Keyser

anyone canceling a reward reservation with hilton should be aware of the fact that it will now take 5 days for them to credit the points back to your account....

i needed to change some dates for an upcoming award reservation but the system was not allowing me to do so online....i decided to cancel the stay & book again....normally the points used to go back to the account in a few minutes....however, when i saw no refund after 5-6 hours, i called the diamond desk....i was just informed that there is now a new policy in place & it will take 5 days for the points to go back into my account....

is it just me or is hilton beginning to suck at pretty much everything????

3Cforme

I got a refund in two hours yesterday.

In another observation, complete sentences are still popular.

Keyser

dwcatty

Interesting...I cancelled a reward stay and rebooked at same property as a paid stay (30,000 points or $79, hmm?) earlier this week. I did this about 9:30 in the morning. When there had been no change in my points balance by 4 pm I called the DD and asked to have the points refunded and the certificate cancelled. The gal had to put me on hold, speak with a supervisor, and came back on the line and said it was done. Next time I checked, about 6 pm, the points were in my account.

Did this go into effect, like, today?

Keyser

no clue....i'm calling back now to see if i can speak with a supervisor....

Keyser

ok so here is an update....i called back & was initially told the same thing....their new policy takes 5 days for the points to go back to the account....

i asked to speak with a supervisor & was then told that the only time a supervisor can speed up the process is if my stay was coming up in the next few days....i asked to speak to one in any case....

after being on hold for about 10 minutes the supervisor came on the phone & said she would be able to refund the points & it should reflect in my account in the next couple of hours....

i asked her when this 5 day rule came into effect & she said that it was changed recently & the diamond desk agents did not have the authority anymore to refund the points....the only way to speed up the process would be to speak to a supervisor....

J0HN

Similar situation - cancelled an award stay (over the phone) and points did not automatically deposit. Called back a week later and was told they would need to submit a case in order to get points back (new policy).

benchardf

I recently cancelled a Hilton hotel reservation I made with points and the points credited immediately. When I cancelled a rewards reservation with the Grand Wailea, the points still did not credit after 5 days and I had to call the diamond desk several times for the points to finally credit. So could it be with the hotel brand?

It's a horrible system for you to have to cancel an awards reservation in order to make a simple edit, and then not credit you immediately for the points you used. That's just bad IT.

beltway

Agreed.

There used to a similar problem with SPG, although not quite as severe; points took (and still take) a day or two to repost after a cancellation. However, there's now an option to edit an existing rez -- problem solved. Sure would be great if Hilton could get the Lone Code Wrangler who does their website to implement that functionality.

Keyser

with spg my points post back immediately....all i need to do is log out & then back in & the points are back....

sk3

I was told that there is a delay IF the award reservation was made prior to April 1st.

My experiences:

I made an award reservation online after April 1st (the date when HH overhauled their website) and then subsequently cancelled the res online. The points were reinstated automatically and instantaneously.

Then I went online and cancelled an award res that I had booked prior to April 1st. I received the cancellation confirmation number, and the email - but the points did not reappear. I waited a few hours and called, and was told that since it was booked prior to the April 1st overhaul, that the points needed to be reinstated manually. The rep did so, and the points were back in my account in seconds.

Then, a day or so later, I had to cancel yet another award res that I booked online prior to April 1st. I first cancelled it online and then immediately called so that the points could be manually reinstated. The rep I spoke with then seemed less than stellar and she muttered something incomprehensible and said she could only open a case number and that I would hear back within 7 to 10 biz days. I explained what had transpired earlier and she said that other rep must have been a supervisor, because she had no authority but to open a case requesting the missing points. I didn't have an urgent need to reuse the points so I just let it be.

However 3 days later I became annoyed and called, this time asking for a supervisor. When asked why I wanted a supervisor I explained the last 2 experiences with cancelling award reservations and that I was hoping that a supervisor could again manually reinstate my 180,000 pts so that they'd be back in my account now, versus 2 weeks from now. The rep looked at the notes (or whatever) and said that the last rep didn't have to open a case, that she could have just reinstated the points. So this last rep did just that, and presto, they were back in my account.

Are those of you that are reporting experiences where your points were reinstated instantaneously referring to reservations that were made AFTER April 1st?

And conversely, are those that are being told there's a 5 day window referring to awards made PRIOR to April 1st?

If so, then it would seem we'd have a logical answer - and that going forward with new reservations should be back the way it was (instantaneously receiving the points back).

If not, then HH certainly seems like a pig's breakfast.

Keyser

my reservation was made 3 days ago so i don't think april 1st has anything to do with it....with point devaluations, reduction of diamond benefits, crazy premium room redemption rates & now 5 days to put points back into your account, hilton really needs to get its act together....

sk3

I had hoped for HH's sake (and for the sake of all I've invested in HH) that my "theory" was correct. But obviously if your res was recent then my irritating HH exchanges have no bearing.

It's really unbelievable - with this new 5 day policy HH has actually managed to make their customer service even worse.

Thanks Keyser for sharing the news, disappointing as it is.

Eagle_and_Hawk

I know the last 3-4 times I have cancelled a reward stay, I have had to contact them to get the points back to my account after a couple of days. I have not heard about the 5 day thing until now.

I just cancelled a reservation made back in November of last year and even though the ES web site said they would be credited back in 30 minutes, it's 12 hours later and no joy.

I just sent them an email so waiting to hear of they come back with this 5 day rule.

It may be something with reservations made before the web site change as that seems to be where I am seeing the problem. I cancelled a reservation last week that was made about 3 weeks ago and points were credited back in about 1 hour.

mnredfox

I booked and cancelled a reward stay in the past 3 weeks. Pts did not get refunded so I called the DD around 4 days after cancelling. 2 days later (today) still no points, but I was told the case would take 5-7 days.

If this is official (can anyone else confirm), why does HH go make more work for something that worked nicely before?