Hilton HHonors - Deceptive "free" movie rates and policies

Last night I stayed at the Homewood Suites in Newark, CA where my rate at booking time was noted like this:INCLUDES ONE IN-ROOM MOVIE UP TO $9.99 (ONE MOVIE PER STAY).At checkin nothing was said about this by the clerk or on my checkin papers so I asked and was told that I was signed up for that promo. I'll cut right to the chase and say that there were lots of problems with this promo:
There were no $9.99 movies to choose from. The least expensive was $10.99. So, my room rate did not include any movie at all, only part of the cost of a movie.
At checkout nothing was removed from my bill until I asked about the promo. It then became clear after talking with the clerk that one must specifically remember to ask at checkout in order to receive credit. Otherwise, you will not receive any.
The clerk insisted that the only way she could credit me the $9.99 was to adjust the room rate. While this works out to the proper amount, most companies do not reimburse their employees for movies and thus such a recalculation is NOT acceptable.
The GM was not in when I checked out and the clerk said that they had received complaints about this before. I plan on letting the GM know how I feel. The room was fine but I certainly am not "100% satisfied."

Do others find the above to be deliberately misleading and deceptive?

Yes, I agree that you should have gotten credit for a $10.99 movie. My guess is that the movies used to be $9.99 and they raised the price in the time between your making the reservation and your stay. The deal, it seems to me, is for a free standard movie though: you should have gotten the $9.99 credit.

I'm not sure that it was deliberate, though. Seems to me more likely that what you saw was a result of dull-headedness on several individuals' parts.

Yes, I agree that you should have gotten credit for a $10.99 movie. My guess is that the movies used to be $9.99 and they raised the price in the time between your making the reservation and your stay. The deal, it seems to me, is for a free standard movie though: you should have gotten the $9.99 credit.

I'm not sure that it was deliberate, though. Seems to me more likely that what you saw was a result of dull-headedness on several individuals' parts.The Hilton web site still has the $9.99 deal available. Nothing has changed between the time I made my reservation a couple of days ago and today. As far as the deception, for most promos the hotels include a coupon at checkin, or at least they mention something. In this case, it was as if they were hoping I'd just forget about the whole thing. The way they handled it I was led to believe that this has happened more than a few times and that the desk clerks bear the brunt of some idiotic decisions on the part of management.

While I feel your pain and agree with your assessment of the deceptiveness of this practice, the real question remains:

What movie did you see? ;)

I feel your pain. I am under the illusion that FT board has the clout to take the travel companies to task and have them respond "officially" to a situation like yours.

I would love to see more "official" lurkers from these travel companies a la Mr. Sanders from Starwood.

What movie did you see? ;)A forgetable comedy that wasn't worth nearly even $9.99.

I have spoken with the hotel manager and things have been settled to my satisfaction. Among other things, they are going to ensure that the staff properly handles the details of promotions in the future.