Originally Posted by
Ed ONeill
I want to add my input to what seems to be an ongoing issue of hotels "selectively" participating in the no blackouts program. I had a similar experience recently, attempting to book an award at the Hilton Sydney. The "cheapest" room on any date I selected is the "Guestroom plus". Just to prove the point, I made a regular reservation for this room category for my award dates. But even after several calls to both reservations and the hotel, I wasn't able to make any headway.
While "no blackouts" sounds exciting on the surface, it can become completely meaningless unless customers are able to clearly identify whether a "standard room is available". If anyone has any insight into how to confirm that definitively I would welcome a post back.
Related to this, it sounds like this claim may be a bit of deceptive advertising. Has anyone else who has been blocked from a room considered making a complaint about about this to their state authorities?
Right, but it's not just whether or not a customer can determine if a "standard" room is available -- it is hotels very, very selectively screwing with the definition of what is a standard room at their property. Some hotels have a small percentage of rooms that are "standard" so that they can effectively limit reward night capacity. Everything else is "upgraded".
A courtyard view room with a twin bed in it called "upgraded" as opposed to "standard" defies all common sense. If a room is equivalent to or worse than the majority of rooms in the hotel, it is, by definition, their standard offering or a sub-standard offering for which there shouldn't be capacity controls.
Hilton has a great program, but the "no blackouts or capacity controls" claim is a sham.
I don't think the state authorities route will bear any fruit for all of the effort that goes into it. Best bet is a bunch of bad PR -- start writing to ombudsmen at travel magazines and writing editorials. If word gets out that it is a sham and they are embarrassed, they might respond.
peace,
~Ben~