Originally Posted by
Ritz
Not at all. I renewed my membership last year - but before that, my coverage with National (corp. contract) was better than anything AAA could offer. So I had let my membership lapse for 2 years - but AAA Mid-Atlantic sends out cards with an expiration date of up to 4 years in advance, even though the membership has offically expired. Hilton's site readily accepted my card during the lapse. I actually tried entering random numbers into the site one day when I was bored waiting the Admiarls' Club, and noticed you can deviate from your own member number and it still works, lol.
Actually, I do believe the policy to check the AAA card at Hilton is to avoid such fraudulent behavior, but unfortunately for Hilton, front desk incompetence is a far greater problem.
The system can be gamed, certainly, like any system -- but most website users probably enter their own AAA number rather than a made-up or expired one or their friend/relative/neighbor's, etc.
Anyhow, I said that it
reduces the need to check the card -- not that it
eliminates it. (These things, like most in life, are probabilistic rather than deterministic.)
As for desk clerk "incompetence," I haven't seen that as a problem at Hiltons in general.
