nan358

Hi all,

I stayed at Hilton Osaka, Japan. At there the lobby looked very sparse, and I thought an upgrade to executive room would be available.
At checking in I was told all executive rooms were full. I thought this a little strange, and I outdialed the property from the room I was provided. When I asked the availability, the rep over the phone replied me there were plenty of executive rooms available!

I claimed about this to the Assistant Manager and he told me that the property (Hilton Osaka) provides HHonors Gold VIP members business rooms only and always refuses to offer executive rooms even if they are available. He also told me that upgrades to the executive rooms is a benefit for Diamond VIP members only.

After the stay I wrote a letter to the General Manager of the property about such misbehaviors. He gave me a reply, which was also very rude.

He told me in the letter that the upgrade was not provided because I wanted a one king-bed room and there were only two queen-beds rooms available in the executive floors. This was totally not the situation I was in. I asked if an upgrade to ANY type of executive room and was denied.

I then sent an email to [email protected] asking if HHonors tolerate such behavior of providing (or not) HHonors benefits at the property's discretion. The answer I received was confusing.

The sigunature of the answer was by Carlos Monterde, Director of Operations, Hilton Osaka. It says "It could have happen that when you inquired for room availability that there were a few rooms for sell, but they were definitely sold out on that same day."

Well, it seems for me that he says it could happen that when I inquiried for room availability that there were a few rooms RESERVED for sell but NOT for upgrades. It means there are two separate inventories for sell and for upgrades. Does this agree with HHonors rules?

I knew the property (Hilton Osaka, Japan) and the General Manager of the property both are widely known of very bad reputations of not complying HHonors rules, so I was prepared to experience such. But I didn't expect it takes such a lot of time and work to straighten out the things. I'm a little tired of asking the Hilton people all around. They all give me inconsistent answers. Where should I ask for a correct answer?

Dave Noble

It sounds to me like they are saying in reply that they will not provide an upgrade if they believe that they will sell all the rooms that night.

Is it really worth getting so worked up about such a minor thing?

Dave

TravelManKen

Ditto and Ditto. Many times they are still attempting to make it a revenue room for that night or if your stay was a multi-night stay, it could have been reserved for the 2nd or 3rd night. Also, you're only a Gold, considering the watered down value of that level and the "business room" upgrade I'd leave them alone. Believe me, there will be musch more to compain about in the future.

nan358

I won't care I'm upgraded or not if rules says no. That's fine.

The HHonors rules say yes, HHonors customer service also told me yes, but the reality was not. I care because of such dishonesty.

thezipper

I ran into the same situation at the Hilton Osaka, so it's not a "freak" occurrance. I had a paid night in an executive floor and 2 free nights. They told me I would have to move the second 2 nights because they were sold out. Sound familiar.... well I went to the web site and they had executive rooms avialable. I wrote the FT@Hilton while I was there but received no answer. In speaking with Adam he informed me that if it's available on the web site, it should be available at the hotel as an upgrade. (They do uploads to the system every morning so sometimes they don't completely track) I feel that this hotel is "saving" it's high end rooms for paying customers vs. allowing upgrades. It's convenient for the business traveler, right near the main train station and I've been told many of the actors and executives for the new Universal Studios - Osaka are staying there. I'd complain, sounds like you got the same treatment as me. I've put it in the thread of Hilton Non-Compliant Hotels.

jabez

") I feel that this hotel is "saving" it's high end rooms for paying customers vs. allowing upgrades"

Zipper,that's exactly the point.This topic has been reheated many time's.The fact is,and this is true of all the hotel programs,some hotels do not want to "comply" with elite benefits. While I have found Starwood's lurker more helpful than HH's (re.compliance), IMHO there's only one long term viable way to react to this; take your business elsewhere and let the hotel management know why.