One more note about the “make reservation with deposit, get AmEx Hilton Credit, cancel reservation, get refund of deposit, net $200” gambit.

Some refunds are not automatically processed upon cancellation.

Case in point: reservation made 1/4/25 at ski resort Doubletree which charged $300 deposit on 1/5/25, AmEx Hilton credit posted 1/8/25, reservation cancelled 1/9/25, no refund to credit card yet. Called Hilton Diamond desk, long call with overseas call center agent, put on hold twice, was told that the hotel processed the refund on 1/9/25 and I should now call my credit card company.

Called the hotel, terrific helpful agent answered immediately, reviewed reservation and cancellation, said “the refund has not been processed, I’ll do it right now”.

Paraphrasing a “Yogi-ism” (end of page: Yogi Berra*) “90% of what a representative tells you is incorrect, the other half is erroneous and the rest is probably inaccurate.” 😊

(* Yogi Berra "Ninety percent of the game is half mental." This is sometimes rendered as "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical." Berra's quote suggests that mental skills are just as important as physical skills. Even if a player has great talent, they won't reach their full potential if they don't play with confidence.)

Addendum: Refund of deposit posted to my Aspire account sometime last night, 2 days after calling hotel (no “pending” interval, balance reduced immediately).