cummino

Hi everyone,

I've been searching the HH T&Cs and some posts here about the nuances of getting the points for group stays. I have just had a 6 room stay in the States and am currently arguing with HH about the point allocation. Essentially the hotel appear to have given me Event Planner status which means that for a $5200 spend I am being allocated 4452 points i.e. 1 x $ spend less taxes

This wouldn't be such a kick in the teeth except that I have had multiple room stays at previous hotels where all of the points for the total stay, and incidentals, have been allocated to my account at 10 x $ spend. I am paying the bill as these extra rooms are for my guests so I don't see what the problem with allocating the spend is to my account.

Anyway, as ever I'm sure this will be a long drawn out battle with HH but in the meantime does anyone know how you should go about making a booking for more than 2 rooms where all the charges are billed to one master account and then the points for the full spend allocated to my HH account?

Any guidance would be appreciated

Cummino

smmrfld

Short answer is that every property deals with this situation differently. As always, get any promise of points in writing. After-the-fact negotiating/arguing is often frustrating and fruitless.

cummino

Thank you, here is what I just got from HH....any ideas what this means??? Hotel appear to be willing to work with me but not sure what to ask them!

Dear XX

Thank you for your message regarding your stay. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.



We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience. We show that you received 1,980 points for a stay at the XX. You also received 4,452 Event Planner bonus points on XX.



Please note that stays that are "masterbilled" are ineligible for point/stay credit. For clarification measures, a member whose bill is "direct billed" to a company for payment will earn Hilton HHonors points. When a member's charges are placed on a master account, they will not earn points for the room.



As a Hilton HHonors member you may earn base point credit for up to two rooms per stay, if all eligible charges for both rooms are paid on one folio. Multiple room credits, beyond the “2” room maximum, are not point creditable. For bonuses, including HHonors partner perks and other promotional offers; points will be awarded on one room only. You will receive one stay credit (including credit towards HHonors tiers), and one mileage credit for stays including two rooms.



If you had a contract with the hotel and require assistance with a past meeting or event, we kindly ask you to contact the hotel meeting planner or event specialist that assisted you with your contract. All meeting/event planner points are submitted to our office from the hotel directly within eight weeks of the event being paid in full.

sdix

Every property deals with it differently.

If you are the organizer of the event and contract X number of rooms the property will negotiate the number of points. It could be flat rate it could be points per $ spend.

On a master bill the guests will not usually get their individual points for rooms but will for incidentals. You as a planner can get actual points for up to 2 rooms.

A few different things are being mixed here but at the end of the day negotiate going into your event.

cordelli

What was your contract with the hotel for? If you didn't have a contract, you really can't go after them later saying what you got was not fair.

Not really sure why there would be a long drawn out battle, they make the point allocation process pretty clear for event planners in the brochure

Choose your earnings. Hilton HHonors®
Event Bonus lets you choose how you earn for your events. Spend at least US $1,000* on eligible charges on your event to qualify and earn either:
1 HHonors bonus point and 1 airline mile per U.S. dollar spent** or
1.5 HHonors bonus points per U.S. dollar spent**

The problem is it's not their policy, so you won't get ten x. You will get what the terms of the program state, or what you negotiated with the hotel before the event.

cummino

Thanks all, yes I did sign a contract with the hotel for the rate. Unfortunately it says "Event Planner" on it. But I didn't realise what this meant.

However I did make it VERY clear in several emails to them beforehand that "I also want to pay in full upfront and make all charges/points to one master account on my HH profile." and subsequently "Please confirm that the total will therefore be $5406 and all the points will be allocated to my HH account."

I'm going to appeal to the hotel, who I believe may be able to apply some discretion here.

Thanks again!

shoreline

Pretty unlikely the hotel will change anything. According to what you wrote above is what you got (although you may not have understood what it meant).

Masterbills are not eligible to earn points.

It appears you had 2 choices:
1. be an event planner and earn points as you did, OR,
2. not to be an event planner and earn 10x points for 2 rooms only (per T&C of hhonors) if billed on the same folio (and the bonus from your double dip earning style, whichever you had selected in your hhonors account).

Event planner contracts are directly between you and the hotel. However, you do not earn 10x points on event planner contracts.

Unlikely to get anything done outside the 2 choices listed above (and with a signed event planner contract, the hotel may not be willing to change it at all).

Good luck, but negotiations with the hotel will likely be fruitless. You earned the same as any other member choosing to be an event planner (AND, from the response email you posted above, if I read it correctly,you ALSO earned points for your room, which may or may not be considered in the event planner points as well).

cummino

Thank you, I went back to the hotel and asked them to re-consider. They have offered me 5,000 extra points to make the total up to 10k points. Which I guess isn't bad but if I hadn't gone to the trouble of the Event thing I would have got 38k points (with bonuses etc.) I've asked them to retract the Event Planner points and just put through the 2 rooms...we'll see. In my defensive I have 3 emails where I was very clear what I was expecting so feel they should have pointed this out to me. Communication is king eh?!

Will let you know the final outcome though I suspect I've had it already.

It does seem unfair though that you can only claim points for 2 rooms when you're paying for more. Not sure why some hotels allow and other don't. Oh well.

Simon Schus

Somewhat of an old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one when the title for this one was perfect for my purposes!

I had an event at a Hilton recently, but I foolishly didn't realise that the event planner points had to be explicitly in the contract in advance. It was for a stay for $4768 before tax (around $5435 after tax). Not a huge stay but enough that I realised that I could have got some nice points for those as they could pay for a one night stay somewhere! I know that there was a recent triple points promotion with events held at Hilton in the USA too (per here on the Hilton website).

I guess these points are lost, right? I emailed the hilton.comments and Diamond Desk to check, but I think that this was my fault for not realising rather than anybody else's fault (our Event Manager at the Hilton was excellent, no fault whatsoever - she really went above and beyond!).

mrstraveler

I have a similar situation and didn't want to start a new thread either. I have a block of rooms (about 20) reserved for a business conference in Florida. I have reserved all of the rooms myself via my hHonors online account and plan to pay for sed rooms using my Hilton Amex Ascend Business Credit Card. I was under the assumption that all of these rooms would qualify me to earn enough base points to maintain my diamond status. I read their T & C but I am slightly confused. Is this something I should take up with the hotel's reservation manager to get a contract stating I will earn these benefits?






WHAT QUALIFIES AS AN ELIGIBLE HOTEL STAY?
A “stay” is defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, whether or not a guest checks out and checks back in again. Specifically excluded from the definition of “stay” are the following types of ineligible stays: wholesale/tour operator packages; contracted crew rates; travel agency discount rates; packages exclusively for casino player card holders; Team Member Travel rates; Hilton Family Travel rates; stays secured utilizing Hilton Grand Vacations™ Club and Hilton Club timeshare programs; Hilton Grand Vacations™ marketing packages with a sales presentation requirement; complimentary or barter rooms; Reward Stays (as defined herein); NET Group rates; Series Group or IT Group rates; contracted Entertainment or Encore rates; third party website bookings (irrespective of rate paid); and “opaque” channel bookings where the brand may or may not be known at the time of purchase. Hilton Honors Points may not be earned for any reason (including as a My Way benefit) for or during ineligible stays, including, without limitation, folio charges, (i.e., the charges on your hotel bill) incurred during ineligible stays. If at least one night of the Member’s stay is a reward stay booked with Hilton Honors Points, the entire stay is considered a “reward stay”. If a Member uses Points & Money Rewards™ for the reward stay, Hilton Honors Points will be rewarded on any money portion of the stay. Participating hotel will determine whether incidental charges incurred during those stays are eligible for Points, except that Hilton Honors Points will not be earned for incidental charges at Hampton Inn™, Homewood Suites by Hilton™, and Home2 Suites by Hilton™.

smmrfld

mrcool1122

Do points earned through the Event Planner program apply to Hilton status tiers? As in, do these points count toward the point threshold to Silver/Gold/Platinum status? Or are they only good for redemption? Neither the Event Planner program FAQ nor the Hilton Honors T&C (https://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/...lanner_program) address this. Nothing specifically excludes these points from counting toward status so I'm assuming that they do.

jerry a. laska

I don't believe that they count for status. From the terms and conditions, event planner points are bonus points; bonus points are not base points which count for status.

mrcool1122

Yes, you appear to be correct. T&C reads: