motytrah

I sent a PM to HHonorsRepresentative about this on Tuesday but have not heard anything back yet.

I recently had a stay for a convention at the DoubleTree in Bloomington MN. Weekend stay, I was already booked into the executive floor. I'm a HH Gold. Upon checkin I inquired about HH Gold Tier benefits. The desk clerk said "We're not doing that this weekend." I was a bit taken aback and asked for clarification.

I was informed that since stay was associated with a convention (booked through the hotel's own group events office) and they had rented out the lounge that they were not recognizing any of the HHonors Tier benefits. No "My Way Gold" 1000 points/Free Breakfast benefit or Lounge Access. They didn't even stock the complimentary bottles of water in the room. I suspect if the GM could have figured out a way of turning off the complimentary WIFI he would have.

I have status with Starwood and Marriot as well and this is a first for me for any stay with any brand. I can't figure out any logical reason why a standard full service hotel would want to aggravate customers over relatively inexpensive benefits. In particular since I already had the Executive floor room and wasn't requesting any kind of upgrade.

It's not like the hotel was a ghost town. Place was packed and their Food and Beverage revenue had to be off the charts.

Most of my experience with Hilton are in Europe and I've always been treated very well. Often I've booked rooms for my traveling companions and almost every time they have extended my benefits to them even though they are under no obligation to.

So my questions: Was this experience kosher for HHonors program? Is it okay for a standard full service property to just decide they aren't going to honor benefits on a whim? Where's the control on brand standards? It all just seems weird almost bordering on petty.

Side-note: My understanding from the staff was the hotel is currently run by an interim GM who's not expected to stay very long.

dave1013

If I had this experience, I would be contacting Hilton Customer Care. I don't think they can just withhold benefits to which a registered Gold Elite member is entitled. At the very least you should have gotten your My Way benefits for the brand.

Let us know how it turns out, regardless of what you decide to do.

brkandjfk

My wife and I owned a travel agency and event planning firm for more than two decades before selling it in 2009. We negotiated the benefits out of event agreements on occasion to reduce the cost. While it may or may not be common, it is not rare.

GoAmtrak

Shouldn't there be advance disclosure to attendees when they book under the group block? Otherwise the consumer did not agree to those terms of having their benefits rendered moot.

Need

When I was at Conrad Tokyo, they used the Exec Lounge for some special event. I was emailed the information and get a letter about it when I arrive. They opened up a meeting room for a temporary lounge and apologize throughout our stay for the inconvenience.

"We are not doing HHonors" seems a bit harsh.

motytrah

The reservation confirmation was the standard email. It didn't look any different than my Doubletree Victoria London or Sorrento Italy confirmations. But I agree, if that's the case it would be nice to see a disclosure on the reservation confirmation.

kirkwoodj

EL was booked out for a private function at Hilton Wembley around the FA Cup Final in May, this stuff happens. (There was at least some alternate offering)

Michael19887

Am I missing something here??? If you booked an exec room and have lounge access, what gold benefits are you not receiving? Breakfast my way is in the lounge. You said you got free wifi and no upgrade was available.

davef139

This is different when group rating comes into play.

OP needs to ask organizer what was negotiated into rating contract. Also do hotwire/priceline rates get benefits guaranteed? That would be essentially the same type of booking

HansGruber

This isn't that unusual. I've seen it happen before. It sucks but if you book through the convention or have an opaque reservation many times you don't get points, status recognition, etc.

I wouldn't expect the convention to tell you but it's a nice courtesy if they do. I was at a conference at a Westin recently where they DID pass through everything to the hotel so that was nice, but a few months ago I was at a conference in a Marriott booked through the conference and we got zilch.

adambrock

Looks like that would be:
• Late check-out upon request (subject to availability)
• Spouse stays free (This benefit does not apply at any hotel when the rate includes
additional components (e.g., meals, activities, parking, etc.) that are quoted as a
per-person or per room charge.
• 330 ml (minimum) bottled water - (pre-packaged two bottles per stay). Preferred
bottle delivery method is placed in guest room or presented at the Front Desk in
the HHonors shoppers tote (available on the HHonors Creative Toolkit)
• Complimentary access to hotel-operated health club/fitness center. This does not
include spa treatments, court rentals, etc.

Also, Gold and Diamond members aren't required to present the credit card on check-in as long as the card is in your profile.

motytrah

Yes, I think you're missing the part about the lounge. They had rented the lounge out so no one had access. Although according to the FT thread about the property on the weekends they do my way breakfast at the buffet in the lobby restaurant. Which was open and doing brisk business.

My Way Breakfast/1000 points and lounge would be added to the list.

I have a note out to the organizers to find out if it was in their contract or some entrepreneurial thinking from the GM. I did see points for the stay hit my account at least.

jxd

Contact Hhonors customer service. You should be able to get a BMG voucher and probably some extra points (including the 1000 points).

san888

This is totally stupid. They should have given you breakfast and the 1000 points.

Bad business but then again Hilton treatment of elites is terrible in the U.S.

Michael19887

Ah gotcha. I thought that you were a part of the group that rented the lounge and had access.