Hilton HHonors - Points for someone else's room?

I've got a situation that I've actually never had to deal with , so I thought I'd get some advise.

Next month, Mrs. pilot and I are meeting another couple in NYC for an extended weekend. The other couple is arriving on Thursday and will be there for 2 days solo. Mrs.Pilot and I are arriving on Saturday to join them.

I am going to be paying for both the room for Thurs/Fri for the other couple, as well as for the 2 br suite for the 4 of us through the weekend. When I booked the solo room for them, I put it in their name so that they could check in, etc.

What I am wondering is how is the best way for me to get the points for their room. My plan is to not have them check out until I get there on Sat., ask the hotel to change the name on the reservation to my name, add my hhonors number, and then pay the bill. Then we will check them out, and check oursevles back in for the suite.

Sound reasonable? Anyone have a better idea on how to make this work?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you can't earn points for rooms that you personally are not staying in. i.e. if you're booking 4 rooms for your company's attendees at a conference, you can't have all the points accrue to your own account.

I'm not an expert but I think you can get credit for up to 2 rooms if you paid the bill for those two rooms and they are booked under your name. Search comes up with this thread but I don't have time to fight my way through it to get all the details:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/123759-earning-hilton-hhonors-points-credit-reserving-multiple-rooms.html

More updated info is at the end of the thread because I think the terms changed.

"To earn HHonors points for hotel stays, a Member must be a registered, paying guest at a participating Hilton Family hotel and meet all of the conditions described herein. "

"A Member may earn Base points for up to two rooms per stay, if all eligible charges for both rooms are paid on one folio. Base points will be earned for all eligible folio charges incurred on both rooms. "

I recently booked three rooms for myself and work colleagues. I was told on checking in that I would only be credited points for one room (as I understood from the T&Cs), however, I ended up with points for the full spend - all on my card. So, luck of the draw.

Heres how I would do it;)

a) Book the room for the other couple in your name
b) Add the name of the earlier arrivee to the reservation and a note that they will be checking in before you on the arrival date. Their CC can be used as a guarantee when they arrive.
c) Book your own room separately
d) After arrival you both go to front desk and change the CC is used to pay for their room to yours ( check and make sure YOUR details are associated with their room.)
e) At check out make an attempt to get a combined folio showing all the charges to both rooms...failing that MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE the charges and info on BOTH room foilios match your details and get printed copies.
F) Retain both folios if you are not able to get a combined folio (which is often quite impossible) ONE will definitely not post and you have to call into to HH to get the missing one posted.

NOW if you have Mutual Account (like I do) here's how I do it.
Book one room in each partners name.. pay with each partners ( HH amex??) CC and since one will not post ....then you have to call into HH and explain (if necessary )that they are separate bookings in order to get the missing one posted.

Note you can "legally" get up to THREE credited rooms if you have a Mutual account.:)

mike

I recently booked three rooms for myself and work colleagues. I was told on checking in that I would only be credited points for one room (as I understood from the T&Cs), however, I ended up with points for the full spend - all on my card. So, luck of the draw.

I've had this happen, too. Was told only credit for one (or, in another case, two) room, but got credit for all four. Nice.

I've booked rooms for my wife in my name/number, then called the property directly to inform them she would be the one checking in. In every instance I've received full HHonors stay/night/point credit and she's received all the Gold/Diamond perks. I know this isn't per the T&C, but it seems to be one way it works in practice, though there are no guarantees.

Heres how I would do it;)

a) Book the room for the other couple in your name
b) Add the name of the earlier arrivee to the reservation and a note that they will be checking in before you on the arrival date. Their CC can be used as a guarantee when they arrive.
c) Book your own room separately
d) After arrival you both go to front desk and change the CC is used to pay for their room to yours ( check and make sure YOUR details are associated with their room.)
e) At check out make an attempt to get a combined folio showing all the charges to both rooms...failing that MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE the charges and info on BOTH room foilios match your details and get printed copies.
F) Retain both folios if you are not able to get a combined folio (which is often quite impossible) ONE will definitely not post and you have to call into to HH to get the missing one posted.

NOW if you have Mutual Account (like I do) here's how I do it.
Book one room in each partners name.. pay with each partners ( HH amex??) CC and since one will not post ....then you have to call into HH and explain (if necessary )that they are separate bookings in order to get the missing one posted.

Note you can "legally" get up to THREE credited rooms if you have a Mutual account.:)

mike

Well stated. Do your best to get on one folio...

All you really need to do is have the FD route all charges to your folio...including those night incurred while you were not there...all chages will be on your one bill...and you'll be all good.

Quite simple really

BTW...you get credit for up to 2 rooms per stay...

All you really need to do is have the FD route all charges to your folio...including those night incurred while you were not there...all chages will be on your one bill...and you'll be all good.

Quite simple really

The "quite simple" statement tells me you actually havent tried this a tremendous number of times:)

I find that a low percentage of CSR have the knowledge and capibility to combine folios .....some will try, even tell you its done and the stay does not post correctly and my success rate at getting this done is between 0 and 10%

I dont even bother and having had some quite interesting after stay postings I have found it can actually be a decided advantage if one stay does not post immediately.. enuf said;);)

mike

The "quite simple" statement tells me you actually havent tried this a tremendous number of times:)

I find that a low percentage of CSR have the knowledge and capibility to combine folios .....some will try, even tell you its done and the stay does not post correctly and my success rate at getting this done is between 0 and 10%

I dont even bother and having had some quite interesting after stay postings I have found it can actually be a decided advantage if one stay does not post immediately.. enuf said;);)

mike

This has been my experience. The hotel front desk staff has varying abilities on whether or not they can combine it onto one folio. I've been flat out told it can't happen - and when I contradict them and say it has been acheivable at every other Hilton I've stayed at, they sigh and go find someone who knows how.

On occassion, I don't have time to wait on them to get it straightened out so I'll just call the Hilton desk after I get home.

Sometimes I just forget it.

However, the points post the easiest when you are able to get it combined onto one folio at the hotel.

Technically you are allowed points for up to two rooms. However, you are only credited for one stay.

This has been my experience. The hotel front desk staff has varying abilities on whether or not they can combine it onto one folio. I've been flat out told it can't happen - and when I contradict them and say it has been acheivable at every other Hilton I've stayed at, they sigh and go find someone who knows how.

On occassion, I don't have time to wait on them to get it straightened out so I'll just call the Hilton desk after I get home.

Sometimes I just forget it.

However, the points post the easiest when you are able to get it combined onto one folio at the hotel.

Technically you are allowed points for up to two rooms. However, you are only credited for one stay.


Thanks all for the advice.

This quoted post pretty much sums up why I asked. I've gotten to the point that I know that if I ask for something out of the ordinary, I'm going to have issues getting it done - or maybe I've just gotten cynical!

I know a couple of the asst. GM's at the hotel in question, so I will email them and see if the can pave the way to a combined folio for me to avoid the CSR run around.

On multiple rooms, I've had better ;) results by letting my room post and doing a missing stay request for the other...

This has been my experience. The hotel front desk staff has varying abilities on whether or not they can combine it onto one folio. I've been flat out told it can't happen - and when I contradict them and say it has been acheivable at every other Hilton I've stayed at, they sigh and go find someone who knows how.

On occassion, I don't have time to wait on them to get it straightened out so I'll just call the Hilton desk after I get home.

Sometimes I just forget it.

However, the points post the easiest when you are able to get it combined onto one folio at the hotel.

Technically you are allowed points for up to two rooms. However, you are only credited for one stay.

Never rely upon the working knowledge of the staff. You do need to get both charges onto one folio to credit your HH account. I just recently had this experience over Easter weekend: 2 rooms booked, asked for one room's charges to be routed to the second room's folio. Was told "sure, no problem." I get separate check-out folios under the door for each room. At check-out, I requested that one of the room's charges be put on the other. The desk manager said that as long as I had my HH number on both folios that I would get the credit. I checked my account a few days later and got only one room credited. After calling HH CS, they asked for my second confirmation number and then credited the charges to my account. However, you do not receive a second myVIP bonus, or another stay credit.

As for a front desk agent saying folios cannot be combined. At check-out one folio can be checked-out to another folio with just a couple of steps. We call it a GL transfer, and all you need is the second folio's account number. In fact, this is a lot easier and quicker than setting up charge routing at check-in.