Rickers

Hey guys

I can't see my question answered in the HHonors Ts & Cs, so hope that somebody here can help ?

I normally (well, always) book my own rooms, both for work and for leisure, but this summer I am also having to stay in a Doubletree that has been booked by my admin office as part of a large group booking ( by large, we're looking at c. 15 rooms for 9 nights). The Ts & Cs mention some types of "Group" rates that are excluded, but as far as I can tell this does not apply to "my" booking.

The rooms have been booked directly with Hilton's group booking dept in the UK, and I have been given a booking reference, but this is a generic booking reference referring to the entire booking, not just to my room.

Does anybody know how this is going to work for me, when it comes to trying to get the points/nights credited to my Diamond account, and also getting benefits in the hotel (upgrades etc.) ?

I have contacted the hotel directly, but I am not convinced that this has achieved anything.

Is this just going to be a case of actually taking my HHonors card with me and showing it at check-in ? This seems pretty poor, because it seems likely that I am only going to be able to check-in to whatever room has already been pre-allocated to me.

I am even more pi**ed about this, because it was me that initiated the change to this hotel, and it will sadden me hugely if I bring them £15k-worth of business, and I don't get my rewards !!! Yup, I am that petty

Any help / advice appreciated -- thanks.

RogerD408

What did the hotel say when you contacted them?

When booking rooms through other channels, I always call the property and make sure they have my HH# on the rez. If they mention no credit for the say, I just tell them I know and this is for any incidentals. Many times I end up with credit for the room once everything posts.

If you're lucky your admin provided a list of names for upgraded rooms, if available. I'd chat with the revenue manager to introduce yourself and make sure everything is set up as expected. They may get the hint that they should take care of you.

91StealthES

I will throw in what I learned based on a recent training I planned and hosted.

When you are doing a "special" group rate at a hotel, you have a contract to fill a specific number or rooms in the block. You will need to have an attrition rate of whatever your organizer and the hotel agreed upon.

What I saw in our contract was that 1 individuals (someone in the "events" dept for my company) was to receive all the HHpoints...it even specified the number in the contract.

So, it is dependent upon the contract your colleague signed with the hotel. You could always speak with the colleague to determine if you have already met attrition and then book the hotel through your normal means.

I hope this helps a bit and explains how the group rates work.

Also, my contract stipulated that 1 individual was to be upgraded and 1 paid a lower rate. I personally got to choose these individuals.

travelinfoo

If this is a group booking where the rooms are paid for directly by the corporation or by a single company CC, you do NOT get points or stay credit. If you are responsible for paying for the room yourself, you should get points and stay credit. If you charge incidentals to the room that you yourself are responsible for, you should get points for that. But still no stay credit. If the incidentals are also paid by the central agent, you will NOT get points.

So, whose credit card guaranteed and is paying for your room? That will determine your answer. If it is your CC attached, you do get credit. If there is a master bill, you do NOT get stay/night credit not points for the room.

It sounds like you have a master bill, so no points or stay credit.

from the T&C

A Member whose individual hotel bill is billed directly to a company and the Member is responsible for authorization for settlement at check-out is eligible for HHonors points as described herein. However, group master-billing arrangements where charges for multiple rooms are placed on one hotel bill and billed to a company or common address or settled at check-out by one individual are not eligible for HHonors points. Incidental charges (those charged to a Member's room) paid for directly by the Member at check-out are eligible for point credit. Incidental charges billed to a master bill are not eligible for point credit.

Rickers

Thanks for the replies guys / gals (delete as applicable !).

Looks like I'm screwed for the nights / points then, but hopefully still get any upgrade going, and I'm going to be charging plenty to the room also, so should clock up a few thousand that way !

Portolan

I recently stayed at a Hilton as part of a group where the costs for the rooms were all paid directly by my organization. As I usually do in these situations, I made a modest charge to the room where I had guarenteed incidentals on a personal credit card. I got the modest points for the purchase, the Diamond 1000 points MyWay bonus, the double (modest) points promotion, the Diamond 50% (modest) bonus and stay credit for both nights and stays.

This has always been my experience in the several times I've been in this situation.

Rickers

Awesome Portolan -- perhaps all is not yet lost !^

cguzik

I recently organized a group meeting at the Airport Hilton Atlanta and the boilerplate contract had the provision mentioned above to provide ONE HHonors number that points for the entire block of rooms would be credited to. It also provided the option of either charging the sleeping rooms to a single credit card or to allow each individual to provide their own credit card for their room at check in.

While I was briefly enticed by the possibility of a massive points dump into my account, I have been the victim of this as a meeting attendee in the past where I got no credit, so I selected the option of having each individual provide their own card at check in and asked the meeting manager if the attendees could provide their own HHonors number at check in as well. It was no problem and each person got credit for their own room. I do not know if this would have been an option if the entire block of rooms had been charged to my card.

So, it can possibly be done but probably requires coordination with your meeting organizer, assuming they are not going to be greedy and covet all the points for themselves.