Originally Posted by aaron.kivett

On November 27th I booked 5 nights at the Hilton Playa del Carmen for 80,000 points per night. When booking this reservation I selected 2 people for the room and added the name of my fiancé to the “Additional Guests” section. I thought everything was fine with this reservation.

On January 20th I received a pre-arrival email from the hotel. One week later on the 27th I emailed back that “we would be celebrating our honeymoon on this visit.” Almost immediately the hotel rep responded letting me know she would need the concierge to assist me and that he would reply in 24-72 hours. I received no reply (after contacting Sandra and Hilton on Feb 2nd and 3rd) until February 4th. At this time the concierge informed me that my reservation was only for 1 person and that I would be charged 210 USD per night for my wife.

I was shocked by this. I immediately reached out to Honors Customer Service to fix the reservation. First I was told it’s as simple as just cancelling and rebooking. But then I discovered that since the reservation cancellation window had closed it could not be updated and I would need to contact the hotel. I tried calling the hotel but was hung up on twice while trying to talk with the Reservations department. On Tuesday I called the Honors Diamond line and explained the situation. The woman helping me had a similar issue getting ahold of anyone at the hotel who could resolve the situation. She told me that she would work on this and get back in touch in 24 hours. On Wednesday morning the concierge emailed to say that they would be willing to lower the additional cost to 150 USD per night. This is completely unacceptable.

I can book the same room at this hotel for 80k points for 1 or 2 people for later dates. This problem seems to be completely manufactured. The initial contact from the hotel and the introduction to the concierge happened before the cancellation window when this could have apparently been resolved easily. It was not until the cancellation window had passed that I was contacted and informed of the issue. At this point this delay seems intentional to ensure that I had no choice but to pay up when I arrive.

I’m now stuck with a reservation that will cost me hundreds more dollars than it should. I have been a Diamond member for 9 years and have 700 nights in Hilton properties. This situation is beyond infuriating, has soured my honeymoon and makes me seriously question my loyalty to Hilton. I'm not due to checkin for another 10 days, so I hold out some hope of resolving this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hilton Honors Ambassador