Colin

I have recently noticed that several top properties (like Conrad Sanya, Hilton Moorea, Hilton Bora Bora) no longer offer Standard Room Rewards at Hilton.com. Instead, the entry-category room is pricing at Premium Room Reward pricing, which is several multiples more than the Standard Room Reward price.

For instance, Hilton Moorea, at 11 months out, is quoting the nightly rate for the entry KING GARDEN BUNGALOW POOL room at Premium Reward Room prices of around 100,000 points/night, instead of the proper 42,250 points/night VIP pricing for a 4-night stay.

PedroNY

I would recommend to Call Hilton directly, if you have Diamond status, call Diamond Desk. It could be an IT problem with inventory not loading properly. Or maybe (I hope not!) they repriced those properties similar to SPG suites only repricing (double points).

Best,

PedroNY

hilmar

And let us know what you find out!! Thanks

jasonvr

I looked 2 years out at Bora Bora. 1 night 10/6/2013-10/7/2013. There was another thread talking about King rooms being Premium Rewards and the Twin Lagoon View was the only room type being reported as a standard room type. Now, even the Twin Lagoon View is listed as a Premium Reward - 161,361 pts per night. Similar story at Moorea. Twin Garden Bungalow Pool room is 103,638 pts per night. Both are these are the absolute base rooms at the properties.

I do not understand how Hilton can completely remove all standard room types at a hotel. Especially when properties like the ones at the Maldives can still offer standard rewards....

Ohhh, and always remember, Premium Room Rewards are an enhancement to your HHonors experience

deant

This same thing has happened at other Hiltons. There is a thread relative to the ADT doing the same thing. After contacting the Diamond desk, they have changed many of the nights back to standard awards. In the case of the ADT they were asking over 100K per night for a "King Plus" room that had the exact same description as a King room.

I know this type of "pricing" activity has driven me to Marriott and SPG. My wife and I tend to use points at the higher level hotels and since they are now pricing out at 3 to 4 times the "normal" rate (even 11 months out). I refuse to continue to stay at a chain that will play these games.

jasonvr

Looks like WA Beach House in the Maldives got in on the act as well. No room in the next year for less than 133k pts/night. From XMas to the middle of January, the minimum redemption is 750k/night!!

Now what's really interesting is that I checked some random dates for points availability as well as cash. At this property, the king water villa seems to be the cheapest room category and logically should therefore be the standard room type for awards. On the dates I checked where there was king water villa availability for cash, the king water villa simply had no point value assigned. All other room categories had a points option but the king water villa didn't....

How the heck does that make sense?

mnredfox

I said it earlier, I'll say it again.

HH only forces hotels to allot a certain % of rooms to rewards. Now it appears properties are meeting this requirement by putting only/mostly premium rooms up.

cordelli

The property is putting up rooms for reward redemption.

At values most people will not accept.

So they are meeting Hilton's goal of having rooms available for rewards, and don't have to worry much about people taking them because they cost so much.

Why is anybody stunned that Hilton has come up with yet another way to separate you from your points?

lewende

Right now 2013 reservation is gone. I can only check award availability one year out (till Oct. 8, 2012).

Hhonor Gguard

deleted, company policy

stifle

Hanlon's razor, then?

jasonvr

Incorrect, but it is hard to find. If you put in a date and then hit the "Use Flexible Date" button, you can scroll thru the next two years for Bora Bora. In addition, if you select a date from that flexible date view and then hit "Change", the calendar on the page that comes up will allow yo to select specific dates up to 2 years out.

I noticed some other hotels do not have their availability out that far (I think the Cav was one).

deant

If Hilton allows a hotel to call EVERY room a "Premium" room then why have the hotel as a specific category? You can't tell me that Bora Bora, Moorea etc. have, for the next year plus, sold out of ALL standard rooms. OK, you can tell me but I will not believe it. It is just another way for a Cat 7 hotel to avoid accepting the "normal" redemption rate.

If Hilton is allowing hotels to do this, the next step is to probably eliminate all hotel categories and let every hotel set their own award requirements. In effect, this is what has happened with Moorea, Bora Bora, ADT etc.

My suggestion is that EVERYONE write to [email protected] and express their concern / frustration.

jasonvr

I definitely found an example at the WA Beach House where their "standard" room was available for cash but only premium room rewards were available. There was no point amount listed for that standard room. I'm sure there are others.

Hhonor Gguard

deleted, company policy