cabernetjack

Has anyone received the 500pt bonus when staying on a cash & points stay? I just had a C&P stay recently which was booked online and payed for with my amex but I did not receive the bonus.

GoingGal

I have received the 500 points bonus every time I have booked a cash and points stay on line and paid the cash part with my AMEX. I also get the 500 points for pure award stays booked online. I just ask the folks to swipe my AMEX card at check in just in case I have incidentals - works every time.

Westcoaster

How long after they "open a case" do you typically have to wait for a response?

smmrfld

My experience is there is almost never a response, and when one does occur it is frequently inaccurate. Best strategy is to escalate to GA on the initial call or HUACA. Shouldn't need to go through this, but becoming the norm.

mnredfox

To be honest, I've never had a HH case successfully resolve. They typically give me the 4-6 weeks excuse and then I have to follow-up.

I have not (thankfully) had to open a case in the past year, but part of that is because if they offer to open one up I hang up and call someone else.

Westcoaster

Thanks for the frank responses. I was afraid this would be the case. I've tried reaching out to a couple of other hilton employees regarding my own "case" but no luck so far. It was naive of me to assume that because the phone rep said I should expect a response within 10 business days that I actually would receive one.

Sometimes I get good help when I call about missing points and sometimes I get people who seem to just want to get rid of me. I understand the HUACA philosophy but the thought of going through my entire explanation again just annoys me. I guess it's what we have to do these days.

I'm spreading my stays around more these days and have, so far, had nothing but good help when I call Marriott for assistance. I know that will change at some point but it's been a breath of fresh air. I'll try contacting HH again in hopes that this time I get someone who takes pride in good customer service. Maybe one of the nice reps down in Texas.

Westcoaster

Thanks, smmrfld, for suggesting I call Guest Assistance. I made the mistake of first emailing [email protected] asking for an update thinking that a written response would be helpful. Unfortunately they looked up the wrong case # and gave me bad info. Maybe they are under a lot of pressure to pump out the work quickly and can't/don't take the time to get their facts straight. I don't know. But in the end their promise to respond within 10 business days is obviously not something they take seriously.

The lady at GA was helpful, on the other hand. Good to know that a positive customer service attitude still exists at Hilton!

Westcoaster

Customer Service opened a case for my missing points on March 6. They didn't respond within the promised 10 business days. However I did finally get a response on April 11. So better late than never. They didn't address the reason for the points not posting automatically on each of the 4 reservations. They just basically said that a change to a reservation if not done online can prevent the automatic posting. So I guess if the hotel makes a change to give me an upgrade or make a note about a late arrival I have to call when the points don't post.

Eagle_and_Hawk

I have been going through this scenario of not automatically getting these points the last 50-60 stays, over the past couple of years. The most common excuse, I believe it's excuse #332 in the play book, is there was a change made to the reservation by the hotel. When I ask them what the change was, they can never tell me. The latest one, that I just sent this morning for a stay this past weekend, the excuse was #333, is you can't change the credit card on reservation. Well, the Surpass card(s) has been in my profile for a long time, always used to book, check-in & checkout with it, so that is not the problem.

I have changed the card 2-3 times over the past several of years when it had to be replaced, and still no joy. I even removed it from my profile, used a different card on next reservation, went back to the Amex, and next reservation with the Amex was same thing. I thought it might reset something in their system.

There is no proof, and others here don't have the problem, but this started a couple of years ago when I started using the MVP web site for almost all bookings. I showed the MVP to a friend, he used started using it, and same thing with him. We stopped using the MVP site last year when we came across the codes to be used at the regular Hilton site, and same thing with reservations using them.

What I do after I see the points for the stay have posted, and no longer in pending status, is send an email the Diamond desk explaining I did not get them, and give them the info for the stay. Usually, 99% of the time, they respond back within a day, and post them.

The other 1%, I get excuse #334 from them, as this morning:

-----
Thank you for your inquiry regarding your stay. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.


According to the details of the American Express booking bonus points offer, members should allow 6-8 weeks from the date of their stay for points to post to their HHonors account
------------------------

Like I can keep up with all the stays and go back over 6-8 weeks worth, to check for the points.

So, when I get that, I wait 8-10 hours until there is a new bunch of people working and send it again, usually with better response (although excuse #333 is referenced again), I got the points credited today:


----

I would like to first apologize for any inconvenience and frustration that this may have caused. The promotional detail for the American Express booking offer is that the stay must be booked with your American Express credit card without modification will post automatically to your HHonors account. However, if your stays are modified by the hotel, then the AMEX booking offer would have to be manually entered on the account.


I have posted 500 bonus points to your HHonors account as a gesture of goodwill for your stay at the xxxxxxx hotel.


---------------------------------

It seems that under some circumstances, their software can't keep up with the fact an Amex is being used.

Also, I have a mixture on online check-in's & front desk with 90% being front desk. We stay mostly in Hampton Inns, HGI's and sometimes Homewood Suites. I may have been upgraded once or twice in a DT, even though we don't stay there more than 1-2 times a year, so upgrading the rooms are not the problem.

It's a mystery...................

mnredfox

Pretty much sums up the excuses I've had. This bonus is nice, but one of the more annoying things of HH when you have to chase it down. I've found that often when the hotel changes your room type at check-in (eg upgrade) you have to call in.

Need

I really don't know why it would take weeks to post the points. Hilton should take a look at Amex Offers where as soon as your credit card was charged for that offer, the refund is posted on the credit card AND you get an email notifying that you got the refund.

It is 500 HH points per booking which is like $1.60 worth of points. It will probably cost them more to have someone looks into it and investigate and type the email to respond. Just credit the 500 points whenever someone asks!

Skimanant

Would appreciate some advice. I always pay using Amex- Its a UK card. I have never received bonus points.
Is this wrong/ right/ should I contact Hilton to get points added or is it not going to happen in the UK?

Eagle_and_Hawk

I don't believe American Express offers the Surpass or Hilton Honors branded card in the U.K

This bonus is what they consider co-brand, in which if you are using a Hilton Honors American Express when you pay for a Hilton family hotel reservation.

gemac

My last three stays have not posted the 500-mile Amex bonus. Because Erin so kindly offered to help us with these, I contacted her by PM. She replied quickly that she had gotten the PM, and later that day she replied again with the case number, and that a Customer Care representative would contact me within 7 business days. I waited the 7 business days, and another week beyond that, and heard nothing, so I called the Diamond Desk to inquire. The Diamond representative found the case without my giving him the case number, as it was attached to my account. He told me that the case rep did not have my stay dates and hotels (which I had given to Erin), so he put the case aside, waiting for me to call in to find out what the heck had happened to it. The Diamond rep offered to put the missing 1,500 points in my account, and did so, and seemed to think that settled the whole thing. I told him that I wanted the information given to Hilton IT, so that they could fix the program, and that I thought someone should follow up with the case worker, as just dropping it didn’t seem right. He seemed uninterested in these aspects, so I thanked him, hung up, and reported all this to Erin. She said that she would pursue it, and have someone call me. About a week later, I got a call from Customer Care. The Customer Care rep told me the following:

1. This problem is well known at Hilton, and it has been a problem for at least 10 years. If any change at all is made to the record, the 500 points does not post. An upgrade or a late checkout will prevent it posting.
2. I had one stay where, as far as I knew there had been no changes. I just checked in late at night, checked out the next morning, and still no points. She examined the record, and told me that Hilton had put a hold on my Hilton Amex credit card that I used to guarantee my arrival. When I checked in, the hotel released the hold on the credit card, because they now had that same card on file to pay for the room. That release of the hold caused the points not to post.
3. She told me that they are instructed that if they don’t have all the information that they need to complete a claim, they are supposed to put that claim aside and not work on it any more until the member calls in to find out what is going on. Not said, but certainly implicit in the situation, is that if we don’t call in, less work for them!
4. She said that Hilton has no plans to correct this program. Hilton expects us to check after every stay to see if Hilton has provided us with the promised benefits, and if they haven’t, Hilton expects us to open a complaint. Then, if Hilton still does nothing, Hilton expects us to follow up, and keep following up, until we either get the promised benefit or give up trying.
5. Her only offer of anything that Hilton could do to help out this systemwide problem was to better train the tens of thousands of front desk clerks around the world. Of course, since there is substantial turnover, that becomes a program designed for failure. Also, since the front desk cannot make any change at all to the record without scrubbing out the points, even if they are all trained, this will still be an ongoing problem.
I told her that this did not meet my expectations of world class customer care. She said that she would pass my reaction up the chain, but she did not sound very optimistic that anything would change. I suggested that if she needed more info to pass up the chain, to ask Erin for a link to this thread.

Bottom line is that Hilton seems to accept this as a problem forever. They want you to go to work for Hilton, checking to see if this posts properly and following up if it doesn’t, and when they drop the ball on your follow-up. They believe that you will do this on every stay for 500 points (worth $1.67 in my estimation). They believe that you should be satisfied with this performance on this promised benefit.

smmrfld

Unfortunately there is nothing new in the post above. Same issues, same excuses, same frustration, same lack of action. Virtually everything in the post has been noted at some time in the past, and nothing changes. Extremely poor reflection on HH's approach to a longtime problem.