HELP - Points reservation charged for full rate

lainghk , Jun 19, 2017 11:21 am

Has anyone recently experienced this -- over the past weekend, my points reservation (and not "Points and Money" reservation) was charged for the full rate. I have the confirmation showing 30,000 pts booked for a Hilton Garden Inn but the hotel charged $199 plus tax to my credit card. Wrote to the hotel and the hotel replied "30,000 points plus $199", which is never the case at this Hilton Garden Inn for the entire year. Spoke to Hilton customer service and they acknowledged that was a system error that caused this confusion but the hotel is not aware of the system error? It is very frustrating to say the least. What's the most effective way to get this resolved? Thank you.

jerry a. laska , Jun 19, 2017 11:45 am

FlyerTalk Evangelist

See this thread for a similar experience:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...d-charged.html

lainghk , Jun 19, 2017 12:24 pm

Thank you Jerry for the pointer. I spoke to Hilton customer services and they acknowledged that there was a system/application error introduced recently that caused this confusion (possibly when the name of the second guest is added to the reservation). There has never been more than 30,000 points required for a standard room reward at this particular Hilton Garden Inn. If the confirmation was made on "Points and Money", the partial points required would have been less than 30,000 and the money portion would have shown in the confirmation.

MP001 , Jun 19, 2017 1:57 pm

Did you book it before the recent change when HHonors became Honors and the new points and money options was added?
It looks like something changed in the system at that point. Three of my bookings -rewards bookings, points only until then- did change and show up in the system with the same amount of points plus the rate in cash.
I noticed this before the stay, so I was able to cancel it and rebook, I notified the Diamond desk about this as was it clearly a system issue.

lainghk , Jun 19, 2017 2:27 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by MP001

My first points reservation was made on 6/11 and 2nd guest name added on 6/15. I had another reservation made using points on 6/16 and 2nd guest name added the same time while making the reservation. I did not have issue with the 2nd reservation.

lainghk , Jun 19, 2017 2:37 pm

UPDATE: when I first wrote to the hotel property, I got a standard reply from the back office stating the reservation was using "points and money". I subsequently raised my disagreement and frustration with Hilton customer service, which in turn spoke to the hotel management. To give credit to the hotel management, they looked into this and agreed with my findings and promised to issue a refund.

I spent several hours on getting this resolved and I hope my thread here will help others to confront with similar situation (simply by adding a second guest name MAY change your existing reservation making you pay with BOTH full amount of points AND rack rate. Worse yet, the rack rate to be charged to your card will be unknown to you as there is no confirmation showing how much you will be charged, and the updated point reservation e-mail confirmation will continue to show reservation made using "standard room reward". It is clearly a Hilton central reservation system/application error -- it may be related to adding the second guest name using the Hilton iPhone App) So if a Hilton customer service representative tells you "I have never heard of it", you need to tell them "yes, I have!".

LongingForORD , Jun 19, 2017 7:45 pm

Thanks, I also had this issue pop up in March with a 4 night award stay that I changed to a 5 night (got the fifth night free), and then they took the point and said I would owe $2500 at check in!!! A frantic call to the hotel, and they said "don't worry, it is just a glitch, we will take care of it"...... and they did. Seems this glitch has been going on for a while, wish they would just fix it.

Sisosig , Jun 20, 2017 10:01 am

The problem with such errors is that many standard credit cards in Europe have a limit of just 2500 euro. An error like this may almost deplete your card. The $2500 reservation will stay on that card until the right amount has been settled, which may take a couple of days. So if you are visiting Hilton, take / use multiple credit cards with you, or have your limit raised.

dgparent , Jun 21, 2017 5:07 am

I had the same thing happen to me put in a case over a week ago and have not heard anything back. I told them I was going t dispute the charge with my CC company it was a all points stay and they also charged me 199.00 for the room.

#10

beltway , Jun 21, 2017 5:55 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lainghk

Paging @HonorsRepresentative.

#11

Hilton Honors Ambassador , Jun 21, 2017 4:32 pm

Company Representative - Honors by Hilton

Hi lainghk,

I sent you a PM to get the details on your reservation. Would like to share this specific example with the appropriate teams here at Hilton. Appreciate you taking the time to share this feedback.

Thanks,
Lauren

#12

storewanderer , Jun 21, 2017 10:37 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgparent

Dispute it with your credit card and watch Hilton freeze your account and take away access to your points... step lightly.

Contact Hilton Executives.

#13

Tootsy , Sep 19, 2017 4:50 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by HonorsRepresentative

I believe this issue is still going on, anyone know who is best to contact to resolve this?

#14

missamo80 , Sep 20, 2017 12:25 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tootsy

I believe this issue is still going on, anyone know who is best to contact to resolve this?

Paging @HonorsRepresentative...

Neil

#15

beltway , Sep 20, 2017 12:47 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tootsy

I believe this issue is still going on, anyone know who is best to contact to resolve this?

When checking out of one of the Budapest Hiltons recently, I ran into this same (or a related) problem. The lounge clerk said my stay was showing as P&M, not all points, and that I owed a cash co-pay. Fortunately, she sorted it out with the manager quickly—but obviously what the hotels are seeing in the system is still confusing them months after rollout.

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