srodr

For the first time I'm trying the 'Guest of Honor' promotion by giving my sister and her husband a night for their anniversary. I've made the reservation and told them about this gift, but not about the extra benefits that they will be receiving from my diamond status.

My questions are: Do I need to call the hotel to 'remind' them to make sure to give the appropriate benefits? Do I need to brief my sister on what she should be receiving assuming that the hotel won't honor the benefits unless they're asked for? Or does the reservation actually show up to the hotel as if she has diamond status herself?

neo_781

Option C ... the hotel should automatically treat her as if she is a Diamond. No need to call the hotel and tell/remind them about the benefits.

It's always a good idea to mention to your sister that she will get lounge or breakfast just so she's aware as not all front desk agents do a great job briefing the guest and may assume you know the benefits anyway.

But I would NOT set the expectation with her that she needs to walk in prepared to speak up for her rights. Unless you've seen some post here about a hotel not offering GOH or Diamond benefits as a regular thing you and her shouldn't have any expectation that things won't go according to plan.

Kacee

Which property?

There have been many problems reported with GoH benefits not being provided. It is therefore a good idea to contact the hotel in advance to politely confirm they understand the Guest of Honor benefits and have the reservation properly noted as such.

stargold

Agreed. That's what I have done each time I book a GOH award.

Mary2e

I would tell my sister so she knows if she doesn't get what she's entitled to.

I gave my cousin a GOH reservation, told her what she should get, AND I contacted the GM who assured me everything would work out fine.

Needless to say, she only got the upgrade, and that's because it was confirmed when I made the reservation. Nothing else. My cousin called me and I called the front desk and read them the riot act. She got her amenity and breakfast coupons

However, because I'm a regular at the hotel, the GM wrote me first thing in the morning and apologized for the screw up and sent her a gift for her children. He had put notations in her reservation and the front desk clerk didn't read them

But this is an unusual. I'm a regular there. On a normal reservation I would call the front desk before the person arrives and make sure they know what to do.

I doubt I'll be giving away any more GOH reservations. I don't need the extra work.

iflyjetz

LOL! I've given GOH around half a dozen times. There have been issues on almost all stays. And that's with me calling in advance to ensure the hotel recognizes my guest.

shorthauldad

I tried it once, after reading the tales of woe here I briefed my guests, plus I called the hotel in advance ... yet they still screwed it up. My "guests of honor" ended up going for breakfast in a cheap cafe round the corner instead of getting into a fight over whether they were entitled to get a free breakfast. Just fantastic.

Yes, same here

srodr

Thanks for the advice to be proactive with this. I called the property the day before arrival and spoke to one who claimed to be a manager and had no idea what I was talking about. She looked at the reservation and couldn't even see any indication that it had been booked from my account. She never heard of the Guest of Honor deal and said she'd look into it. The next day my sister and her husband checked in and got what seemed to be a larger than average room, so maybe it was an upgrade. But she told me there had been no mention of breakfast nor check in amenity. So I called the hotel again and spoke to another that claimed to be a manager and again had no idea what I was talking about knowing nothing about the Guest of Honor program. So again I explained it and encouraged her to call Gold Passport to learn about it and to share the info with the staff so they'd learn about it. Anyway... In the end they did get the breakfast and a bottle of wine sent up to the room, but it took me a lot of work to make it happen. GP needs to fix this.

cmglobal

In addition to briefing them on the benefits, I provide print outs of the GOH terms to my guests to show reception in the event of any confusion. Calling ahead doesn't seem to help since many hotels don't communicate well internally.

CherylD

I made 2 GOH reservations for my son and daughter. Both made at different times. With each one, they found my son and daughter's GP number and put that in the reservation instead of mine.

I called back later on my son's as I wasn't sure that was actually his GP number. The agent at that time said the reservations wasn't made correctly and should have my GP number in it instead. She fixed his and my daughters.

Which is correct?

59Impala

Your number should be in the reservation, so that the Diamond tier level will also show up and they get the benefits such as lounge access and amenity. Your son's and daughter's number is irrelevant, as they anyway cannot earn any credits on the free night.

SportsTech

This thread should be read by everyone who's wondering whether or not they should vote for Hyatt in this year's Freddie awards.

Along with the thread where Hyatt apologizes profusely to all of us who had a credit card breach because their back end systems aren't secure ... [I'm sure there's a thread like that somewhere, I just can't seem to find it at the moment]

And the thread announcing that the web site will be down for an entire week in December (because no one travels in December, do they?) along with Hystt IT's profuse apologies for the 4 or 5 extra days it was down... [I'm really struggling with FT Search today, I know that thread is here somewhere?]

I think the Gold Passport program is, on paper, the best hotel loyalty program. But plans that aren't executed aren't worth any more than this quarter's outstanding Gold Passport promo.

iflyjetz

I've done that several times; sometimes it works, sometimes GOH still gets screwed up.

^

I'd like to give Kudos to Andaz San Diego and Hyatt French Quarter New Orleans for not needing to be told about Guest of Honor and giving my guests all GOH benefits. But I've had more fails than successes with GOH.

Aventine

I'd had total successes but still advise on reaching out to the hotel in advance. It shouldn't be that way but I like to be careful.

GUWonder

Do Diamond Guest of Honor benefits apply to award booking even if the Diamond member loses Diamond status between the time of the booking and the time of the actual stay?