Hilton HHonors - Any luck on upgrades at Hilton NY on PL booking?

Hi folks,

Wondering if anyone has had any luck of recent of being upgrades as a HH Gold or HH Diamond on a Priceline stay at the NY Hilton & Towers?

Any tips or tricks I should use? Perhaps call HRWW and ask them to drop my HH # into the resevation? Or is a expected that I will get that noisy room next to the elevator than I bump my head on when I get up off the bed???!

Upgrades on PL stays can be tricky, and largely depend on how the property you visit is run and the desk clerk you get. You should absolutely call Hilton res and get your HH number in the reservation. If they tell you that you cannot earn points on Priceline, tell them you want the number in the reservation so that you will earn points on your incidental charges. If the reservation is linked to your Honors number, you may then be able to access the reservation when you are signed in on the Hilton web site, and edit the comments requesting an upgrade. However, at other times, the system will not allow you to display a PL res even if your HH number is in the reservation. So it will be hit or miss, but worth trying for.

I have stayed at the NY Hilton a number of times, both on Priceline and conventional reservations. While at one time they recognized top tier HH benefits while on a Priceline stay, they no longer do.

Having said that, you won't necessarily get one of the "closets" that they like to assign Priceline guests which contain only one queen bed and are located behind the elevators. I've always insisted and received one of their regular rooms. Just be insistent.

You will not get lounge access for breakfast while on a Priceline reservation. The lounge is on the 44th floor, and it seems that there is only a person "guarding" entrance on the weekends. Weekdays, anyone could enter and likely no one would question you. I personally would feel funny using the lounge when I'm not entitled to. The way that they know who is entitled to enter the lounge is by the color of your electronic room key. A plain while key with the Hilton logo means conventional reservation. A multi-colored room key means a rate not eligible for lounge access, regardless of HH status.

[This message has been edited by ac/elite (edited Nov 24, 2003).]

Perhaps their policy has changed recently. I stayed here three weeks ago on a Priceline reservation and, while I was given one of the "elevator" rooms, as an HH Gold I was also allowed access to the 44th floor lounge. Also, all my incidentals received account credit. Overall, I was quite pleased.

I was able to get an upgrade to the executive floor and also access to the lounge on a recent Priceline stay. I checked in at the Hhonors line, and actually showed them my Hhonors card since the reservations desk will not add the number to priceline reservations.