mikejos

Being a Diamond VIP, I have found that one of the best benefits is the ability to make a reservation at a sold out hotel, even though they usually charge an extremely high price for it.

This morning, I ran into a little snag while trying to use this benefit at the Las Vegas Hilton for a stay from 9/18-23. The nights of 9/19 & 9/20 are currently sold out while 9/18 is available for $119 and 9/21-22 are both available for $75. When I called the Diamond VIP desk, they offered me a price of $249 for each of the five nights even though only two of the nights we actually sold out. Unfortunately they couldn't budge and the only way they would be able to book me at the lower prices for three of the five nights was to book three separate reservations: 9/18, 9/19-20 and 9/21-22. If they did it that way, there was no guarantee I'd be able to stay in the same room for all five nights, as I'd have to check out then in then out and back in.

Does anybody have a suggestion on how to handle this with HH to book the entire stay at once and pay the higher rate for only the two sold out nights?

Thanks!

Mike

tuctraveler

I have run into this problem before also and they only way I have been able to get the lower rate is to make the separate reservations. However, even though they have always said that they could not guarantee that I could stay in the same room , I have never had to actually change rooms. I have done this at least ten times at various hotels over the years.
Another thing to note. At some hotels even though I would check in with mmultiple reservations, they would keep the first night rate for the entire stay.

Terri

MisterNice

I too have used the nice Diamond "room even if sold-out" deal to get a room (once I got 2 rooms). It seems any time I was in a precedent as yours, ie "we can not guarantee you can keep the same room", I DID keep the same room every time but once. Another time I had to change rooms in a SAN Marriott from the concierge level (I was comped) to the non-concierge level as the whole concierge floor was taken over by a big dot-com company (itsa not so big now) at the last minute. They gave us 4 drink coupons/day, a free breakfast each day and free local telephone calls.

I would not worry about it. I would go to the FD early each supposed checkout day, explain your situation and request the same room. You will get it 99% of the time. I was told the reason is they do not assign rooms more than 1 day ahead.

MisterNice

mikejos

Thanks you two! The advice will help!

Mike

JadedTraveler

Getting into a sold out property is a great feature.

I posted a reply recently in another topic about a small quirk in how this works, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/002414.html

If you combine diamond bumping with a 'local agreement' (sometimes called 'last room availability') at a hotel -- such as a hotel near an office where your company does a lot of business, etc. -- you can bump someone and get a good rate, the prenegoiated rate for your company.

I've only ever seen this happen at one location, but I did it a few times. I've guessed this is a quirk, and wouldn't expect to see very often.

pitflyer

As my first experience with Hilton where I threw my Diamond status 'around' myself and three colleagues were trying to get into a Hampton Inn that was sold out for a week due to an important conference. My colleagues, non-Diamonds, failed, but I was able to get in (paying rack, but still only 25% more expensive than my regular rate) for the whole week after talking to the manager.

I was very pleased since the only other hotel that I could get into was nearly 20 minutes away. In my case I asked for my email to be forwarded to the hotel directly, which it was by hilton reservations, and then the manager called me back.

With the recent changes at Marriott I am considering going back to them, but for now I'm sticking with Hilton. Kudos!

777 global mile hound

just curious as to what particular changes to Marriott you were referring to?

------------------
AA & Starwood,Marriott Platinum
Hyatt, Hilton Diamond
Swissotel Club Gold
U/A 1k

pitflyer

as noted in USAToday and posted in the Marriott bboards, Marriott now gives elite point bonuses at all chains. THere are supposedly other benefits but it's hard to say if they are worth anything or not.

kedcr22

I'm a relatively new Diamond, so I'm curious of the thoughts from the experienced FT Diamonds!

I just put in a reward reservation request for 6 nights at the Cancun Hilton for three weeks from now. The hotel is completely soldout on two of the six nights I'm looking at.

Diamond Desk put in the request, saying they usually have a 90-95% success rate, but they said it could take up to 2 weeks to confirm.

My questions:

-is that 90-95% success rate accurate?
-will it really take up to two weeks or are they just over-estimating?

Thanks in advance....

MBM3

I put a similar request for a property in the UK less than a week out and got a positive response within 24 hours. This was last week.

Craig6z

I'd say 90% success ratio is about right, based upon personal experience and seven years of reading FT threads.

Also response time on the requests is always quoted way beyond actual reaction time. I'd be shocked if it takes four working days.

troyintn

I think it is much better on both counts. I have never had a problem no matter when or where, but who knows how many deals are cut behind the scenes.

GUWonder

Where there's a will there's a way. With that in mind, my requests have taken less than a week in every case and the success rate has ended up being perfect. [One occassion, required using the guaranteed reservation option at the prevailing rate for an allegedly sold-out property .... and then getting that converted to an award stay.]

kedcr22

Just got this email this morning, exactly 1 week after I submitted the request! I know, don't drink the water...

Dear Mr. kedcr22,
HHonors Account Number: XXXXXXXXX

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 Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort from 6/XX/2005 - 6/XX/2005 for 1 room for 6 nights. Your confirmation number is XXXXXXXXXX. 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 175,000 points for the reward(s) redeemed for this stay as follows:
Reward Description Points
GLONP2 Six free nights 175,000

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,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Diamond Special Services
HHonors Customer Service Center

BigLar

I'm looking to spend four days in Paris next year. Availability is there for the Tower, but not so for the ADT. I was planning on using the free nights (C601's) that I got with the promo earlier this year. From other threads, I have gathered the following:

1. If you use a Diamond Force, they immediately take the points out of your account, which means I would not be able to use the certs. Is this true?

2. What about if I wanted to use an AXON award -- would that still be a no-go if I use the force?