AsanteSana

I was trying to redeem points for a Nights & Flight award yesterday, and had an interesting experience. I spoke to at least 3 different agents and not one of them knew what it was. The first agent said that it might be an 'online only' promotion and asked me to book it online, to which I responded saying that this was actually a redemption that could only be made over the phone. One other agent asked me to read out the 'promotion' from the website.

Eventually, I was transferred to a knowledgeable agent that helped me make the reservation. Even she though had to read through the instructions line by line.

While I understand that this redemption may not be as popular as other choices out there, it was surprising that agents had not even heard of it.

Have others had similar experiences?

ashley1245

I booked a Nights and Flights reservation a few months back. I had the exact same experience. Several agents had no idea what I was talking about. Had to hang up and call back. Finally got an agent who had booked this type of redemption one time before. She, too, read out the instructions line by line. Took quite a while to get the reservation made.
With the points saved though, I still thought it was worth it!

Stubtify

Interested in this....Looks like you save 8,000 points on the Cat3 and 10k points on the cat 4. Is that correct?

AsanteSana

That is right. The only downside to it is that the transfer of points to miles cannot be undone in the event that you wish to cancel your reservation. A great deal otherwise.

AsanteSana

Perhaps, we were both helped by the same agent?
And yes, I agree, the deal is worth the effort ^

allbrosca

I booked one a few months ago with no problems - my second. Great deal if your destination has a category 3 or 4 hotel you want to stay at. I just bank the FF points.

Stubtify

That is understandable. Can the points used for the hotel be refunded should plans change?

AsanteSana

And the hotel I made a reservation at converted to cat 5 today

AsanteSana

Yes. For a cat 4 resvn, you will get back 30,000 points.

CKL

Same Experience... first with e-chat, person had no idea...
then I called, again agent had no idea. I actually had to walk her through spg.com to show her the redemption.
WOW
I had a res already for the 5 nights in a Cat 4, but wanted to change to N&F redemption for same exact reservation. Hotel no longer had the availability to book new ressie for free nights... .hence. the problem.
Thankfully, I spoke to a manager that was very helpful & made the change for me.

markgrammer

When you book Nights and Flights, do the 5 nights have to be at the same property on consecutive nights? I can't find any more details on the SPG website.

AJLondon

Yes. Same hotel consecutive nights. i.e. one reservation.

Dr. HFH

Instead of taking the hit on the points on a per night basis (i.e., you can't replace the free nights for 30K points), you might try asking the property if they can reschedule the nights if you're going to the same property but just for different nights. I had to reschedule on my one N&F redemption, and the property was happy to accommodate me.