serfty

You may have it all pan out as you have planned. If so, then well and good, and nothing more needs to be said.^

if not then ...

... for it to pan out the way you hope would be contrary to the T&C's of the HHonors program. Sometimes things like this can fall through the cracks to a members benefit, sometimes not.

Personally, I would not risk it. I'd be checking out on Dec 31; stay elsewhere and not check back in until Jan 2 at the earliest!

mvoight

I guess they aren't trying to attract the short stay business traveler.

phedre

I'll wait til actual details come out, but this'd be sweet for me. Most of my stays are three nights, and can be stretched to four if I want to.

UA1K4EVER

The Power of Negative Thinking...

I will bet you anything that I am safe. Been in worse situations before... This one is easy. Since my last posts, I have called different HH CSRs and it was confirmed to me that all I needed to do was to call and make the case that I had reached 100K by 12/31 and all would be fixed. Separating the reservations into 2 as I did, guarantees that I will be checked out on 12/31 and then right back in under a different reservation and in a different room. I have done that before so I am not sure why it is seems difficult to just check out from a paid stay, then check into a reward stay.

Finally, I will be at the hotel when doing this. I know the folks who would be checking me out then in. What else can I tell say. I am not worried. If HH messes this up, there is always SPG to take my business to...

mnredfox

Ok, few things to warn you about. And we're all trying to help you here.

1. It doesn't matter what happens at the hotel. You can stand and make sure they check you out, but the hotel has no control over the computers. IF you have a stay that starts the SAME day you check out, it is going to mess up the Hilton machines. So if you check out of your paid stay on 12/31, but check in for an award stay 12/31 it will extend your overall stay according to the Hilton calendar until your LAST reservation checks out. I'm not saying this to scare you, just telling you from experience in ALL OF MY HILTON STAYS.

2. Despite every Hilton CSR on the phone telling you likewise, I'm just warning you of what could and likely will happen (again from past experience). If this is what happens, I guarantee you that you won't be happy and you'll be posting all over FT about this.

3. In the end will HH give you diamond? Since you've gotten so many folks to say yes via HH CSR, then there is a good chance. I'm just warning you that you might be setting yourself up for a huge hassle. A lot of us have been there, just trying to help you. If what we all predict will happen happens, you'll likely be on the phone many times with HH and it will not be a fun experience.

So know what you're up against. If you're willing to take the risk, then go ahead and please post what happens. To be safe though, check out on the 31st and head to another property or book an award stay not tied to your HH number at all.

Edit: Now that I think about it, tell the hotel to simply remove your HH number from your award stay, that should work.

UA1K4EVER

I appreciate the help but I just have a hard time understanding the fear here: HH, like MR or UA or AA, is only too happy to keep its top elites from defecting, especially those who have clearly qualified on their own or are close to (notice UA or other programs offering members who are close various paths to requalify). Why would they then go out of their way to screw someone who has clearly qualified on his own a technicality and lose him to competition? I am simply not that paranoid because HH has not given me a reason to be. I specifically booked a Junior Suite at Hilton Shanghai for 6 days because this would give me 13,000 that I need to requalify; I usually stay in regular rooms. I will check out on 12/31 from the suite and then check right back in and stay in a Cat 5 reward room for 2 days, then I will leave the property for Hilton Singapore Jan 2 -6. I will return to Hilton Shanghai for one last time Jan 6-8, at which point I will know if I got screwed and need to fix anything right there before returning to the US...

No sweat.

Points Scrounger

I didn't know that was possible, but it should help in "tricking" the computer into posting the regular 12/31 check-out stay, and ignoring the second one. Well worth forfeiting the 2011 stay credit and points for incidentals.

They would do so because they'd see it as trying to get something you weren't entitled to (as per "the rules") - if the hotel can remove your HH# from the award reservation, and the system goes by posting date anyway, you should be able to resolve that in a single call to the Diamond Desk. What you think should be a fairly obvious matter of "I earned the points by 12/31" is quite logical, but unfortunately, to prevail with a Jan 2nd check-out date (combined stays) I suspect you'd need to spend quite a bit of time escalating the situation instead.

UA1K4EVER

My paid and reward stays won't be combined, I can guarantee that, and HH won't make a big deal of this either. Regardless of what one might have heard before, HH has not failed to do the right thing for me before when confronted with the simple logical facts. I am not trying to take advantage of anything and anyone at HH with half the brain will know this right away. Importantly, for most Intl hotels, the hotel has the final say about when and how the points are awarded (try disputing intl points; they'll ask you to contact the hotel directly). The manager at Hilton Shanghai will make sure that I am credited properly.

I promise to provide full details of how this transpires. Cheers!

majorwibi

I've really been looking towards doing that ... Might still pull the trigger on it to make life a little easier

Zip

Other than the OP, has anyone verified this promotion? I believe I have read the complete thread, and have not received any other indication that this will happen. Also, when would be the start date?

In 2010, the 1Q promo was leaked by hamptoninsider (thanks!) in early Dec 09, and I think the promo started the 1st of Jan.

For Q2, Q3 and Q4, the promos were revealed the first week of that Q (as far as I could tell), with the start date the 2nd week of the Q or later.

Do appreciate the speculation here!

mnredfox

The fear is simply fear from experience, not unwarranted. What I've been trying to explain to you is that it is the computer that will screw it up for you, not some guy sitting at Hilton HQ who decides to screw you out of diamond. It simply is the way the computer is programmed.

Like I said, you check out on 12/31 and then check back into another reservation WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE. If you don't want to trust me and do it yourself that's fine, but I'd hate to read your rant thread in late Jan about how HH made your life not fun. I can only see it now.

I for the most part agree with your statement that Hilton doesn't want to INTENTIONALLY screw it's top elites, but it just does so from time to time due to uninformed agents, and odd situations such as yours. I have no doubt that if you do what you say, the HH computer will show ONE stay checked out the last day you are at that property. I also have no doubt HH will fix it. But I also have no doubt it will be a pain in the rear for you taking time, a few phone calls, and likely some follow up.

You choose, just don't say you weren't warned. If you don't want to believe my experience no problem, just trying to help you.


My point exactly, since the OP doesn't want to change his plans (and to be honest neither would I), I would make sure upon checkout that my HH number was NOT on the reservation. Probably the best method at this point.

Ha, I can guarantee it will. Again, it's out of HH Shanghai's control (yes agree, they are fantastic there), it's up to how the HH computers in the US post it! Now, if what you say does happen, that'll be good news to me as it means that I won't have to have the same issues going forward, I just don't trust the HH computers. So please post your experience.

UA1K4EVER

OK. You got me seriously spooked so I went back to Diamond Desk. Everything that everyone has said/warned about is true. There must be a 24-hr "grace period" between check out and rechek in if the reservations are to be considered different, etc... I just found out that it worked for me in the past because the manager played the trick of not rechecking me in with my HH#. He just did not tell me about it. To be sure that this did not turn into a messy situation, I just asked to speak with the CS supervisor. After I explained the situation and the silliness of my having to check out from Hilton and check in at the Sheraton or Marriott for one night just so that my points would count, she told me to stay put, and assured me that she had just inserted a note in my account that would allow them to credit me the expected 13,000 on 12/31 to requalify me. To make sure that such a note had indeed been inserted, I called back and asked a different CSR to read me any special notes that had been recently inserted into my account (without telling her what this was about) and she did find the supervisor's note about crediting me on 12/31. Just to be sure that the note won't disappear, I just requested that it be emailed to me. For this, a case number must be created, which has been, and I was told that I should get confirmation email within 3 days.

Bottom line is that the supervisor was clear about this: Call us on or after Jan 3rd to confirm that your HHD status has been extended.

I intend to...

Notenut

I'd much rather see a repeat of last years Q1 promo, 4 stays = 1 Free Night Cert.
That was nice.

Crazyhotelguy

+1. That would get me into Hilton....

The speculated promo does nothing for me.

Rockhopper24

Hmm, not a good promo for me. Mostly 1 night stays, 2 nights max. I can imagine why Hilton doesn't offer the same promo as last year: Q1 and Q2 promo's were great and I guess we all gathered a lot of Q3FN's.

Hope more details will leak soon. I still have to book quite a few nights for January. Since I will have SPG plat by then, It will depend on Starwood's Q1 promo were I will move my business.