Hilton HHonors - my 2c experience.

I tried to use the Daimond privilege for an award booking.
My request was sent to the involved hotel to verify its feasibility.
I got a phone call that informed me :

that property does not partecipate in reward redemption
my request originated a normal booking reservation (499 USD/night)
the cancellation policy of this rate requires a 30 days advance cancellation
As soon as I wrote down the reservation number, I called the 800# to cancel it. I was not aware of this outcome when I first called to book the reward stay.

What property was this? 30 day advance cancellation????? Does not participate in Awards?

Hilton Grand Vacation Club Waikoloa Beach Resort.

as you can see in the web site, the redemption level is not present.
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/KOAWBGV-Hilton-Grand-Vacations-Club-Waikoloa-Beach-Resort-Hawaii/index.do

HGVC has always been a different beast as far as awards go.

Why the HWV HGVC, and not the HWV itself? You can definitely get awards for the latter.

.
I got a phone call that informed me :

that property does not partecipate in reward redemption
my request originated a normal booking reservation (499 USD/night)
the cancellation policy of this rate requires a 30 days advance cancellation
As soon as I wrote down the reservation number, I called the 800# to cancel it. I was not aware of this outcome when I first called to book the reward stay.

Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs are timeshare operations and are subject to special conditions for reward purposes.

See:http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/rewards/hgv.do






Hilton Grand Vacations Club®
Hilton Grand Vacations Club® offers its members the experience of vacation ownership with stays at luxuriously appointed studio, one- and two-bedroom, kitchen-equipped HGVClub resort condominiums, in some of the most desirable vacation destinations.

To redeem your points for a Hilton Grand Vacations Club Reward, please contact the HHonors Customer Service Center nearest you. Please note that some Hilton Grand Vacations Club Rewards require reservation deposits and, in some cases, cancellation penalties apply.

I ignored that rule, my fault. Only my fault.
I'm afraid of a resort with 1000+ rooms, so the HWV HGVC with less than 200 'rooms' looked to me like more 'human'. Once again my fault.

Anyway, I'm still surprised of an award request that got transformed in a normal paid reservation, but perhaps it's an other rule I'm not aware of. Once again my fault.

Thanks all for the provided support.