Originally Posted by
Simon Schus
I received the following email from Hilton today, after I had queried why I hadn't gotten the 5000 points on a Hilton points stay last week. I charged incidentals to the room and paid with Visa, having booked it via the mobile app (note, not a points&money stay).
"Thank you for contacting Hilton Guest Assistance.
I apologize for the inconvenience, the "VISA HH APP 2016" does not apply to incidental charges. Guest who book their reservation through the HHonor App and pay for the stay with their Visa receive the bonus credit. Unfortunately, as your reservation, xxxxxx, was a reward reservation, it is not eligible to receive the Visa promotion credit."
Boo. I read nothing in the terms and conditions about excluding points-only stays when charging incidentals to room.
I had even gone out of my way to email Hilton's Diamond Desk in advance of my stay to ask them about incidentals and they just copy/pasted the terms and conditions, which made no reference to excluding points stays. In their response, the Diamond desk said that I should contact them via the chat system to discuss. I did, and it took them 40 minutes for them to say (paraphrased): "We can't help you with this, you'll have to call or email". It was an utter waste of time! 40 minutes, most of which was them going to check something for 15 minutes at a time.
Originally Posted by
Simon Schus
No, this was a points booking with an incidentals spend at the hotel (booked in-app, booked within the timeframes, paid for using a visa, emailed in advance to check it was okay). I wouldn't have bothered on the incidental spend, and probably not even the stay at that particular hotel without the 5000 points so I'm rather annoyed particularly given that I had emailed in advance to check it was okay. There are more than enough hotels in the local area for equivalent number of points in other programs; the 5000 points back was enough of a rebate to think "might as well pick there even though it is not my usual hotel".
For me (but maybe not others), every promotion seems to have an issue with the IT or with the policy not applying to a certain stay. The hotels are often fairly good and I get good customer service - sometimes a minor problem, less often a major problem, more often than not no problems. I feel positive towards the hotel but then something happens with the IT and the points, and irritation ensues after the stay. These admin and IT issues get in the way of an otherwise enjoyable stay.
So, I responded to the email I got from the Diamond Desk to query this all as it seemed odd based on what they had told me previously. They replied with:
"We sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience caused. Yes, with reward stays you earn points on incidentals if they are billed to your room. As you did have incidental charges, we have added [...] points to your account for the [...] purchased during your stay.
Regarding the 5,000 bonus points, you would have needed to book your reservation with a mobile app from your phone. Upon review of the reservation history, we show that it was booked on the Internet, but not with a phone app. As a gesture of good will, I have added 2,500 points to your account."
Now, it is very really kind of them to give 2500 points - it was a kind reply. However, this *was* booked with the mobile app and NOT via a web browser so my stay should be eligible for 5000 points not just a goodwill 2500 points.
This issue has come up before with the stay no longer showing as being booked with the mobile app. I've assumed this is because the 'mobile app' has been overridden by either:
- After booking, I may have edited the stay using a webbrowser (i.e. adding my wife’s name into the booking; adding comments into 'comments field'). Perhaps this may have overriden that I booked the stay with a mobile app (though the points sometimes do post even after adding my wife's name or adding comments in hence why I'm unsure)
- Sometimes, I've emailed the hotel a day or two before with a request and they've made notes in the booking. I did this in this instance. The hotel/Diamond Desk amended the booking themselves by adding a comment about a request I had made - I got a brand new email showing a change to my booking. The email had same reservation number, but for some reason it no longer read how many points I had used and I could no longer amend the booking in my app. I think that they had preassigned me an upgrade or something like that. Either way, something appeared to have changed in my booking by the hotel which may have overriden the fact that I booked the stay with a mobile app.
- Best Price/Rate Guarantee claims. I'm unclear if BPG claims change the booking channel at all, but I know that they end up changing the booking in some way (i.e. changing the rate means manual intervention by the BPG team). I've not been monitoring which of my bookings are BPG or not too closely. However, I do have a stay booked with the BPG coming up next week which I booked using the mobile app. As such, I will see whether I have trouble with points posting from the the triple mobile app and Visa mobile booking promotions too.
Nonetheless, I can confirm and am adamant that the booking was made via a mobile app. I had even gone and cancelled the stay to rebook it with the mobile app just in case.
IT problems abound for me on this offer.