I have copies of this.

In addition, the current "RESERVATION" at the PARK LANE now reads as a paid stay reservation with the proviso that the SC 4 Reward Certificate will be used for the stay.

Incongorous to say the least, would you not agree?

That was it -- and as I have noted above, this reservation began as a REWARD RESERVATION at the PADDINGTON HILTON and was NEVER, EVER a PAID RESERVATION at the PARK LANE.

I have since again contacted HHonors and have been told that no change has as yet been made to the reservation and I was then switched to "Customer Service" who opened a file on the matter, as one had not been opened in their Department, although, hopefully, one already has been made in the HHonors Department.

We shall see -- it is now almost 2 hours of my own time that I have spent in trying to resolve this matter, and suffice it to say, I expect not only to stay at the Paddington Hilton on points, I also expect some compensation for the time and aggravation this already caused me.

I will keep you posted and let you know when someone gets around to notifying me of any change in the status of the "RESERVATION."

Let's see how long it takes them to honor their statment "HHonors where the customer comes first."

[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 05-28-2003).]

[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 05-28-2003).]

Looks to me as though the same manager whom you talked into overriding you into an award stay for Saturday at the Paddington later realized that he couldn't accomodate you, and he has walked you to the Park Lane. It also seems to me that he peronally handled the transaction with the Park Lane, paying them for aloowing you to use the cert intended for the Paddington at the Park Lane. this would explain why it shows up as a paid stay but with a note saying that you can pay using the cert. <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">it clearly reads that I will be using an SC 4 Certificate for the 2 "supposedly free" weekend nights at the oriignally intended Paddington Hilton, as the Park Lane would have cost more in points.</font>

With this notation what makes you think this is not an award stay?

Maybe the Paddington manager feels that he is doing you a favor by upgrading you to a superior hotel since he is overbooked.

I can't see that you have contacted the Paddington manager about this since seeing that the reservation was changed. IMO once you got him to override you into Saturday night it may not be reasonable to expect the central reservations department to follow what's been going on with your reservation.

I recommend you follow up with an email to the same Paddington manager you've communicated with previously, asking for an explanation. At the least you should have been contacted at the time the res was switched (but it's rare on a PAID reservation to know in advance that you're being walked...).

But don't forget that central reservations never showed availability for the first of your nights. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

pdhenry:

I had considered that I had been walked to another hotel but the "new" reservation makes no mention that I can use my cert -- what is in the "Comments" section is the original notation that I will be using an SC 4 Cert.

However, in where it used to state that this was a HHonors Redemption on the Paddington Reservation, this is how the reservation now reads with respect to the Park Lane reservation:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">

Check in: XXX 2003 at 5PM
Check out: XXXX 2003

The London Hilton on Park Lane
22 Park Lane
London, United Kingdom
W1K 1BE
44-20-74938000 Directions and transportation
Local maps
Area information
Find businesses/attractions near hotel

Book another room at this hotel

Rooms: 1
Adults per room: 1
Children per room: 0
Smoking preference: No Preference
Room type: KING ROOM
Rate type: STANDARD RATE
Rate per night: 111.95 GBP per night,
Total rate for stay: 263.08 GBP
Includes tax and service charges described below

There is a 17.50 % per room per night tax.


Parking charges: Self parking: Min= £7 for 2 hours ; Valet parking: Max=£34 for 24 hours


There is a credit card required for this reservation.
If you wish to cancel, please do so by 4pm, hotel local time, on the day of arrival to avoid cancellation penalties. </font>

As you can see, it is clear that this is now a paid stay and there is no mention, whatsoever, that an SC 4 certificate would be accepted at the Park Lane.

Moreover, in converting the reservation into a paid reservation without notifying me, the individual who booked the room changed my room preference to one that it does not matter whether I receive a smoking or non-smoking room. This, too, was done without my permission; in point of fact, I abhor cigarette smoke as it can cause me to experience an allergic reaction -- just another "benefit" I guess I can expect from Hilton.

As to your mention of an upgrade to a more "luxurious" hotel -- Well, I thought I had made myself clear above that a number of individuals have noted that the Park Lane has been quite deficient in awarding HHonors benefits to HHonors Diamonds, much less Golds, as I am, and I would much prefer a comp. breakfast -- which I would most certianly receive at the Paddington -- to the unmentioned perk that I might receive at the Park Lane. Perhaps your experience has been different but I bet most on these boards would want something that is assured, esp. when it is a comp. meal, to a mysterious perk to be given you by a hotel that has a reputation of not honoring Hilton's elite members.

In addition, I wanted to stay at the Paddington as I would be checking in at approx. 9:30 PM after having taken a flight from the US, and the last thing I wanted to do was to get on some other mode of transport to bring me to my hotel. Further, I have a very early morning flight from LHR on the follwoing Monday, and hence the proximity of the Paddington to the LHR Express was again a benefit. I should add, that I had explained all of this to my contact at the Paddington Hilton.

Finally, inasmuch as I had not received any reply from anyone at Hilton in relation to the above -- notwithstanding the fact that we all know that Hilton reps constantly read this board -- as well as the fact that I had spoken with at least 3 Hilton reps myself, I sent off an e-mail to many Hilton reps last night. I excerpt some of it for your reading pleasure, below.

As of the writing of this e-mail, naturally, I have not heard a peep from anyone at Hilton, and yes, I also sent it to the Paddington Hilton, as well.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">


Brian_@hilton.com
CC: Rudi_, .com, Jennifer_@hilton.com, Thomas_@hilton.com, rm_paddington@hilton.com,



Dear Mr. XXXXX,

Over 20 hours have past since we last spoke about the unilateral change to my HHONORS REWARD RESERVATION that apparently was made by some employee at the Hilton London Paddington, on May 22, 2003, and despite your assurances that you would relay this matter to your superiors, I have yet to be contacted by anyone from Hilton HHonors concerning this atrocious incident. As it now stands, the reservation that formerly was clearly marked as a reward reservation for a 2 night weekend stay at the Hilton London Paddington, and still reflects as much in the "Comments" section of the above noted reservation (which reads that I would need to obtain and surrender an "SC 4" Certificate at check-in at the Paddington Hilton), now states that I no longer have such a reward reservation, rather, it now reflects someone at the Paddington Hilton's unilateral conversion of that reservation -- without any notice to me, whatsoever -- into a 2 night paid stay at the Hilton London Park Lane wherein I will be compelled to surrender not HHonors points as I had expected, but exactly GBP 263.08

See: XXXXXX


This is not what I had bargained for...


Of course, no one from the Hilton London Paddington thus far has bothered to contact me either, despite the fact that your colleague, US Hilton telephone reservation agent "XXXX" had phoned the Hilton London Paddington late yesterday evening and spoke to a "Mr. XXXX" of that property, who promptly had assured her that he would investigate the above matter once the hotel's computer had ceased it's "run through" operations for that day. It should come as no surprise then, that I have not heard from him and I seriously doubt that he will contact me before the close of business today, as it is now approximately 1:00 AM in the morning in London.

Of course, when I awoke this morning to find that no change had been made to the reservation, I again contacted Hilton HHonors to complain, but this time I was palmed off to one of your colleagues in Hilton Customer Service, a Mr. Thomas XXXX, who informed me that he would open a case file on this matter -- and, who, by the way, shared your horror at what had been done to me -- and who also advised that the hotel would be notified of my complaint, and that I should expect to hear from someone from the hotel. Given that the hotel's response thus far, as exemplified by Mr. XXXX's promises made to your colleague "XXXX," is illusory, I seriously doubt whether I will ever hear from anyone at the hotel via this method.

Because of the above, I am copying my extremely helpful contact at the Hilton London Paddington, who earlier had assisted me in arranging the now thoroughly changed and discarded prior reward reservation at that property. In addition, I also had asked Mr. XXXX to notify his supervisors of this matter, and I hope that he has done so.

As I had explained to you last night, this was not the first time that I have had a Hilton hotel cause me untold aggravation, as well as a serious expenditure of my personal time, all in an effort to undo a unilateral and wrongful action taken by someone at the subject property. As I had discussed with you last night, I had encountered a similar nightmare earlier this year with the XXXXX, wherein they had unilaterally and without any notice to me, charged one of my credit cards for a reservation that they, themselves, freely conceded, was reflected as being canceled in both my, as well as, Hilton HHonors own records, and that such cancellation had occurred at least 2 months prior to their unilateral charge to my AMEX credit card. In that circumstance, it appears that that the XXXX Hilton retained 2 reservations under a single, acknowledged, canceled confirmation number, and unbeknownst to me, subsequently charged me for that dubious record keeping pleasure of theirs....

It bears repeating, however, that this is now the second incident in less than six months wherein a change has been made to a REWARD RESERVATION of mine without so much as a "by your leave" or some other form of notification to me....

As I had told you last night, had it not been for the fact that I had waited until yesterday evening to order my HHonors SC 4 Reward Certificate to "pay" for the 2 night Reward Reservation at the Paddington Hilton, I would never have known that it was no more, as it no longer existed in your system. Had I earlier been sent the reward certificate, I would not have become aware of the unilateral conversion of my reward reservation until such time as I was ready to check-in at the Paddington Hilton, at approximately 9:30 PM on Saturday evening, XXX, 2003, after an early morning flight from the US. Only then would I have been presented with the shock that I was not only at the wrong hotel, but that I also would have to pay for the privilege of not having made a reservation at the London Hilton Park Lane -- as well as my transportation to and from that property. This type of reception is a far cry from the cordial and gracious service that I always have received from the staff during my many stays at any of the Hilton London properties, and stands in distinct counterpoint to the wonderful service that one always receives from the staff at the Trafalgar....

Thank you.

Sincerely,


XXXXXXXXXXXXX, Esq.
HHonors Gold # </font>

[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 05-29-2003).]

Its odd, but the senario as outlined by pdhenry is the what came first to my mind when I read this thread. Award reservations
confirmations ( its seems at mainly UK properties) have the rack rate listed on the confirmaton and this may be adding to the confusion.

I would have thought a phone call to the individual at the hotel could have sorted this out pretty quickly. Having not really clarified the situation it may be a little too early in catagorizing this "as a new low"
while you might actually have been upgraded.

The London Hilton is a much better property than the Paddington but less convenient if you plan to use the Heathrow Express.
Having stayed there on more than one ocasion, as Gold I always got upgraded and given lounge acccess.
mike

[This message has been edited by MIKESILV (edited 05-29-2003).]

Mad Dogs and Englishmen ..................... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I stayed at the Park Lane on a 1 night award in April. Two rooms actually and points used for both rooms. I am Diamond, other person no status. We were both upgraded to executive floor and given lounge access. Very pleased with the hotel.

I would contact the Park Lane if I were you and ask who made the reservation and if it is an award stay and have them note the no smoking preference. You said it was easy to get the e-mail addresses so that is what you should do. Take control of the investigation yourself as you don't seem pleased with how HHonors is proceeding.


Edited to add: It is a 8-10 pound and 10-15 minute taxi ride from Paddington to the Park Lane. Easy walk from Park Lane to Green Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster, Parliment, Millenium Eye, Picadilly Circus, etc.

[This message has been edited by Baze (edited 05-29-2003).]

my experience with award stays in LON -

allthe confirmations (fax, email) that came directly fromthe hotel made no mention of an award stay. I had to call HHONORS customer service, go up the food chain, and spend a lot of phone time to have them intercede w/ the hotel (Langham) to send me a confrmation that it was an award stay . As others have noted, the only confirmation you may get from a London hotel is the notation rack rate. So I'm not sure it's actually a problem ...

My experience w/ the Langhanm at least was that it was a lot easier to get fax info and confrimation (finally) than email confirmation or responses so you may find that to be the same.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I appreciate all of you who have provided your thoughts to this thread.

Just so that it is clear, it was the Hilton reservation and customer service personnel who had informed me that my reward stay was now listed as a paid stay, and not the other way aroud.

As I had indicated, I initially felt that I might have been walked and sent to a "better " property, but wherein I already have noted I have serious reservations about, but I was able to find the original e-mail confirm of my reward reservation and it clearly indicates that a material change had been made, and not just to the name of the hotel. Although some of you have said that your reward reservation did not say as much, and therefore, some clarification was necessary; however, as you can see below, there was no such condfusion concerning my original reservation, hence the Hilton personnel with whom I referred to above, unanimously advising me that I am now booked for a paid stay at the Park Lane:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Hilton London Paddington
146 Praed Street
London, United Kingdom
W2 1EE
44-20-78500500 Directions and transportation
Local maps
Area information
Find businesses/attractions near hotel

Book another room at this hotel

Rooms: 1
Adults per room: 1
Children per room: 0
Smoking preference: No Preference
Room type: DOUBLE HILTON GUESTROOM
Rate type: HHONORS REDEMPTION
Rate per night: 49.06 GBP per night,
Total rate for stay: 115.29 GBP
Includes tax and service charges described below


There is a 17.50 % per room per night tax.


Parking charges: Self parking: Offsite NCP parking


This reservation can be held until 4PM on the check-in day, or guaranteed with a credit card for late arrival.
If you wish to cancel, please do so by 4pm, hotel local time, on the day of arrival to avoid cancellation penalties. </font>

Now it may be that there was a snafu in translating my reward reservation to another reward reservation at the Park Lane, and I had advised the agent that I would even consent to the "upgrade" for the Saturday night, but that I most assuredly had wanted to stay at the Paddington on the Sunday evening so that I could get an early start for LHR the following Monday morning.

All this would have been communicated to the Paddington Hilton if the employee at the Paddington Hilton had ever bothered to call back the Hilton Res. agent who had placed the call to him on my behalf. Therefore, I fail to see why I should have contacted the Paddington by phone when they would not even return the call of one of their fellow employees.

So too, this could have been resolved if someone at Hilton in the USA had followed up my complaint with the Paddington the next day, but as my e-mail makes clear, I waited nearly a full 24 hours, and it was more than a full business day later in London when I sent that e-mail to multiple targets at Hilton.

However, I have been contacted by a phone message left on my answering maching from a Michelle who asked me to call her back at a non-toll free number.

I have responded by e-mailing HHonors and identifying myself and Michelle's number and asking for them to contact me by e-mail as that is easiest for me while I am away from home and not in a mood to play telephone tag.

I do not know how this will resolve itself, as my previous problem with a Hilton reward has left me with a very bad feeling towards Hilton and this episode only has reinforced it.

I see no reason why they cannot followup on a matter when their bretheren at Marriott and Hyatt have no problem taking care of similar problems in an expeditious manner.

I would agree, however, that I have had better luck in general with my dealings with Hilton employees at the hotel properties than I have had with those who are entrusted to troubleshooting any problems that might arise from any of our stays.

I will keep you posted, but I expect a further CYA runaround by them.

Well, I just thought I would keep all of you apprised of what is happening.

I just logged on to my travel planner and the reservation for the Paddington Hilton has been RESTORED!!

Of course, I received no notice of this change, as well.

Although I am quite happy by this turn of events, the last couple of days have been extremely aggravating and totally unecessary and exemplify the truly dismal customer service Hilton dispenses to its membership.

I not only want, but certainly expect that someone from Hilton, be it by their "Customer Service Dep;t", or from HHonors or the hotel, itself, or all 3 of them, to still contact me concerning this matter, as this situation was entirely of their making and its' resolution should have at least begun within 24 hours of my discovering this distrubing change to my reward reservation. However, it is clear by the lack of communication to me over the last several days, that this was not done.

Any good will that the hotel had engendered in my eyes by permitting me to tack on the Saturday night stay -- which my above posts should demonstrate was known by people at both HHonors and the hotel, itself -- was dissipated to the point of nothingness by the subsequent events.

The only thing that I am happy about is that at least someone in the organization has a brain to realize that this change was not right, that it should have been communicated to me as it was not only I, but Hilton personnel themselves, that interpreted the new reservation as one requiring payment from me in the form of cold, hard, cash, and not HHonors points. Again, if that was an error, and this is SOP for the UK Hiltons, you would think that they would have realized this by now, and be advised by corporate to clearly note that the stay is to be a REWARD STAY, and not confuse the matter by issuing a reservation with a rate!

As I have demonstrated above, at least some people can accomplish this all too easy feat, as my inital reservation was clearly marked as a HHonors Redemption.

I have seen other reservations bearing the statement that it is to be a "HHONORS Ceretificate," which also clearly indicates that it is to be an award stay.

As I have noted above, I do expect an explanation for what occurred, why I was not notified initially, or even now, and I also am curious what finally spurred them to action -- was it my e-mail that was targeted to certain individuals in the Hilton organization who, shall we just say are well placed, or was it my post here on Flyer Talk that clearly demonstrated the significant change that was made to my reservation. Pehaps it was both and I shall never know at all, but if I do learn of its genesis, I shall surely report same back to you.

Thank you all for your comments and assistance.



[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 05-30-2003).]

From my experiences in travel, I categorize problems that occur to me into two: One in which I cannot depend on anyone to solve it on my behalf (despite published rules) and I have to personally get it solved in any way I can think of. Any retributions/compensations can come later after the problem is solved.

The other category in which the problem is not that critical for me but I am indignant about the entity that created it in the first place and expect that entity or others to solve it for me as I am entitled.

The first category works the best for getting the problem resolved even if it is not critical. There are very few organizations (air, car or hotel) that can hold up consistently well under the second category two except perhaps Starwood.

I think you have an unrealistic expectation of what HH can do for you (regardless of what they ought to do) and giving them more chances to fail to meet your expectations wouldn't help anyone other than the therapeutic effect of venting here. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I speak of experience from being in that similar position.

I'm glad that it seems to have worked itself out. I'm tired from all the reading now, so I'll keep it brief and add just one point.

In the comments section of the reservation, I take it upon myself to edit the reference to the certificate by adding the certificate number; that way, there's no doubt about certificate goes with which stay. Also, heaven forbid I would forget the certificate, that remark would add some leverage and buy me some time, maybe.

--Grog--

"it is now almost 2 hours of my own time that I have spent in trying to resolve this matter and suffice it to say, I expect not only to stay at the Paddington Hilton on points, I also expect some compensation for the time and aggravation this already caused me."

With all due respect - if you have the time to sit down and write these massive posts, I don't think you can really get upset about 2 hours of lost time, as you obviously have a fair amount of free time on your hands as it is.

Yes, problems sometimes occur. They can be frustrating. Its happened to me once or twice. With such a massive organization / corporation, s**t happens on occasion - they owe it to you to fix it and make it right. In this case - they owe you your free stay in the hotel of your choice. If they cannot do that - they either owe you an acceptable alternative or a refund of your points. Compensation would be nice, but its not anything you're owed or should expect - although I realize some people think that any inconvenience means that someone owes them something. I guess for some people a free hotel stay isn't good enough - it has to be 'just right'. And that's fine - but if the change they made is that big of a deal - cancel the reservation altogether and go elsewhere.

[This message has been edited by Tober138 (edited 05-30-2003).]

Tober138:

It has not taken me very long to post this stuff here as it is but a recitation of what I have sent to Hilton via cut and paste.

Perhaps I just type faster than you do.

With respect to S--t happening, yes it does.

The last place that one should expect such occurrences as a change in plans, or a wholesale revamping of a reservation without any notice whatsoever, is from a business that prides itself in providing hospitality to one of its guests.

I see from your posts that you are new here.
Perhaps if you were to read some posts from people who expect to get something for nothing as a result of a minor keystroke mistake on the part of a data processing orperator, then I might agree with your analysis.

As I noted above, I was even willing to switch for one night to accommodate the hotel if the reason was due to overbooking and I sought no extra compensation for that.

What I do seek, now, is that I was left in the dark for a number of days on a reservation that was not even made by me and which I had no notice of.

I look forward to your experiencing a similar event and then we will see just how happy you are with the changed circumstances.

And no, it is not a "free" night as you would put it, as I worked very hard in garnering those 50,000 plus HHonors points, thank you very much.

If on the other hand, my nights were now comped, that would be another story.

QED

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Tober138:
if you have the time to sit down and write these massive posts, I don't think you can really get upset about 2 hours of lost time</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

Well, the reward reservation has been properly adjusted now and HHonors is taking steps to assuage my aggravation concerning this matter.

I thank those who have provided me with support during this matter, and just to let you know, I was informed that this nut was cracked by someon having read this thead -- perhaps Eugene called his friends at HHonors? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

In any event, the supervisore with whom I spoke initially thought this had resulted from a keystroke error, which I had doubted and told her so, especially since it was HHonors personnel who had advised that this was now a paid stay reservation.

However, after reading the notes in the record, she was flabbergasted as the hotel had unilaterally changed my reservation to the Park Lane without any notice to me and that it was now a paid reservation!

In any event, the moral is to keep on being persistent, to rely upon your friends here at FT, and ignore those "johnny come lately" -- or whatever their uncommon name may be -- critics whose culture might expect and look favorably upon many hours of haggling over an item.

I, for one, do not, especially when it comes to one's vacation plans. I do enough of that stuff at the office so that is the last thing that I wish to do outside of my job where my intention is to kick up my legs and relax, obviously, that is not how all see it, but to each -- his own, I guess. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 06-02-2003).]

I felt addressed with the eye-rolling (I'm sensitive, I suppose), so I can't resist an opportunity to respond before this thread gets the axe.

I personally drew some additional morals from the experience.

After first discovering a problem and advising Hilton HHonors, I will allow more than 12 hours to pass before flaming an entire institution with a thread entitled "a new low".

And, after contacting Hilton USA, I will consider waiting more than just "nearly a full 24 hours" before undermining their efforts to correct the situation by then sending multiple-target e-mails throughout the institution.

For any institution with whom I'm not willing to cut ties, I will probably avoid using terms like "I seriously doubt whether I will ever hear from anyone", "It should come as no surprise then, that I have not heard from...", "of course, no one...has bothered to contact me" all in one post.

I'll definitely not use a term like "...exemplify the truly dismal customer service 'Brand X' dispenses to its membership" and then turn around and continue to patronize their establishments.

LBNL, we're human; we can and will mistakes--most likely one of my mine is in posting this. I'll stay persistent and cordial, and avoid behavior that in most cultures might be considered to border on rude or boorish. Afterall, with any luck, I'm living in someone else's world everyday of my life.

--Grog--

Your sentiments are noted and welcomed, regardless of the reception you thought that they would receive.

However, I might point out to you that by the time I had sent the e-mail to the multiple targets, 22 hours at the very least had elapsed since the intial phone calls to Hilton and Hilton's initial phone call inquiry to the hotel, wherein they were promised by someone in hotel management to respond to their inquiry just as soon as he had finished the computer run for that day.

Inasmuch as London is 5 hours ahead of East Coast USA time, the Hilton Paddington had a full business day and quite then some to respond, as they had assured Hilton USA that they would, to this inquiry.

They did not, nor did Hilton USA apparently contact the hotel during the next business day -- during either the ensuing UK business day nor the American business day.

As I have noted above, I had a similar incident occur this past January with a hotel that Hilton is responsible for and the Hilton customer service personnel ostensibly investigating the matter. That incident took many days to resolve and movement was only made by my putting a deadline for matters to be resolved by. In that context, I was not willing for this to be yet another repetition of that experience. Had you encountered a similar problem less than six months before with the same entity, you, too, might have set such a deadline to see that things were at the very least moving the correct direction. Having let the business days on both sides of the Atlantic elapse, I do believe that I was not acting in a hasty manner.

Finally, as I have alluded to above, it may very well have been someone here on FT who used his/her contacts in the Hilton organization to set the ball rolling so as to make things right.

Given that now three (3) separate and distinct Hilton personnel have advised me that the hotel unilaterally changed my reward stay to a paid stay at an entirely different hotel without so much as a word to me, and that they failed to contact their colleagues in the USA despite their assurances that they would do so, one can only assume that they were going to be non-compliant given that they were caught "red-handed" altering a reservation in a most egregious manner, without my permission.

Although others might take a lacksidasical attitude to this circumstance, I for one, was not going to given my recent past experiences with Hilton "reward" reservations, and the sheer astonishment that was conveyed to me by the Hilton USA reps at what this hotel had done.

In the end, we will agree to disagree, but thank you for your comments.

Don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it's situations like this where it helps to have an alternative plan. I'm sure many of us at FT can empathize with how much time it takes to make travel plans and "maximize" your trip everyway possible. In fact, I sometimes feel I spend more time planning vacations than working some weeks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

I have recently found that the Starwood program has been more than generous with Hilton Diamonds/Golds when it comes to status. In addition, I have become enamoured with some their chains, W in particular.

If it was me, now that everything has been resolved, I would do the following:
1) Peruse the Starwood board to find out how to get comped equivalent status.
2) Once you have your status, book at a Starwood property in London and fax a copy of you reservation back to Hilton requesting your Paddington now be cancelled and you have decided to take your business elsewhere for this particular trip. A simple comment like: "In the future, I hope that Hilton properties and their managers recognize the importance of customer service when it comes keeping my business."

Just my 2 cents http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

crAAzy:

Constructive comments are always welcome especially from one who can empathize. However, although the poster prior to you alluded to this, I have not responded directly to his/her statement.

I have not stated that I have recently patronized Hilton or associated properties for paid stays -- but I have not.

Given that I have had such trouble in attempting to redeem my very first reward stay from them -- and I have yet to do this, despite having garnered well in excess of 500,000 HHonors points over the years, they have a lot to demonstrate to me that they are a chain that will garner my buisness ever again.

That has now gone to Hyatt where I am Diamond and Marriott where I hold Gold status. Moreover, I have experienced EXCELLENT customer service from these properties when things go wrong and they at least make an attempt to start to remedy matters within 1 business day, AND they keep you informed.

I am sure that Starwood is the same due to the excellent troubleshooting abillity of William, and company, and this, too, stands in direct contradistinction to Hilton's presence on this board which is almost non-existent -- despite their daily reading of these posts -- unless you happen to be one of the annointed HHonors members who actually get a response from the Flyertalk/Hilton e-mail address.

I do not begrudge the small number of this board who do, as I believe that their contacting Hilton HHonors on my behalf helped to resolve this matter in my favor.

The upshot is that Hilton has to make a great deal of effort to once againg capture my business. However, they have some time to do this, as it will take me time to run down all those points that I have accumulated. In the interim, my paid stays will largely go to their competitors until such time as they demonstrate a renewed sense of commitment to my business, as they used to when they had manned this board with a responsive customer service department.

Starwood may well be in my future, but it is difficult to split oneself between many programs and maintain status in all of them.

Thank you for your input.

There is a girl at Hilton HHonors who sounds very ditsey and has been purposely screwing up everyone's reservations. I arrived at Hilton GI Renton, WA to find my reservation was cancelled when I never even asked her to access it (she didn't even have the number). She claimed to have cancelled another one.

In fact she cancelled all of my reservations, everywhere. I had to rebook them all. Anyway to get her fired? Who wants to call the clown service for future use?

NJUPINTHEAIR,

"In the end, we will agree to disagree, but thank you for your comments." What have we agreed to disagree on? Remaining cordial? Patronizing businesses that we apparently loath?

My point is simply for us all to keep it in perspective. Slamming entire institutions for a few individuals' (non-institutionized) errors takes it out of perspective. I suppose that's what we'll disagree on.

--Grog--

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Grog:

What have we agreed to disagree on? Remaining cordial? Patronizing businesses that we apparently loath?

My point is simply for us all to keep it in perspective. Slamming entire institutions for a few individuals' (non-institutionized) errors takes it out of perspective. I suppose that's what we'll disagree on.

--Grog--</font>


Well, if you consider two (2) screw-ups to the only two (2) Reward reservations that I have ever made, and that these two (2) screw-ups on these two (2) Reward reservations each occurred within six (6) months of one another, but nevertheless, you insist on viewing it as an isolated incident, well that is your perspective, but it certainly will not be mine.

I guess that is how we will agree to disagree. Your response can be viewed as a tad less cordial than I had hoped, but notwithstanding that fact, I shall endeavor to keep this discussion focused.

As to your comment concerning patronizing buisnesses that one apparently loathes, if you had taken the time to read my posts a bit more carefully, as I have noted in this post and elswhere, above, I have not redeemed my reward points previously, and therefore, prior to these two (2) events, I had no reason to "loathe" Hilton. However, as I also have noted above, I have not made ANY stays at Hilton this year, despite having made numerous stays at both Hyatt and Marriott.

So yes, I do vote with my feet, and I am certainly consistent with my sentiments about not patronizing businesses that show me little respect. Moreover, as I have noted above, if my reception at Hilton should change while I am (hopefully) drawing down upon my 500,000 accumulated HHonors points then I might change my mind and/or "perspective."

However, until then, Hilton shall not receive any new business from me apart from any indicdentals I might incur while staying there on a reward stay.

For those of you who might be interested:

1) At Hyatt, where I am a Diamond member, my GP points post within 1 day of my check-out 95% of the time, the reservation and customer service agents are always helpful, I earn 1 free night for every 2 paid stays at any Hyatt as long as I pay with a MC, and I already have booked 2 free nights in advance at the Park Hyatt Chicago.


2). I have just received an e-mail from the Paddington Hilton disclaiming all knowledge of their changing my reservation -- despite the fact that three (3) HHonors reps or Customer Srvc agents have told me that they did so. Should be interesting.

So, in answer to your post, Grog, I am quite pleased with my general perspective on such matters, especially when it comes to hotel loyalty programs.

Thank you for your input.

I'd appreciate keeping this discouse civil, addressing issues and not posters...it's been a very interesting thread so far...

thanks for your cooperation

squeakr
Moderator Hilton

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Grog:

I felt addressed with the eye-rolling (I'm sensitive, I suppose), so I can't resist an opportunity to respond before this thread gets the axe.

--Grog--</font>

Grog --

I should have stated this sooner, but the eye-rolling was in no way, shape, or form addressed to you or any of the comments that you had made.

I am sorry for the late reply and the misperception that you were the intended target, as you most certainly were not.

Regards,

NJ

I am happy to report that I have been in contact with a person of authority at the hotel and my concerns have been given due consideration and I look forward to a very pleasant stay at this property.

As the Bard once said, "All's well that ends well."

Thank you to those who lent support during this most trying time.

[This message has been edited by NJUPINTHEAIR (edited 06-05-2003).]