I second that!! Hilton recently sent me a complimentary Gold VIP card. I've been staying at Starwood properties, but I recently decided to give Hilton a go when their property at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was not only less expensive, but also offered bonus HHonors points and free breakfast in the rate. Let me say this now...I will never again stay at a Hilton hotel.
It has been almost three months from the stay, and I've had NO points posted to my HHonors account, and NO miles posted to my frequent flyer account. I didn't get the free breakfast promised to me (and they wouldn't give it to me, either, even after I showed them the printout from my reservation stating that the rate included breakfast), and I doubt I'll get the bonus points due to me, even if the regular points post sometime this century. I've never called the service centre when I didn't have to wait at least 20 minutes to speak to someone. I finally did get through, and they told me to send a fax to claim my missing points. Their fax number was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get through on...always BUSY!! I finally do get the fax to go through. I call them up again to make sure they got it. I wait 35 minutes on hold on their TOLL (NOT free) number, only to have the agent tell me, "We *might* have received it, but I have no way of knowing. We get over 3,000 faxes per day, so your fax probably won't be reviewed for at least a MONTH!!" So, they have no way of tracking your inquiry, etc. And, even though the say was months ago, I still have to wait another month before I have an outside chance of my points being credited.
HAHAHA!! That's just the HHonors programme. Nevermind that the hotel was crap. No room upgrade. No free newspaper. No club room access. The room was TINY! The service was passable, at best.
If this is what Hilton Gold VIPs get...if this is the hassle I need to go through to get my bloody points...then, forget it!
Starwood, however, are a completely different experience altogether. The elite perks for Gold are pretty good. The programme is simple--no black out dates--ever. Transfer points at up to 1:1.25 FF miles on almost every major carrier. NO hassle customer service--always very helpful, and when something does go wrong, they fix it in a timely manner, and usually add a something extra for the trouble. Starwood is great...Hilton is not so great, to say the least. That's my experience, anyways.
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