I was greeted at the door by the bellhop by name, which was like wow... They didn't even know when I was arriving at exactly nor have I ever stayed here before. Check in was a breeze.
Does anybody know how hotels pull this off? Unless Bimmerkid2 happened to be the only guest checking in tonight, how could they have figured out who he was from all the other people walking in and out? I doubt the answer here lies in luggage tags.
Does anybody know how hotels pull this off? Unless Bimmerkid2 happened to be the only guest checking in tonight, how could they have figured out who he was from all the other people walking in and out? I doubt the answer here lies in luggage tags.
It's a mystery to me, too, however friends of mine have told the same story about the posh Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco. It was a few years after their first visit before they returned, but they were greeted with a "welcome back" by the doorman on the second visit. The SF Chronicle did a story recently about hotel doormen, and a number from the Huntington were featured since they had been working at the hotel for 30 years and counting.
Maybe they're just all trained to say that, and if you're a first timer you just chuckle to yourself thinking they have you confused with a repeat customer. But if you really are a repeat guest, you certainly get an ego boost when they say "welcome back" regardless if they remember you or not!
Seems like they want foreigners to fill out W-8BEN forms:
Quote:
Dear futaris,
We are happy to hear that you were able to book a room during our World for a Dollar campaign. The room booked does constitute a prize, and our company did not collect any money from you or charge your credit card for the prize. As a winner of a prize, you are solely responsible for the payment of all federal, state, and local taxes on the value of the prize.
Our company is required by law to issue a 1042 for the prize awarded, and to complete this process we must obtain your completed W-8 BEN form from you. In addition, we will require a payment of 30% on the market value of the prize (i.e. USD$100 market value prize x 30% = USD$30 tax payment) prior to distributing the prize to you. Our company will maintain this information in accordance with its guidelines for retention and disposal of confidential information. Please note that, based upon the campaign rules, you were not entitled to participate in the campaign because you are not a legal resident of the U.S. , and the company retains the right to cancel your prize.
We strive for customer satisfaction, and offered the World for a Dollar campaign so that individuals like you would have the opportunity to “travel” without paying the base price for the rooms booked. However, if you do not wish to incur the costs (relating to payment of taxes imposed by government authorities) and/or do not wish to provide your social security number to us, we will be unable to award the hotel room that you booked during the campaign.
Because we hope to win your future business, if you decide not to provide your completed social security number/incur cost of payment of taxes, we would like to extend to you the opportunity to become a member of Last Minute Travel Club (www.lmtclub.com) at no cost. If you choose this option of becoming a member of the club, we will cancel the prize awarded to you during the World for a Dollar campaign.
Thank you again for your patronage of lastminutetravel.com. We are here to serve you with “last minute travel”® prices in advance.
yea, got the same today. so foreign "winners" have to pay 30% of the market value to LMT which they will forward to the IRS? the form looks a bit strange for me, is it really meant to claim for a prize?
Still never got request for 1099. In fact, haven't heard word one from LMT since I booked 6 nights at a Hilton property in Asia for 2 dollars and change. Reservation is for this summer. HOWEVER, Hilton Diamond Desk says they have no record of a Mr. jbatl with a reservation at that hotel. Has anyone been able to reconfirm an LMT reservation with a major chain hotel several months in advance?
Still never got request for 1099. In fact, haven't heard word one from LMT since I booked 6 nights at a Hilton property in Asia for 2 dollars and change. Reservation is for this summer. HOWEVER, Hilton Diamond Desk says they have no record of a Mr. jbatl with a reservation at that hotel. Has anyone been able to reconfirm an LMT reservation with a major chain hotel several months in advance?
i have been able to confirm one stay in NYC at a Starwood Property in September and one in the Virgin Islands in November.
Still never got request for 1099. In fact, haven't heard word one from LMT since I booked 6 nights at a Hilton property in Asia for 2 dollars and change. Reservation is for this summer. HOWEVER, Hilton Diamond Desk says they have no record of a Mr. jbatl with a reservation at that hotel. Has anyone been able to reconfirm an LMT reservation with a major chain hotel several months in advance?
I was able to confirm my stay in London by calling the Park Plaza's US customer service number.
Gave my name and dates and they were able to provide my reservation number so that it can be viewed online.
Just got back from our long weekend at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. Gave our Hilton number on check-in and a lovely desk clerk upgraded us to a suite. How nice! No charges on check-out. Thanks, Last Minute Travel!
Now that great tales of fine stays are rolling in...
did anyone ever figure out any of the game clues ?
(other than the date on the boat at Cancun..)
I was thinking to email them about this, but....
I think they realized how many people would be taking advantage of their "promotion" and decided to ditch the clues and just try to be as random as possible after a couple of days. Gotta love the message board effect!
I think they realized how many people would be taking advantage of their "promotion" and decided to ditch the clues and just try to be as random as possible after a couple of days. Gotta love the message board effect!
Do you believe that the booking periods were completely random assignments? Since they had booking periods almost back-to-back more than once, that aspect seemed less random to me.
Do you believe that the booking periods were completely random assignments? Since they had booking periods almost back-to-back more than once, that aspect seemed less random to me.
Maybe random was the wrong word... what I meant was that they tried to make it as unpredictable as possible by using late-night and back-to-back times.
redsox28, my stay starts in April, I hope it's still happening! And actually, I'm staying in Boston, so I'm looking forward to it.
![[EXPIRED] LastMinuteTravel.com Offers 15,000 Hotels for $1 Per Night](/forum/iconimages/hotel-deals/expired-lastminutetravel-com-offers-15-000-hotels-1-per-night_ltr.gif)
, and I am a foreign "winners"
Lovely stay at the Waldorf-Astoria
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