InkUnderNails

As someone that will have 60 nights in 2010 by June 30, that would be an extended vacation.

Sweet Willie

(bolding mine) this is where Hilton properties SUCK, they don't train well. I used to carry around a copy of the T&C's and many times had to personally train the front desk & sometimes even a mgr on the bene's I was due. This is the primary reason I left years ago. Hilton has suckered me back in and so far I haven't had to pull out the copy of my T&C's but I've stayed mostly at the same 2 properties who seemed to be on their game in terms of knowing what bene's were due.

serfty

If you have the Elite status and you want the perks, it's you duty to ensure you get them. If it means you need to educate the check-in clerk, so be it.

Such education opportunities are not confined to Hilton properties: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...ml#post5299437Methinks there was a concerted effort to educate Hilton properties on providing consistent perks etc with the changes introduced August 2008.

Andy2

.......

belynch

I don't want to start another thread, so I'm going to tack this on the back-end of this one.

Can someone please explain the logic behind needing to bring the print-outs of all of your award confirmations and issued awards (e.g. Q3FN) to the property? Again, maybe I'm spoiled by Hyatt and SPG, but this seems absolutely unnecessary. I'll comply, but fail to see any logic what-so-ever behind this.

I recently called Hilton to redeem a Q3FN and I never received a confirmation email and it didn't show-up in my profile. Worried something went I called back this morning and apparently someone had used a different Q3FN (assigned to me) than what I thought they used. So when I tried to use it, the system flagged it as being used twice.

The CS rep. straightened things out for me (I think) but I'm still rather confused as to how something like this could happen. If this was all electronic then once the cert is used it is removed from the profile. And how could the previous rep use a different cert than I asked them to use? In any other program, I wouldn't have cared which cert they used, but at Hilton -- where the actual cert seems to make a difference, I guess there's an element of blind faith that everything is done properly.

I travel enough to know better than trust things are done properly on blind faith alone. I've been burned several times (thanks UAL ICC) and had I not called Hilton this a.m. there's a good chance I would have presented myself at the check-in desk at the Hilton Dubai Creek only to find out I was on the hook for a $500/night room when I thought I was using a chit.

By the way, you can't confirm bed-type with Hilton as a Diamond? What a .

jamesteroh

I agree it is a pain. Means wasting paper and keeping up with more paperwork on an awards stay. WIth marriott, they just send you a regular hotel confirmation like any other hotel stay, and it says it's an awards stay and they debit your account for the points. I just save the email, like I do with any other hotel confirm and figure if there is a problem I will pull it up on my phone at the front desk. Having to have the print outs is a really big pain for me, because my travelling companion on a lot of those stays lives in another city and we are on different flights and he has to also print out all the paper work in case my flight gets messed up and he gets to the hotel before me. I earned a free night as a promo from marriott for signing up for their credit card and I simply had to call to book the reservation and was sent an email with the confirmation info. Nothing to print out.

It seems like this is also creating a lot more paperwork for Hilton and doesn't give them a reputation for being a very green company.

steve64

I've often wondered about this same thing.
Most of the times, I hand the printout over as I'm checking in. It's usually a quick glance by the Rep the see what the sheet of paper is and then it's handed right back to me as if "I don't need this". Only once have I had them keep it

Just this past week, I booked a Q3FN while on the road. Eventually had a room at a hotel with a biz center that printed things from the internet w/o $$$. Grabbed a copy of my Reward Certificate and off I go. On the flight to my Q3FN room, I notice the whole right side of the certificate didn't print

There were no problems at the hotel. They never even asked to see the certificate. I did notice on the confirmation, that in the remarks section, the Diamond Rep who booked the room had added the certificate number.

I'm going to guess and say the certificate number is all they need. By telling you that you MUST bring in a copy of the certificate kinda promises that you'll arrive with the number in hand, just in case they don't have it handy by other means. Otherwise, your check-in could be delayed while someone starts making calls to get the number.

Steve

dcshungu

A number is just a number. Someone could glance over your shoulder at work, guess what it is for, and write it down when you are not looking and use it for a free night on YOU. The certificate ensures that such fraudulent acts, no matter how far fetched, minimzed. Last year I did award stays 3 times and I have done two so far this year. Not only did they keep the certs each time, they insisted on seeing them...

belynch

So I guess every other airline and hotel program is ripe with fraud because they don't require printed confirmations of anything?

Perhaps I should mail this post to you. :-:

I actually see your point. But perhaps the physical cert. should only be requested if the reservation is being made in a name other than the person it was awarded to.

BDLORD

The manager could have been arrested

dcshungu

All good points you make. A passport/valid ID and the confirmation number should suffice, unless there is trouble at which point they should give you access to a terminal so that you can show them your confirmation email (heck, any smart phone would allow you to get to your email on the spot.) It is possible to do away with the paper certs in this day and age. It is probably resistance to change that perpetuates this, rather than fear of fraud.

belynch

Wanted to follow-up with this and, for everyone keeping score at home, the Q3FN's were bungled up and I somehow ended-up one night short on my honeymoon because someone moved points from the wrong place to the wrong thing and Hilton speaks tax-code so we spent a solid 2 hours on the phone trying to match-up which award certs. were used for what nights.

What a mess (that I'm only 90% confident has been straightened out).

Since I've been a Diamond I think I've had a total of 10 or so stays at Hilton properties. I can confidently say that I'm as underwhelmed with the Hilton program as I was when I first started this thread.

I went ahead and status-matched over to SPG who has, without fail, delivered on everything they've published about Platinum and I've had zero issues/complaints about any of my stays (averaging 2/week).

Let's compare and contrast.

As an SPG Plat I've:

• Always been upgraded to a suite/better room
• Always had free internet
• Always been provided free breakfast
• Always had requests followed-through on
• Never had to call CS for any reason -- things just work
• Always received a late check-out whether or not I need/used it

As a Hilton Diamond I've:

• Never received an upgraded room (I don't consider a room next to the ice machine and elevator upgrade. Nor do I consider a room that's on a floor with a placard designated it as the "HHonors floor" with no other difference an upgrade.)
• Usually had to fight for published benefits
• Had to call CS a dozen or so times because the program is so convoluted / website is borderline functional
• Had someone follow-up with me because of this thread who said they would research the things I experienced and never got back to me ()
• Never been provided a late check-out
• Was told by front-desk associate that hotel "ignores room type requests."

I know there are many out there that dislike SPG for very valid reasons. But, in my experience, the Hilton program is a spectacular joke. The benefits and customer service are significantly behind the competition. I'm at the point that Hilton most likely won't even be my back-up program going forward (SPG and Hyatt just aren't everywhere) and I'll move over to Marriott.

Points Scrounger

I don't see why we can't add our own cert numbers to reservations in a manner similar to using gift cert numbers with an Amazon purchase? Priority Club (my secondary program) deducts the points and codes the res as an award stay, which the hotel treats exactly as a "prepaid" one at check-in.

dcshungu

Objectively, as a HHD I've:

• Always been upgraded to a better room [suites are not part of the deal but I feel they should be]
• have never had free internet unless I was not upgraded [have been upgraded every time so no free internet]
• Always been provided free breakfast ^
• not had requests always followed-through on
• had to call CS occasionally -- things sometimes just do not work as expected.
• received a late check-out 2/3 of the times that I have needed it [HHV - nay ; Hilton Frankfurt - yea x 2 ^]

Should I quit HH for SPG? Dunno... there seems to be a Hilton property just about any place I've wanted to go (except Kyoto!!), which is an overall plus.

jamesteroh

I just finalized my new years plans and I have to say the diamond benefit paid off on this awards stay alone. I am using a certificate for one night from the stay 4 promo get one night free and 150K points for the other three nights for a four night stat at the DT times square. I did a reservation online without hitting the book now button just to get an idea as to the price and it would have been $7,154.86 with tax.