Group and Event Travel Planning - Hhonors points for outrageous catering

I've got to conduct a seminar next weekend at a Hilton. I wasn't planning on staying at this particular hotel, but I could. My assistant tells me we have been hammered into a rate of $95 per participant for the room rental and catering. Surprisingly, instead of the 20 people we were expecting, we are nearing 60, which is the capacity for the room.

Nobody is staying overnight, except possibly for me.

Anyone have any winning strategies for convincing the hotel to award me SOME sort of Hhonors points for what will become a $6000 bill? On a previous occasion, I asked and was told flat-out to drop dead unless we were going to rent at least 10 rooms for the night.......

Maybe they will charge it to your room.

Then charge it to your HHonors Amex... ;-)

Ok, this is kind of a Marriott answer to a Hilton ?. But Marriott awards points for mtgs held at their hotels. Check Hilton's website or Hilton - not the hotel.

If Hilton doesn't, put the bill on your cc & get points that way.

Edited to add: how did you get 'hammered'? you had to sign a contract that had rates, so there were no surprises. and unforunately while 20 or 60 is a lot to you, it's not for the hotel.

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Sharon

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited Feb 29, 2004).]

From the T&C

7. Charges in connection with banquets or other catering functions are not eligible for point accrual, with the exception of points earned from qualifying meetings or events through the Hilton HHonors Event Planner and the Meeting Planner Bonus Programs.



Which then links you to

http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/points/meeting.jhtml

As far as I understand Hilton policy, you must stay at the hotel to get the catering points added to your HHonors account.

Where is this place. Exorbitant charges http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I got the meeting planners bonus in conjunction with my wedding at the Hilton Rye Town in November, but I did stay at the hotel. Might be worth biting the bullet for a room, or using HH points to get a room so you can get 60K points, especially if you redeem those points for PS stays down the road somewhere else.

Getting points for this is something you should have thought about before agreeing to the deal with the hotel. A hotel manager is usually very willing to cut deals -- including giving you hh points -- to secure events like this. But once you've signed on to use this hotel, they're not going to do anything for you. What you're doing is kind of like going back to the car dealer a week later to ask for some more free options, after you've bought the car. They may do it out of good will, or if you'll be buying another car soon, but don't hold your breath.

Actually, it's one in a series of seminars and are scheduled by others. Speaking with the hotel catering manager, who we signed the contract with, resulted in a promise to put it all on my room invoice. So they did. And today, I got no points for the $6000 bill; perhaps due to rules as above.

Will call and see if I get any mercy, due to promise.....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mikey1003:
As far as I understand Hilton policy, you must stay at the hotel to get the catering points added to your HHonors account.</font>Actually not. From the US/Canada Event Planning Terms and Conditions:

4. The Event Planner bonus recipient does not have to be a registered guest or attend the meeting. The Event Planner bonus recipient must be a member of Hilton HHonors to receive HHonors bonus points. Individuals can be instantly enrolled in HHonors to meet this eligibility requirement.

Also, the person to receive the points must be mentioned in the contract.

Full Ts and Cs:

http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/terms.jhtml#event_planner_program_-_u.s.,_canada_and_caribbean

I have argued with Hilton about this issue and the only thing I could get out of the deal were comped rooms for our key people and the speaker.