knowidea

1st post folks. Here goes.

A few months ago, I booked a room in Dallas w/an employee rate as a Doubletree employee on the TMTP website. The rate was $109/night and we got 2.With taxes, parking it was to be a little less than $300. We get there and give them the passport card and all is good

When we go to check out, we only had to end up paying around $30 for the parking, if that. The front desk guy kept looking at the screen and we could tell he was trying to figure it out and wondering why it was that cheap, but he didn't actually say anything. We didn't know that would be the rate either, but played like we knew that would be the price. After leaving we expected a call from corp or something for the mixup.

So come to find out, that if you get a certain line of Hilton hotel, you actually get if for free. We were given a list of all the hotels in the program, and the ones available for free were in bold. Apparently, you get a total of 28 days under the program in a year, and can do a max of 7 days in a row. Now, nothing in the TMTP program shows that anything is free.

Last month we do the exact same thing but in New Orleans, the room showed the employee rate which was like $239/night plus taxes. So we get 3 nights. I go to get the passport card from HR to confirm employee status and they won't give it to me stating they can't because of the $800 cost. They should still have given me the passport, IMO, and let me deal with the cost as it showed around $800 as an employee rate.

I guess we were hoping at check out we'd get hit with the low fee again. But someone had mentioned that it was based on availability, which I completely understand, but how did it work last time if our confirmation showed the employee rate totaling almost $300, but we got the rooms for free?

Anyone know how this free room rate really works?

jerry a. laska

You should probably discuss it with your hotel manager and ask for their assistance.
More info about the employee passport program here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...-passport.html

slidergirl

If you ARE an employee, there is a document somewhere out in Hilton land that outlines the "free" stay thing. If you work at certain owned & managed hotels, you are eligible for the "free stay" at certain "owned & managed" hotels. The room has to be available under the usual team member reservation (I believe the SRP is L-9C). make the reservation, then call that hotel (or email them) to verify that you will be getting the room for "free".
Not all employees are eligible for the program, and certain of the Hilton Brands aren't eligible, either. Sorry, but I don't know where to point you for the list. If you do work for Hilton, your HR person should be able to find it for you. Or, if you have a rooms coordinator, they usually have a copy of the document.

knowidea

that's it, its the specific owned and managed hotels...I have the list of of those...they are in bold in my list....but I couldn't find anything about free stay thing on the tmtp website, and HR says I got lucky the first time, which I know is bs...a salesguy actually told me about the free stays after the fact

what is SRP L9-C? The first time I never had to contact the hotel...it was done online and you get a on confirmation number, then you go to HR to get the passport activation card for employee confirmation

My question is how did we get it for free when our paperwork showed an almost $300 price tag... My guess is the availability percentage went above free stay allotment, maybe due to cancellations, and the system automatically gave the free stay...because if they're booked, the free stay isn't available..

slidergirl

Yep, you have the correct document. The hotels in bold print are the ones where you can get the free stay. I imagine the "free" isn't mentioned on the TMTP site to avoid employees at non-O&O hotels getting upset that they don't get free stays. Plus, I think the passport colors that HR gives out to employees at O&O properties are red and the passport colors at non-O&O are maybe blue. So, the color of your passport may let the hotel you are visiting know that you can/cannot get the free stay.
The SRP code L-9C is the rate plan that you have to book to be able to get the free stay. That generally is the employee rate, but there are a couple more (L-9D) that don't apply to a free stay.

I mentioned calling or emailing the hotel directly to find out if you are getting the free stay. That is really the only way to be sure of what you're getting. Since not everyone gets the "free" stay, it's easier for OnQ to process all employee reservations with the dollar amount - the hotel will modify it locally.

The freebies are hard to get. You can get a reservation somewhere and they won't have the L-9C available, but you will get a discounted rate. It's a crap shoot.