Hilton HHonors - Diamond Award Availability Question

I am a new Hilton Diamond after earning 100,000 base points. Mrs. TheCruiser and I today attempted to make an award room request at the Hilton Barbados. Two different Diamond Desk agents stated that since their is not a "standard room" available that I could not get an award room reserved. There are rooms available for purchase that are classified as the following:
KING EXECUTIVE PLUS
DBL DBL GUEST ROOM PLUS - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL HILTON DELUXE - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL EXECUTIVE PLUS
KING ONE BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE
KING TWO BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL ONE BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE

Shouldn't I be able to obtain a GLONP award at this property? From what I understand, this property is not under extraordinary demand this week; so shouldn't my Diamond guarantee for no black dates apply?

From HHonors: "Enjoy HHonors Hotel Rewards without Blackout Dates: Diamond VIP members may redeem points for HHonors hotel rewards nearly any time, with the only exception being during specified Extraordinary Demand Dates at certain hotels. To make reservations for your reward stays, please contact the Diamond VIP desk at 1-888-HHONORS."

I would call again and ask again. You might consider calling the hotel as well. I don't see anything in the above that says an award stay has to be in a standard room. I've gotten an upgraded room as an award when the room was available only by calling the Diamond line. I haven't stayed at this hotel though. Maybe this particular hotel is not as accommodating. I am interested in seeing what other responses you get from the FT experts.

RWW

I wonder if you've talked to two inexperienced agents. I have, just the last two nights. Tonight, I wanted to switch a paid reservation to award. The Diamond agent was unable to do it, saying that standard rooms were sold out. I then went on to make the reservation online - very easily, I have to say. I already had a cert for one night, so she released the cert that was automatically generated and attached the number of the cert I have in hand. The agent was very sweet, but seemed very inept.

Your inability to make an award reservation at the Barbados Hilton when rooms are available makes no sense to me. I've had Diamond forces done easily in such a case.

Call, call again.

Cruiser - its definitely a case of the wrong person at the wrong time at the right help desk. keep trying and you will get your reward room.

I am a new Hilton Diamond after earning 100,000 base points. Mrs. TheCruiser and I today attempted to make an award room request at the Hilton Barbados. Two different Diamond Desk agents stated that since their is not a "standard room" available that I could not get an award room reserved. There are rooms available for purchase that are classified as the following:
KING EXECUTIVE PLUS
DBL DBL GUEST ROOM PLUS - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL HILTON DELUXE - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL EXECUTIVE PLUS
KING ONE BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE
KING TWO BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE
DBL DBL ONE BEDROOM SUITE - FLEXIBLE RATE

Shouldn't I be able to obtain a GLONP award at this property? From what I understand, this property is not under extraordinary demand this week; so shouldn't my Diamond guarantee for no black dates apply?

Cruiser - its definitely a case of the wrong person at the wrong time at the right help desk. keep trying and you will get your reward room.




I wonder if you did get your reward? I am having the save experience with Diamond Agents refusing to book because they show no standard awards.

I've checked the Barbados Hilton for award availibility throughout the next year and couldn't find any at all. I think they've got it restricted for some reason, maybe because rooms are $600 plus a night!

I've checked the Barbados Hilton for award availibility throughout the next year and couldn't find any at all. I think they've got it restricted for some reason, maybe because rooms are $600 plus a night!



But can they do this according to the HHonors terms? According to the last agent I spoke with his supervisor concurred that rooms would not be allowed to Daimonds because they have an allocation for reward rooms and will not go above that.

I've checked the Barbados Hilton for award availibility throughout the next year and couldn't find any at all. I think they've got it restricted for some reason, maybe because rooms are $600 plus a night!

I wonder if this has been refused for the same reason they refused me a Diamond Award reservation at the Doubletree Times Square in New York. When the agent saw room rates over $500, she said she couldn't even try the Diamond Force. See:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=462774

Is this a new rule perhaps?

I wonder if this has been refused for the same reason they refused me a Diamond Award reservation at the Doubletree Times Square in New York. When the agent saw room rates over $500, she said she couldn't even try the Diamond Force. See:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=462774

Is this a new rule perhaps?Damn well better not be!! :mad:

I've had no problems getting award rooms in Europe (Paris, Rome) where $500/night is par for the course.

Just why do they think we go out of our way to stay at Hampton Inns and so on?

I'm sure they are willing to lose a few loyal $89/night Hampton regulars in order to sell a $500+ per night room at full price. These things shouldn't be called loyalty programs because the loyalty is only one-sided.

I would not be surprised if HHonors is trying to hit certain financial targets for management pay-out .... and some of that involves not paying up for Diamond awards.

If HHonors stops getting award rooms for Diamonds, the benefit of being HHonors Diamond will have severely diminished.

I cannot believe the response I heard when requesting a reservation for Barbados for 2 nights! We have a mutual account with over 1 million points and my husband has been very loyal to Hilton with 146 nights stayed to date this year. Does anyone have the name of a higher up who might have more of a sense of the bigger picture?

We have upcoming reservations for another couple of months at Hilton hotels. They call this a 'loyalty' program.

I'm going to call up tomorrow and see if I get the same type of answer. It appears that Hilton needs to get its act together -- for Diamonds -- far better than is apparent in this thread.

I do recommend calling daytime work hours - I think that would get you the senior, more experienced D Desk staffers. I've had some rather incomplete initeractions some weekends or evenings.

As for expensive places not cutting any award accomodation, we stayed at Hilton Athens late June on an award, with no no problem - it was pretty crowded, they were hosting an event and could not give us a Club Floor room, but they gave us the next floor down, Acropolis view and Club Room access. ^

I called earlier today and talked to a supervisor after talking with the agent. I said from Nov 1st - Jan 1st there was not a six day period that had "standard" rooms, although they had bounceback, Advance Purchase, etc. They were apologetic but said only standard rooms could be booked. The DDesk even called the hotel after my insistence. Hotel said no.

I knew this hotel was not going to be an easy book and I knew they would come up with some bogus excuse to keep Diamond members out of this hotel. For example, there is no way that Dec 1st - Dec 8th does not have Standard rooms available, this is a notoriuosly slow time in the Caribbean.

Great move Hilton, no promos and can't book a Diamond free room...

Send an email to flyertalk@hilton.com. Its purpose is to bring issues like this to the attention of HH management.

I do recommend calling daytime work hours - I think that would get you the senior, more experienced D Desk staffers. I've had some rather incomplete initeractions some weekends or evenings.

As for expensive places not cutting any award accomodation, we stayed at Hilton Athens late June on an award, with no no problem - it was pretty crowded, they were hosting an event and could not give us a Club Floor room, but they gave us the next floor down, Acropolis view and Club Room access. ^


I definitely called during daytime work hours---twice to two different agents.

Barbados now seems to be a real problem getting awards. Much more than Rome or Paris, or even in the past when Hilton had Jalousie St. Lucia. They seem to have their own rules.

Glad you had success in Athens, but each property seems to have their own challenges.

It seems that many people are interested in award reservations at the Hilton Barbados. When someone next calls the Diamond Desk to book an award reservation, can you please do us a favor and ask what the specified Extraordinary Demand Dates are at the Hilton Barbados through next August 2006. That might help some people in their travel planning, and also give us a better understanding of why people are having trouble making award reservations. Thank you.

The Diamond Desk is not noting extreme demand dates. As noted above, they will not book a Diamond award if there are no standard rooms available for a reservation. So you may see that there are all other categories available and you cannot book a reward. Strange, but true

Maybe they have no "standard rooms" at all and/or never load(-ed) them. If they don't make award rooms available at good times of the year for HHonors Diamonds, then this should be a clear sign to many of us to move on from HHonors Diamond and shop elsewhere.

Wasn't there just such an issue in an HHonors' forum thread that NJUPINTHEAIR brought up in some "open letter" to Adam Burke? I think Adam Burke said he would get back to either us on FT or to NJUPINTHEAIR personally. Anyone know the results of that?

i talked to a hilton manager, and he told me that hotels can manage to block out diamonds even if we should be able to redeem an award every time.

this is against the hilton rules , and hilton should punish these hotels.


dp

Maybe they have no "standard rooms" at all and/or never load(-ed) them. If they don't make award rooms available at good times of the year for HHonors Diamonds, then this should be a clear sign to many of us to move on from HHonors Diamond and shop elsewhere.

Wasn't there just such an issue in an HHonors' forum thread that NJUPINTHEAIR brought up in some "open letter" to Adam Burke? I think Adam Burke said he would get back to either us on FT or to NJUPINTHEAIR personally. Anyone know the results of that?

I hope someone at Hilton is listening. I use both Starwood and Hilton properties, and access to premiere reward vacation locations is a key driver for me. If Hilton allows properties to freeze out reward stays, the HHonors program will sink further behind SPG. Right now, in addition to "we have a room, you have a room" policies for reward nights, Starwood also allows point upgrades at many properties - which is great to secure a suite or ocean view for a family vacation.

.
For example, there is no way that Dec 1st - Dec 8th does not have Standard rooms available, this is a notoriuosly slow time in the Caribbean........
.

Sorry about your problems, but this statement is totally incorrect. It is a VERY busy time. And it gets even busier as the winter progresses.

MisterNice

...But I thought that the "Diamond force" could be applied to awards reservaions. The Diamond force only comes into play when the hotel doesn't have rooms available. Why wouldn't it come into play in the Barados case?

I hope someone at Hilton is listening. I use both Starwood and Hilton properties, and access to premiere reward vacation locations is a key driver for me. If Hilton allows properties to freeze out reward stays, the HHonors program will sink further behind SPG. Right now, in addition to "we have a room, you have a room" policies for reward nights, Starwood also allows point upgrades at many properties - which is great to secure a suite or ocean view for a family vacation.

Not quite true, it is a misconception that SPG will give the "last room" in the house ( often promoted by the SPG "fans" ) they will give the last room in the CATAGORY AVAILABLE FOR AWARDS and no more.
It might that SPG has more catogories/room types available for awards, but the " Diamond Force" ala HH do not exist with SPG.
This has been discussed on the SPG board over and over again.

mike

Interesting some of the posts here ( especially people jumping to all sorts conclusions)

The Barbados Hilton seems to have become the new “hot property “ and I rather suspect that awards are not going to be readily available all the time .
It cant be without some significance that OP did NOT mention the dates they were seeking awards for since this topic came up here before and the hotel is fully booked for a special event I believe over New Years.

travelforfree
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Alabama
Programs: US *Alliance Gold, PC Platinum, HHonors Gold, Avis Preferred Select
Posts: 33
I've checked the Barbados Hilton for award availibility throughout the next year and couldn't find any at all. I think they've got it restricted for some reason, maybe because rooms are $600 plus a night!


Not necessarily true, I was able to get the Diamond desk to secure reservations for 2/13/06 through 2/16/06 and again on 2/18/06 through 2/21/06 Then just under ten days ago I got them to get me an AXON award ( 4 days ) from 2/21 through 2/26 and after receiving the confirmation of the latter, some four days later I cancelled the two earlier.

So at one time I had three Diamond force reservations at the hotel all the time the lowest available rate for the property was $750.00
Now perhaps it is harder to secure GLONP that I cannot tell.

But I would say my success contradicts a lot of the “ experiences and speculations” of others posted here.
Note the above period is very, very busy in the entire Caribbean I was able to get only a Diamond force at the Caribe Hilton (San Juan) and no awards at all at the Westin in St Johns, V.I.

mike

Mikesilv, when you made your Feb reservation for Barbados, do you recall if there were standard rooms available. This seems to be the sticking point. There are other categories of room available, but a reward reservation will not be made unless there are standard rooms available. I secured a reward reservation for earlier in Feb but the later dates seem to be the problem as no standard rooms are available.

Not quite true, it is a misconception that SPG will give the "last room" in the house ( often promoted by the SPG "fans" ) they will give the last room in the CATAGORY AVAILABLE FOR AWARDS and no more.
It might that SPG has more catogories/room types available for awards, but the " Diamond Force" ala HH do not exist with SPG.
This has been discussed on the SPG board over and over again.

mike

It is true that SPG does not allow standard room redemption (which is the default reward level) if all standard rooms are sold out at a particular property, but the definition of "standard rooms" is not a subset designated by the hotel for reward redemption only. Also, most properties allow for advance booking of suites or premiere rooms (regardless of standard room availability) for higher point redemption values, which is a great benefit when travelling with family instead of having to wait for automatic upgrades on arrival. I think the oft quoted "Diamond Force" is a great benefit for HHonors Diamond members but ONLY IF IT REALLY WORKS 100% of the time. If individual hotels are allowed to opt out, the value of Diamond Status will decrease substantially, as will the value of the HHonors program overall. I am currently hoping to achieve Diamond status the traditional way by October of this year, but I certainly plan on monitoring any/all HHonors policy changes with respect to Diamond benefits since that my alter my future travel plans.

CH

SPG has made rooms available up through and including suites. Specialty room type awards (including suites) are an option there at a higher point threshold in a way that HHonors apparently may not always (if ever) make available for Diamond-member awards.

Mikesilv, when you made your Feb reservation for Barbados, do you recall if there were standard rooms available. This seems to be the sticking point. There are other categories of room available, but a reward reservation will not be made unless there are standard rooms available. I secured a reward reservation for earlier in Feb but the later dates seem to be the problem as no standard rooms are available.

Thats a question I am unable to answer with complete assurance, BUT
basically I went to the HH website to make a ( paid ) reservation at the hotel but for the dates in question the lowest rate I saw was for $715.00 all the rates listed there said " flexible rate"
That is when I decided to redeem an award instead.

Just today I went back and checked the HH site and the available rooms listed were exactly as I saw it back then. No Standard rooms were listed then and now.

As far as "Standard rooms" being available/not available for awards, earlier this year I wanted one three day and one two day awards for the Cavalieri.
No problem with the three day but I was told by the Diamond desk that no award rooms were open for the dates of the two day ( they did not use the word Standard room) were available, the CSR did offer to contact the hotel directly to see if they would release a room (for the required two nights)
Within a few days I got a confirming e-mail to the affimative.

The hotel was booked solid with a convention of ostepaths, but one thing I did find really odd that there much have been very few Diamonds among them ( or staying there) the Executive lounge was almost deserted for the two days I was there.

I do wonder though if some of the problems here are with trying to get GLONPs the property/HH might not be willing to release 6 days which might or might not encompass two highly sought after weekends.

mike

It is true that SPG does not allow standard room redemption (which is the default reward level) if all standard rooms are sold out at a particular property, but the definition of "standard rooms" is not a subset designated by the hotel for reward redemption only. Also, most properties allow for advance booking of suites or premiere rooms (regardless of standard room availability) for higher point redemption values, which is a great benefit when travelling with family instead of having to wait for automatic upgrades on arrival. I think the oft quoted "Diamond Force" is a great benefit for HHonors Diamond members but ONLY IF IT REALLY WORKS 100% of the time. If individual hotels are allowed to opt out, the value of Diamond Status will decrease substantially, as will the value of the HHonors program overall. I am currently hoping to achieve Diamond status the traditional way by October of this year, but I certainly plan on monitoring any/all HHonors policy changes with respect to Diamond benefits since that my alter my future travel plans.

CH


I can only speak for myself, it works 100% for me.
Since January: Twice at the Cavalieri, once at the Paddington
One each at the Caribe and the Barbados Hilton.

And other than " word of mouth" I have seen no evidence that properties are opting out as some would have us believe.

mike

Mike:

"word of mouth" has it that Cavalieri is cutting back on benefits for Diamonds. Specifically, breakfast in the lounge only; no more downstairs or at La Pergola.

I was there last December; you have been there more recently. Any news?

Mike:

"word of mouth" has it that Cavalieri is cutting back on benefits for Diamonds. Specifically, breakfast in the lounge only; no more downstairs or at La Pergola.

I was there last December; you have been there more recently. Any news?

I was there the nights of 3/8 through 3/10 and again the nights of 3/18 and 3/19 as far as breakfast goes I cannot answer your question since we had ate every morning in the lounge ( we had rooms just two downs on the same floor). As far as breakfast downstairs on the pool patio I dont believe that option was available, it was too cold (it snowed a few days before)
On the second stay I wouldnt have even attempted to try those options since the hotel was packed to the gills.

Generally both my wife and I go for lighter breakfasts ( now lunch and dinner thats another thing :D ) anyway, so the lounge was just fine.
One thing that did strike me was the scrambled eggs in the lounge was some of the best I ever had, most buffet eggs range from poor to awful.

mike

I do wonder though if some of the problems here are with trying to get GLONPs the property/HH might not be willing to release 6 days which might or might not encompass two highly sought after weekends.

mike[/QUOTE]


Not with me--I only want two days and they are not weekend days.

I have now tried calling 5 different Diamond Agents. None will book the award for me in February. One agent finally agreed to submit a request to the special desk for consideration. He mentioned that I have about a 4 out of 10 chance of getting the award (God only knows how he calculated those odds). He said they would get back in touch with me in 7-10 business days. We will see.

I have now tried calling 5 different Diamond Agents. None will book the award for me in February. One agent finally agreed to submit a request to the special desk for consideration. He mentioned that I have about a 4 out of 10 chance of getting the award (God only knows how he calculated those odds). He said they would get back in touch with me in 7-10 business days. We will see.

Ok let me get this straight
Basically you called the Diamond desk and was told no awards are available and you hung-up and called again?
Did you ask all the CSRs you spoke to to make a special request ( = Diamond Force) up until the last one who apparently did so? Or did they all refuse that request up to that point?

If the former, therein lies the problem, although the Diamond desk should have certainly made you aware of the option YOU HAVE TO REQUEST IT.
I do get the feeeling that perhaps the Diamond Desk may be under instructions not to initiate such unless the member specifically requests it.
I encountered that very mindset just last night.

If it helps two of the reservations I was able to secure at the Barbados Hilton were so called "special requests" and I have never been refused by HH on any such, six alone since January.
If I were a betting man ( which I am :D ) I believe you will be successful.

mike

In my case, I requested both agents to do a Diamond special request (force) and was refused. Second agent spoke with supervisor and he also refused. The reason is that there are no standard rooms available. I was able to book one night, Feb 3 as apparently there were standard rooms available.

In my case, I requested both agents to do a Diamond special request (force) and was refused. Second agent spoke with supervisor and he also refused. The reason is that there are no standard rooms available. :confused: :confused: :confused: Isn't that what the Diamond force is for?? :confused: :confused: :confused:

Ok let me get this straight
Basically you called the Diamond desk and was told no awards are available and you hung-up and called again?
Did you ask all the CSRs you spoke to to make a special request ( = Diamond Force) up until the last one who apparently did so? Or did they all refuse that request up to that point?

If the former, therein lies the problem, although the Diamond desk should have certainly made you aware of the option YOU HAVE TO REQUEST IT.
I do get the feeeling that perhaps the Diamond Desk may be under instructions not to initiate such unless the member specifically requests it.
I encountered that very mindset just last night.

If it helps two of the reservations I was able to secure at the Barbados Hilton were so called "special requests" and I have never been refused by HH on any such, six alone since January.
If I were a betting man ( which I am :D ) I believe you will be successful.

mike

On the first two agents, I did not ask for the Diamond Force. I did refer both agents to the verbage on the website "Diamond VIP members may redeem points for HHonors hotel rewards nearly any time, with the only exception being during specified Extraordinary Demand Dates at certain hotels". Both acted like they have never heard that before. I asked one to read it for themselves after I directed them through the website to the diamond benefits. He said he had never seen that before, but would discuss it with his colleagues and email me back. I never heard from him.

3rd agent stated there were no "standard rooms available". After reminding her of the diamond benefits, she transferred me to a Diamond desk supervisor. He stated the same that "no standard rooms were available"again. He informed me that "King guest room" or "double double guest room" was the terminology for a standard room that I would see on the hilton website. King or double double "-deluxe" or "-plus" are not considered standard. He finally agreed to submit a "special request" that I would have to wait 7-10 days to hear back about (I assumed this was a Diamond Force request). I still have not heard back.

After waiting 5 and then 7 days, I called hoping to catch a more experienced diamond desk agent. Both calls had similar outcomes: "no standard rooms available". I didn't push either of these agents because of my previous pending Diamond force request. I will wait the full 10 days for an email reply. I will then post with the final verdict. My frequent flyer airline tickets that are on hold with AA expires two days later (this is why I am especially ancy about hearing back soon)

TheCruiser -- You are confusing two different things - blackouts and capacity controls.

It is true that Diamond members are not subject to blackout dates. Blackout dates are dates that are announced in advance by the hotel and HH when no award redemptions are being accepted.

But there is also such thing as capacity controls, which means that only a portion of all available rooms (and only a portion of standard rooms) is made available for reward redemption. When that allotment is used, hotel has the right not to accept any more redemptions, from Diamonds or otherwise alike. Diamond Desk usually has an ability to override capacity controls when there are standard rooms available and get the property to accept standard reward certificates for your stay, but that's not a guarantee either.

What you experience is a slightly different situation, when only "upgraded" rooms are available even for a paid stay (important to note here that individual properties sometimes have a tendency to abuse the system and designate otherwise standard rooms as upgraded, and it's not only HH, but SPG as well). As a diamond member, you have an unpublished benefit to ask for a special arrangement (sometimes referred here as "Diamond Force", which is a misnomer, because there is no "force" involved). When you made your request, you were told that it would take them 7-10 days to get back to you. The reason why it takes that long is that there are only a couple people working on that, and what they need to do is to negotiate with the hotel a rate that the hotel would accept for your stay and that HH would pay in cash, often at a very high rate. Then HH would deduct the appropriate amount of points from your account. Let me reiterate that this is an unpublished benefit, and unmatched by competition. As a point of reference, I have never been denied such a request (done it several times over the years, when there was no availability even for a paid stay). And I was denied a room at a Starwood property twice when there was no standard room availability (yet plenty of so-called "upgraded" inventory) when I was SPG Platinum. SPG Platinum Concierge was not able to help either.

So, if I were you, I'd wait for a couple more days and see if your special request will be granted. If it was properly submitted by that CSR you talked with, chances are you will get it. Good luck!


On the first two agents, I did not ask for the Diamond Force. I did refer both agents to the verbage on the website "Diamond VIP members may redeem points for HHonors hotel rewards nearly any time, with the only exception being during specified Extraordinary Demand Dates at certain hotels". Both acted like they have never heard that before. I asked one to read it for themselves after I directed them through the website to the diamond benefits. He said he had never seen that before, but would discuss it with his colleagues and email me back. I never heard from him.

3rd agent stated there were no "standard rooms available". After reminding her of the diamond benefits, she transferred me to a Diamond desk supervisor. He stated the same that "no standard rooms were available"again. He informed me that "King guest room" or "double double guest room" was the terminology for a standard room that I would see on the hilton website. King or double double "-deluxe" or "-plus" are not considered standard. He finally agreed to submit a "special request" that I would have to wait 7-10 days to hear back about (I assumed this was a Diamond Force request). I still have not heard back.

After waiting 5 and then 7 days, I called hoping to catch a more experienced diamond desk agent. Both calls had similar outcomes: "no standard rooms available". I didn't push either of these agents because of my previous pending Diamond force request. I will wait the full 10 days for an email reply. I will then post with the final verdict. My frequent flyer airline tickets that are on hold with AA expires two days later (this is why I am especially ancy about hearing back soon)