Biggie Fries

Makes sense.

zzrayzz

Made 2 4nt-bookings. Still have not received the confirmation email but do see the bookings were made on my hotel accounts. Been 3 days... but supposed to be 24hrs !? Never had an issue with this before the change. Should I just wait it out and expect it to be sent to me "soon"

DaveInLA

My most recent booking was in Euro, and the Aspire concierge rep said the amount actually reimbursed could vary with the exchange rate at time of the actual stay.

KosherKimchee

I got an email quote 2 days ago from Aspire. I actually booked it today (side note: call took 40 minutes just to book using AAA rate and adding my SPG number -- was very frustrating). The quote email had the 4th night free benefit, the booking email confirmation did not. Both reference the same "Case Number" Am I good to go or does the final confirmation need to show the 4th night free benefit?

windonwaters

Aspire concierge is absolutely nightmare in dealing with. Experience with Ten Group were pretty good in the past, although when they changed the policy late last year that require you to get a quote first before you can talk to CW agent was annoying. With Aspire, I've had 4 calls each with wait time between 20-30 mins. Twice agents say they will cal me back but never did. Once the agent's line is all static I can't hear anything she says. They don't follow up, they are impossible reach. Most of agents sounds like stay at home mom picking up a side job rather than professional in hospitality/travel industry. Very frustrating...

Exec_Plat

Welp... anyone think Citi is getting a kickback from the travel agency to help pay for this program? And Aspire is the new low bidder?

mia

This benefit is provided by MasterCard, not by Citi. Hotel commission rates are often high enough to support the benefit.

Exec_Plat

Doesnt matter WHO is providing the benefit. (and if you have some inside info into the ACTUAL business entity that provides the funding that would be interesting.) Im not sure we would ever know the business architecture behind this 'benefit'

The point of my post is that the 10% per night commission- for 4 nights this is 40% of a single night stay- is (IMO) likely being used to offset the cost of the benefit. Hotels pay it to the IATA number on the record, how this gets BACK to the entity that credits by statement does not much matter.

(I also wonder if this vendor may have a better commission rate?)

A vendor that pays Citi or Mastercard or "prestige joint limited whatever" an extra point on the kickback might win the contract.

That was my point

mia

I have no inside information, i merely read the terms of the offer which explicitly tell us that this benefit is provided by Mastercard.

Hotel commission rates are often 25%.

TimUT78

I've recently encountered some difficulty trying to book hotels for several trips. Each call takes about 20 minutes of listing to that awful music to get through to someone. Though each agent I've talked to is very nice, I've received subpar service with failure to respond within five days (I had to call back to find out what happened), sending me the wrong information on hotel quotes, conflicting information (one told me that Citi Prestige has benefits with Four Seasons while another agent said the opposite). One agent told me the company was very understaffed and behind because they have a surge in workload.

Sometimes I wonder if this benefit is even worth it due to all the trouble of this archaic process. Also, I seem to get much higher quotes or prepay only from the Concierge whereas the hotel or other travel sites offer lower or non-prepaid rates.

jsk1973

No doubt they're understaffed because they just added Prestige as a client.

The best thing to do is find the rate you want before you call to book the fourth night free.

Exec_Plat

Thanks.

I did see that Mastercard credits the bill, so to the end consumer it appears to be from mastercard. The question of how the benefit is funded is still open.

IME, 10% is the bottom- if a hotel pays an IATA commission it will be 10%. (Historically I had heard of 6 and 8, but that was some time ago. Remember the printed hotel guide with the commission codes in them? )

I guess we wont know how 'often' commissions are 25%. I rarely see those, but admittedly I do not use a big large volume TA nor do I stay at large hotel chains.

I do know that on two upcoming stays, CWT had to call the property, get a manual quote and they were told what commission the property would pay- when my TA asked, he was told 10%. I estimate that when CWT called and asked they too were told 10%. Might it be 25% at large chains where CWT has volume contracts? Sure.

jsk1973

Are you talking about old bookings or new ones? I thought CWT was no longer involved in Prestige fourth-night bookings, but maybe incorrect info. was floating around.

DaveInLA

I made a few bookings when CWT and near the end, I found that it's better to have a specific hotel, room type and rate and dates in mind. I fed the CSR the info and things would be taken card in a timely manner. I did the email thing initially but the reps told me it just slowed down the process.

I tried the same approach with Aspire and it still works, albeit slower and less efficient.

billybayswater

FWIW, when I inquired with one of the new Aspire agents about the new process and why CWT agents were no longer needed to be looped in, he told me MasterCard was no longer involved in the process and that Citi is now providing the benefit. It is possible that he was misinformed, but note that MasterCard had not previously come up at all in the conversation, so he at least knew that MC had provided the benefit in the past on his own.