LLM

The Anaheim Hilton commonly has a low rate (more like $89 than $200!) that requires the first night be prepaid but is refundable up to seven days before the stay. The terms are very clear when booking on the website. When I booked six rooms by phone for our Thanksgiving family reunion the agent explained things clearly, too. There was a snafu at checkout in that (1) it being the morning after the holiday no one got bills under their doors and (2) whoever forgot the bills also forgot to apply the prepayments and without bills this was not immediately evident. I straightened mine out (two of the rooms) down at the desk. My various in-laws, not being frequent travelers, had forgotten they had all prepaid the one night until I reminded them! One even asked why his (one-night) stay was "free." Not posting the prepayments and applying the credit separately also messed up our HH points (straightened out by [email protected]). Comments on the Disney boards indicate that problems in the Hilton properly posting the first night prepayments are, alas, not unusual.

j379pa

I've run into this booking special deals with on-line travel sites, like expedia, but not with Hilton directly. I had to cancel a couple of these pre-paids earlier this year at LAS, and the refunds posted within a couple of weeks.

Not my favorite way of doing business.

JP

TxLobo

I have seen this attempted at hotels in San Francisco and LA. I have never accepted the policy and stayed else where.

I left my phone number with the Hilton Carson City (I believe this was the hotel ) when they told me this was their policy and I turned them down. They called me back within two hours and said an exception was being made to accomodate me since I was a Diamond, but it was too late I was already booked at another hotel.

So obviously it is not iron clad.

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AA member since 1981

[This message has been edited by TxLobo (edited 04-30-2002).]

[This message has been edited by TxLobo (edited 04-30-2002).]

MIKEM

The Anaheim property chose to lose the reservation rather than deviate from the policy, although nice about it. They are evedently hard core with this policy.

MisterNice

I totally dislike having to pay interest or not having the use of my capital (by being charged at the time of reservation) IN ADDITION TO THE AGREED UPON NON-RETURNNABLE ROOM CHARGE.

I will avoid this hotel (and any others having this greedy policy). Thanks for the warning.

MisterNice

Dave Noble

I have found that it is not an uncommon policy for some rates at a lot of hotels. I have only ever seen it be the 1st night that is charged rather than the whole stay. If I think I might need to cancel I will book a higher price rate room which doesn't have such a restriction.

The dire practice, imo, is the lastest scam from Hilton at US hotels I have been to , to charge $50 should you check out in less nights than originally booked. I now end up booking all US stays as individual nights stays to get round this. This is far worse than having an advance charge made

Dave

Dave Noble

"Non cancelable = you can not cancel
Non Refundable = you can not get a refund
Prepayment = you pay in advance"

Pre payment is implied by the term non refundable. If you haven't prepaid then there would be nothing to refund would there?

Dave

svpii

There were a couple of hotels in the UK during our recent trip that had the prepayment language on the website. By calling the hotel directly "I have no problem w/ guaranteeing w/ a credit card or being charged if I no-show, but I'd rather hang on to my money until I actually spend it".. I had that prepay removed in each case, though they did require a 48 hour cancellation policy to avoid no-show charges of one night. I sent a confirmation fax of our new "terms" after making the reservation..

Dave Noble

In my experience if there is a 48 hour cancellation, they will only debit the card at the 48hr point. It seems to me to be a v minor issue since the amounts are fairly small. Having the 1st night charged 2 days early to save Ł10 or more on the cheapest non prepay rate is minor imo.

Dave

WebTraveler

There is also the Anaheim Doubletree, which was quite nice when I was there a few weeks back.

srk123

Aren't all airline tickets sold this way? You pay for the ticket when you make the reservation and most airline tix are non-refundable, except for the most expensive fares. So as long as the hotel makes this clear, and you agree to it, what is the problem? If you don't like it, go elsewhere. It's a free country, for both buyer and seller.

dhammer53

The DoubleTree in Anaheim offers free internet access in their business center. That's especially good if you don't travel with a computer.

Dan

tk007

We stayed in June,
I liked it, we were treated good. They gave us a room at the pool deck that was nice (5th floor) they gave us exec lounge access. We came back to the hotel Saturday night because Disney gets so crowded. We watched the fireworks from the lounge (great view!) check in at the executive desk on the left. and be early for the shuttles, they fill up.
also they let you take water and pop from the lounge so you can fill up a pack on the way to Disney.

Tom

nmtravel

45K for a 3-day Disney Park Hopper a good deal? Or do you know of any of hot deals?

coplatua1k

I can only tell you the property is really, really bad. Status means little or nothing there. The service is none exsistent. Its the worst Hilton I have ever been to.