Originally Posted by
sethb
Bottom line is OP did stay the first night. The definition of "stay the night" that's meaningful is "stayed late enough that the hotel charged for a full day/night stay". If they caught a flight at midnight, they might have left the room at 9 PM. Given that Diamonds have difficulty getting late checkout past 2 PM, leaving that late is clearly "staying in the room that night".
Or would you claim that when I was working weird hours in a foreign country I shouldn't get any credit for a 5-night stay because I left the room around 10 PM each night (and slept in the afternoon)?
Checking in at 6:30am is not staying the night by any stretch. Yes, there are many corner cases and I think HH did the right thing. Unfortunately, other than CSRs making up rules being my first biggest pet peeve, saying they will make an exception this time is my second. Being honest with the customer and saying their situation is not covered by the computer programs and will be taken care of is all that was needed. Doing the right thing should never be an exception.