Hilton HHonors - The party may be over, HH may take back points awarded on Reward Stays

The following is a letter ( as an e-mail) I recieved from the Diamond desk today regarding a "force" I requested a few days ago

the bolded area is mine

August 08, 2005

Dear Mr. M.S, HHonors Account Number: XXXXX
Thank you for your recent HHonors reward request. We are glad to have had the opportunity to work with
you in securing a reservation for you to utilize your HHonors points. Please accept this letter as
confirmation of your reservation at the Caribe Hilton from 2/19/2006 - 2/20/2006 for 1 room for 1 night.
Your confirmation number is XXXXXXXX. Hilton HHonors Rewards are valid for standard accommodations. Based on your Diamond VIP status, please feel free to request a room upgrade upon
check-in. Your request will be given priority attention.
As you know, there are a limited number of rooms available for HHonors Reward redemption at any given
hotel, on any given night. Once these rooms are reserved, no additional reward rooms are accepted.
Based on your membership level in the HHonors program, we have made special arrangements with the
hotel to allow you to utilize your HHonors points. HHonors will deduct a total of 35,000 points for the
reward(s) redeemed for this stay as follows:
Reward Description Points
C501 One free night 35,000
This letter serves as confirmation of your reward reservation. There is no need for you to request any certificates. The hotel has received notice of your arrival. At check-in, you will be asked to provide a credit card to cover any incidental charges, as well as any applicable taxes. These arrangements have been communicated to the hotel. In the process of setting up these arrangements, your account may inadvertently receive point credit.

Reward reservations are not eligible for point accrual; therefore, the posting will be reversed.

Any changes to these special arrangements must be approved by the HHonors Service Center prior to your arrival. Should you need to cancel this reservation, you must do so no less than 3 days prior to arrival.
Should you not arrive, or fail to cancel your reservation by that time, you will be charged one night’s room and tax at the hotel’s prevailing rate for your scheduled arrival night.

Thank you again for your request. Best wishes for a safe trip…have a wonderful time….and thank you for your continued HHonors business!
Sincerely,
Janice Thompson
Diamond Special Services
HHonors Customer Service Center

This could well be a result of some us ( and I have been guilty as others :) ) posting here that they received ADDITIONAL points, other than room charges on reward stays.
Will see how this turns out.

mike

That is standard text, I have received that as well. Hasn't happened yet, though.

That is standard text, I have received that as well. Hasn't happened yet, though.

Oh OK I might not have carefully read the other letters and for at least two
other instances I got only an e-mail confimation.

If so sorry about the false alarm :D

mike

You got the letter because your reservation was made via a Diamond Force. HHonors pays the hotel more for a Diamond Force than if the hotel had just accepted points for a normal award stay. Sometimes members accidentally earn points based on the rate that HHonors paid for the room. These points are outside of the rules for points accrual and it wouldn't surrise me if a Hilton audit made those points go away after you've had them credit to your account.

On the other hand, I've always earned points based on eligible incidentals charged to the room during an award stay.

You got the letter because your reservation was made via a Diamond Force. HHonors pays the hotel more for a Diamond Force than if the hotel had just accepted points for a normal award stay. Sometimes members accidentally earn points based on the rate that HHonors paid for the room. These points are outside of the rules for points accrual and it wouldn't surrise me if a Hilton audit made those points go away after you've had them credit to your account.

On the other hand, I've always earned points based on eligible incidentals charged to the room during an award stay.

I have had Daimond forces before, one just two weeks ago in fact where I did not get a letter. Plus I have gotten points for rewards stays which were based on what HH pays the hotel, multiple times over the last few years and even before they gave points on incidentals (and as recent as March) which they have not taken back ...so far.

mike

I got that once. I called HHonors to confirm what it meant. It just means that points stays do not accrue points for the stay except for incidental charges but you will earn stay credit. If they audit later and find that you got points for what Hilton paid them they will take those points away but not the stay credit. Just as the rules state. So don't worry about it.

I received the same letter in May for a stay this summer. Not to worry.

Do you still get credit for the room nights towards Diamond

Award stays earn both stay and night credits.

That's certainly been my intepretation - and experience. I've never had problems with incidentals expenses earning points.

I got that once. I called HHonors to confirm what it meant. It just means that points stays do not accrue points for the stay except for incidental charges but you will earn stay credit. If they audit later and find that you got points for what Hilton paid them they will take those points away but not the stay credit. Just as the rules state. So don't worry about it.

Did the same thing a couple months ago... no worries. All the points posted and they haven't been deducted.