Mini grumble about something related to the BRG (I didn't want to start a whole new post).
I have a $50 gift card from Hilton, presumably from a Best Price Guarantee from back when these were offered. I tried to use this at a Hilton hotel in the UK the other day, and it didn't work so I ended up paying using my own card for the full rate. Usually these $US cards do work in GB£ or Euro with a bit of fiddling at the desk, but we had no luck.
I phoned up the number on the back of the gift card for the balance- there is still the full $50 remaining. I emailed Hilton with all the details from the gift card and they said that the card needs returning for a replacement. Fine, fair enough.
Annoyingly, they want me to pay for it to be returned using a tracking service. Sending from the UK to the US,
it will cost around £8 with the minimum effort (i.e. dropping it off at a UK Post Office): . Such a cost wipes out approximately 20% of the value of the gift card. I asked if they'd cover the cost or offer any gesture given that they sent an 'broken' gift card - they refused.
It also took me three emails to find out the address of where to return the gift card. Each time, the email ended with "Please mail the card back to us". At least, that is what it was supposed to read but there were spelling mistake ridden all over the email!
Anyway, grumble over. Had four good stays in the past week within the UK and the US. However, the central customer service gets in the way of those good stays. For the stay I tried to use the gift card at, I had emailed one of the hotel managers immediately after the stay to let them know about a great stay, the great staff at the hotel. However, positive sentiment is wiped out (or at least affected) by then dealing with central Hilton customer services.