Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Mixed experiences with PL and HH status

My OH is a HH Gold and up until now we have always been given the benefits of his status even with a PL booking. This was in Hiltons in Europe and the US and Conrads in the US but our recent trip brought us to the Drake in Chicago for 2 nights. The phrase "we would normally but you booked on Priceline" was a frequent one. So no breakfast, no lounge access, no late check out - instead a generally snooty and unhelpful attitude.

Is this a sign of things to come?

Is this a sign of things to come?

I think you have been fortunate in the past. PL and HW both specifically state that you are not entitled to such benefits when booking through those sources. I can recall only one time I got my HHonors benefits on a PL reservation.

Count yourself lucky. Or consider this - for what you saved using PL/HW vs. the conventional rate, you could buy breakfast and more and still come out ahead. In fact, I usually pay well under 50% of the cheapest published rate so if extremely late checkout was that important to me, booking a second night would still be cheaper :)

John

Is this a sign of things to come?

In about a dozen Priceline Hilton stays over the past 6 months, all in the USA, I’ve only been denied HH Gold Benefits once. About half the time I also get stay points added to my account.

I doubt what you experienced is a sign of things to come. More likely it’s just the management at that location expressing their dislike for Priceline customers.

I haven't had any problems with the Hilton Gold on PL bookings. If you are staying in the hotel you are paying Hilton for your stay via your travel agency. Usually, you can say that this must be a misunderstanding and ask them to show you where it says that Hilton Gold benefits depends on how you booked the hotel. The idea with Priceline is that you get the hotel for the price the hotel has offered it at and Priceline has given you a deal that you find acceptable and that the hotel treats you as a regular guest. The only instance that I would accept as not allowing that is if the hotel requires you to book through their own web site. The prices they put on Priceline are for hotel rooms and service that is normal. Keep up the fight.

In about a dozen Priceline Hilton stays over the past 6 months, all in the USA, I’ve only been denied HH Gold Benefits once. About half the time I also get stay points added to my account.

I doubt what you experienced is a sign of things to come. More likely it’s just the management at that location expressing their dislike for Priceline customers.

In the past 6 months (and even more), the majority of my Priceline-booked Hilton hotels stays in the US have meant no elite benefits recognition.

Hyatt and Marriott are the two chains that do a much better job than Hilton of granting elite benefits on Priceline- (and Hotwire-)booked stays.

I haven't had any problems with the Hilton Gold on PL bookings. If you are staying in the hotel you are paying Hilton for your stay via your travel agency. Usually, you can say that this must be a misunderstanding and ask them to show you where it says that Hilton Gold benefits depends on how you booked the hotel. The idea with Priceline is that you get the hotel for the price the hotel has offered it at and Priceline has given you a deal that you find acceptable and that the hotel treats you as a regular guest. The only instance that I would accept as not allowing that is if the hotel requires you to book through their own web site. The prices they put on Priceline are for hotel rooms and service that is normal. Keep up the fight.

Your first sentence might be true. And it would be true that the hotel will (or should) treat you as a regular guest. But really, you have been lucky to get any HH program benefits for any PL stays.

...ask them to show you where it says that Hilton Gold benefits depends on how you booked the hotel.

I'll show you myself right now. Delivery of HHonors benefits during a hotel stay absolutely depends on how you booked the hotel. Here is the language from the HHonors T&C:

"The term 'stay'... does not include any stays of the following nature: wholesale/tour operator packages; contracted airline crew rates; travel industry rates (including but not limited to travel agent discount rates); complimentary or barter rooms; Reward Stays; NET Group rates; Series Group or IT Group rates; contracted Entertainment or Encore rates; third party websites bookings (irrespective of rate paid); and "opaque" channel bookings where the brand is unknown at the time of purchase. HHonors points may not be earned for ineligible stays or during ineligible stays, including without limitation, folio charges incurred during ineligible stays."

Pretty clear? You book through Expedia, Priceline, etc. and HHonors says you are entitled to nothing. Anytime you do get a benefit, from stay credit to free breakfast, it's (A) a mistake or (B) a property being nicer than it has to be.

Whether HHonors elites should get benefits on PL stays has been debated endlessly on FT, and I am in the minority that thinks if you have shown no brand loyalty when booking your room (e.g., via Priceline), HHonors owes you no loyalty rewards. But the idea that there is a "fight" to be waged here is wrong. You book through any third-party website, PL or other, the terms and conditions say no points for you.

Pretty clear? You book through Expedia, Priceline, etc. and HHonors says you are entitled to nothing. Anytime you do get a benefit, from stay credit to free breakfast, it's (A) a mistake or (B) a property being nicer than it has to be.

Whether HHonors elites should get benefits on PL stays has been debated endlessly on FT, and I am in the minority that thinks if you have shown no brand loyalty when booking your room (e.g., via Priceline), HHonors owes you no loyalty rewards. But the idea that there is a "fight" to be waged here is wrong. You book through any third-party website, PL or other, the terms and conditions say no points for you.

^^^
Very well put! 100% agreement from me on this.

I don't think that there is any advantage in noting that PL requires that the hotel treat a PL guest as a "regular" guest. The hotel could easily claim that this means that it will "treat PL guests the same as a guest who is not enrolled in the hotel's loyalty program".

And for those who have incorrectly been granted points and/or stay credits, remember that audits are always possible, sometimes a year or more after the completion of the stay.