travelpro88

I have a reservation that I booked 4 months ago in Chicago at a Hilton for a 3 night stay. I wanted to book it on points at the time but did not have enough points in my account. The reservation agent told me that I could easily make the change after I had the points in my account.

My stay is coming up in two days and I just called Hilton Honors to try and make the change over to points now that I have earned the points via credit card spending. I was told that the hotel is now sold out and their computer system will not just let them "convert" my existing reservation from paid to points. I spoke to two different supervisors who said that their computer wasn't able to do it.

I'm Hilton Honors Gold (and now wishing I was Diamond to get better service). Can anyone give me suggestions on how to make this happen or ways (and applicable contact info) that I can escalate the problem beyond the basic reservation system and supervisor level.

To top it off, the supervisor actually hung up on me and didn't bother to call back. Any suggestions are much appreciated on how to handle this.

travelinfoo

The agent is correct. If you cannot book a reservation with points currently, then there is no availability. Having a paid reservation has no bearing on getting a points reservation and you cannot just convert. Your points reservation is considered a new reservation. As Gold, if you cannot make a points reservation yourself, there is NO availability and you cannot convert.

msc75

I am having a problem even converting a two night points reservation to a one night points reservation because the hotel is now fully booked. HH seems unable to change an existing reservation in any way except cancelling and making a new one. Doesn't make much sense. I've also consistently found HH customer service service comparable to the DMV in terms of courtesy and helpfulness.

travelpro88

Thanks for the information. I think the DMV is a good comparison for Hilton. I spent the past several months accumulating points with Hilton and now I can't use them when I need them. Their customer service is terrible. All they could say was "my computer won't let me do it." There is no effort to go the extra mile to help a customer.

Do you think I can do anything by contacting the hotel directly? Any other suggestions for this dilemma?

msc75

Definitely give it a shot and let us know how this goes. I tried this on two different occasions before. Both times the hotel sent me a very polite reply saying what I was asking for was doable but that I had to go through HH since I was using my points. They recommended that I have HH contact them directly so they can sort it out. On first instance, the phone rep said they can't call the hotel because they're on a different time zone. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor who asked me to forward him the email from the hotel which I did. He said he will contact the hotel during their work hours. Three days later he sent me a reply repeating the same the generic response "we can't handle your request because the hotel is booked", no mention of the email from the hotel or contacting them I gave up and changed my reservation to a different hotel.

On the second instance (the specific issue that I mentioned above that I'm now dealing with), I actually called the UK number hoping they will be more willing to contact the London hotel. The rep sounded sympathetic, "I know it sounds strange but we can't modify the reservation without cancelling it." I then read him the email from the hotel and asked if they could please contact the person who emailed me because she is willing to do it. The rep tells me "I will do everything in my power to help you", puts me on hold, and the next thing I know I have been transferred to the hotel front desk who has no idea who he's speaking to or about what. Having such a poorly functioning reservations system is bad enough, but their customer service is a complete joke.

travelinfoo

You all are asking for things above and beyond what is part and parcel of Gold (or lower) benefits. It may be possible for Diamonds to have a paid reservation changed to a points one (this is sort of a Diamond Force). This is NOT and has never been a Gold benefit. To be upset and complain because you want something you are not entitled to is not fair to HHonors.

To reiterate, for everyone BUT Diamonds, if there is NO award inventory, you CANNOT get a points reservation. It is irrelevant that you have a paid reservation. They are not the same thing. You have a reservation you have agreed to pay for. You have to make a new reservation for an AWARD room from available inventory. But because there is none, you cannot have an award reservation. It's that simple.
If a hotel is sold out, they can most likely still sell the room if you cancel your paid reservation and get a whole lot more money from another customer than the reimbursement from Hilton for the award.

There is specific wording which I can't find right now, that also addresses limitations to Diamond special requests (awards) if a hotel is sold out and at a certain high percentage occupancy. If Diamonds have limits, they are certainly not going give you (Gold) something that they are limiting even for their highest tier customers.

I know it doesn't help you, but you need to bring down your more expectations to a realistic level.

big_mac

Why is cancelling a single night 'above and beyond' Gold benefits?
I would expect a competent hotel chain to do this for everyone.

So, as you are not entitled to honest and courteous service, you shouldn't complain when you don't get it?

(It seems that the reservation agent was not honest with travelpro88, and now there is very probably nothing that can be done).

jamesteroh

Travelpro was given bad info and there was no excuse for it, but it isn't a gold or lower benefit. Not even sure if it's a true diamond benefit either.

I'm not sure what you mean about Hilton not being able to cancel a night. I didn't see anythign in the post about him wanting to cancel one of the nights.

Need

If paid stay can be switched to reward stay, then Diamond members could just do a Diamond Force on a paid stay then switch to reward stay and avoid the whole premium room debacle.

big_mac

Agreed.
He didn't, but somebody else did.

(And the post I replied to said 'you all', meaning that both of them were asking for too much).

jerry a. laska

If there is a two night minimum stay at a hotel, for example during the Olympics (and the hotel is not accepting any single night reservations), it certainly would be "above and beyond" gold benefits.

msc75

I understand this, but this isn't true in my case. My stay isn't during the Olympics, and the hotel confirmed there is no minimum stay requirement.

mareh

When I was Gold, I was sometimes able to get a hotel to open up award availability by calling. They were willing to do me a favor, but they certainly weren't required to do so. However, it was always far in advance of the stay, and never a matter of converting a paid reservation to points.

I'm sorry you were given bad information, OP. I would ask the hotel, just in case, but don't get your hopes up at this late date.

travelpro88

Thank you again for all of the suggestions. I was lucky that I called the General Manager of the hotel who was willing to help me make an exception. It sounded like he ended up calling hilton honors and giving them approval to do it. Apparently he had to open up availability that he didn't technically have before he could make the points reservation and cancel mine.

I feel lucky that I got a nice human being at the hotel as opposed to those horribly inept and unhelpful people at the phone reservation center that gave me bad info at the beginning and then refused to help me solve the problem. IMO the reservation people should have at least called the hotel to ask for an exception instead of saying its not possible.

I guess this is why I stay more at Marriott. Their service is fantastic both on the phone and at the hotel.

travelinfoo

I'm glad you had a positive outcome. Too bad, the first agent gave you bad info. However, if the 1st agent gave you the correct info, would you still have expected to be able to convert to an award or would you have been satisfied with paying?

Your expectations are still completely overboard. You got something far beyond what you were entitled to. As Gold, when the award inventory is gone, it is gone. You cannot convert a paid reservation to an award one. What you were demanding was the special treatment normally allotted and reserved for a Diamond VIP, the Diamond Special Request. There is NO Gold special request! There is already an erosion of Diamond benefits. The one remaining (sometimes) that still distinguishes a Gold from Diamond is the Diamond Special Request.
As some suggested, as Gold, the onus was on you to do something. You reached the limit of your Gold's benefits. It was actually more your responsibility to find out if the hotel will make an exception for you then the hotel can call the HHonors center to allow the exception.

You being upset because HHonors would not give you, a Gold VIP, a Diamond VIP privilege is not appropriate.