Thank you very much
. I haven’t booked a hotel via a 3rd party or OTA for as long as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve seen a 3rd party offer a rate lower than I can get with one of my legitimate discounts (AAA, AARP, military, etc.).
I should have added this when I first asked for clarification but is it also correct that even after a third party booking and the reservation is in the hotel’s system, calling the hotel prior to the stay to ask (grovel) them to add a Hilton Honors number (and benefits) has a very low probability of success regarding receiving all Diamond benefits, primarily nicer room?
You mention you now use 3rd party 2/3rds of the time. Have you tried to add your Hilton Honors #? If so, please let us know your experiences in that regard.
In this case I’ll probably continue with the booking directly at Hilton. Not because it’s worth the 25% but for a bunch of other reasons.
- If I book it via AA with my Aspire card it would not earn 14x so I’d use a different card (which earns 3x on all travel).
- Need legitimate organic activity on my 2-3 uses per year Aspire card.
- During the same statement cycle I’ll charge UA TB $50 and prefer to have that charge and (hopefully) the credit mixed in with other significant activity instead of being the only activity for the month.
- During same statement cycle I’ll book a Hilton Resort stay which requires 1 night (>$250) deposit and (hopefully) the credit will post quickly and then I’ll cancel the reservation and have the deposit refunded and hopefully the credit will not be clawed back and I prefer to have all that activity mixed in with other significant activity.
- Hoping for an accepted retention offer early in the statement cycle, this hotel charge would be a significant part of that required spend.
- Hope to use an Aspire anniversary FNA for one of the 3 or 4 nights, might be easier with a direct Hilton booking.
- I’ve stayed at the hotel several times, always ask for (and usually get) a different category room. Not always a more expensive or “upgraded” room but a larger room which has not been renovated as recently as many other rooms. I think it will be helpful to have the booking via Hilton with my Honors # when I start those negotiations.
It’s easy to make this stuff overly complicated
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Thanks again, greatly appreciate your sharing your wisdom.