azepine00

System I believe does not allow booking beyond one year. People found a workaround via flexible days menu but that's not what Hilton intended. Hilton site is pretty terrible and buggy to begin with (I suspect you get what you pay for and Blackstone isn't gonna pay much).

whimike

I don't consider this a "workaround", it is SOP of how the website has always worked. There are more ways to book beyond a year than the flexible days menu, and I booked my rooms before anybody on here even mentioned their being a "workaround". When I booked my rooms I didn't even know this wasn't a normal thing able to be done.

Just as a note, I booked mine over a year out and never tried the flexible date feature.

whimike

This is excellent data, thanks for posting. Now, can any of naysayers please provide a data point of proof that somebody booking online over a year out has been denied a room?

mnredfox

I wouldn't put anything past HH though.

porky73

Thanks for your input. I'm looking to do something similar to confirm that the hotel will honor the certificate/award. What exactly will you ask the hotel to confirm? On another note, when I did the booking via the Hilton helpline, the agent advised that the certificate could be re-issued to deal with the 1-year expiry. She confirmed this with her supervisor, stating that some international hotels will load availability beyond 1 year. Additionally, it was the agent who actually made the booking for me as I could no longer "see" the requested dates on the HH website.

shoreline

Maybe they will ask the hotel a question like, "hmm, yeah, so I booked a stay at your hotel on a reward cert. that is good for 1 year and my reservation is dated after the expiration date. So, can you confirm for me, that you and your hotel will honor my expired reward cert?" Great! Can you send me that in writing?

Likely, the only way to 'extend' your reward cert. is to 'update it' by means of cancelling your reservation and rebooking to get a new reward cert. number/ID (in which the new rate will now apply and/or the hotel will no longer be available for reward stays, if available at all). So, I would not trust this advice at all (unless you have some supervisors name and this message in writing from that supervisor).

The post above about this may not apply to all cases may be correct. This is correct in the way that the HOTEL may agree to allow you to stay even on a expired cert.; but not correct in the way that it implies an expiration date does not exist.

Anyone ever try to book a reward stay on an expired AXON, GLON, cc cert, or any other reward cert type?

They can be booked on the system, but it does not mean/guarantee your reward reservation will be honored.

Of course, ymmv with getting it honored, but the risk remains. Good luck to all who decide to take the risk and book non refundable flights. This may become an interesting thread a year from now when people can report back.

Of course, at times it may work. The danger is IF the hotel sells out, your dates of travel become extraordinary demand dates, or the hotel decides not to honor your reward cert. because it's expired. IMHO, you may be leaving it in the hands of the hotel.

Deepd1ver7

I thought I would send a note to the hotel saying something like.........

"Dear X

I am just about to book my travel for my stay planned XX March 2014 and before doing so would like to reconfirm the reservation. The reservation ID number and the Reward confirmation number are XX and YY respectively. Could you kindly please confirm the reward redemption.

chicagolaw

I wrote the following to a hotel:

"I made a reward reservation with points for April xx-yy, 2014 (reservation number xxxxxxxxxx). A friend of mine, however, told me that reward reservations at Hilton are only allowed 365 days out from the day the reservation was made, and that there was the danger that the hotel would not honor the reservation due to this (even though I was able to make the reservation online). Could you please let me know if this is true and whether you would honor the mentioned reservation, even though the stay would be more than 365 days from today ?"

Answer I got via e-mail: "Kindly note that your booking will be honour even if it was booked for over 365days in advance."

I think I should be safe with this one.

Deepd1ver7

I followed your suggestion, and sent .......

I have made a reward reservation with HHonor points for March 22nd – April 5th, 2014 (reservation number xxxxxxxxx). A friend of mine, however, told me that reward reservations are only allowed 365 days out from the day the reservation was made, and that there was the danger that the hotel would not honor the reservation due to this, even though I was able to make the reservation online. Could you please let me know if this is true and whether you will honor the reservation, even though the stay is more than 365 days from the day I made the reservation ?

And in return received..........

We will honor your booking from 22nd March to 5th April 2014
Please advise flight details once your finalize flight reservation
Should have any query please contact us.

Makes me feel comfortable and glad I booked when I did.

whimike

Exactly as it should be. Nothing in the T&C states anything about an expiration except for vaguely worded "travel rewards" which are defined as something else further down in the T&C. A number of us called Hilton and confirmed they would be honored, people have direct experience staying at hotels on rewards that were over a year out, and now there is written e-mail evidence from the hotel and Hilton the reservations will be honored.

So, why the continual scare-mongering from some posters, here and in the other thread? So much so that I received unsolicited PM's from one of the main nay sayers here stating he knows an "insider" and the reservations won't be honored.

Anyway, as I said before, to those that claim it won't be honored, show me your evidence. Until then I have more than ample evidence to suggest otherwise.

andysiz

Looks like I will be a guinea pig in a couple of days. Last year, I booked my trip to the Conrad Maldives about 370 days out. Of course, it is nearly impossible to quiet the doomsayers - not only because they could be right but also because of the ambiguity. But one thing I did notice on my GLON award is that at the 365 day mark (which was exactly one week prior to check in date) I got the usual automated email reminder from the hotel. At the 366 day mark, just one day later, I got a near identical automated message from the hotel. The only difference, I realized after careful comparison, was that the new email had a new reservation ID (all other details the same). In fact, my Hilton account online now only reflects this new ID. This may be actual evidence of a systemic "acceptance" of such 365+ days out GLON reservations. Not definitive by any means, but perhaps some hope for those looking for it.

Deepd1ver7

Makes me feel a whole lot better about my March 2015 booking also

nittany987

Just sent a request for confirmation as well, will update this thread once (if?) I hear back from the hotel. I have to agree with the budding consensus that these will be honored.

In my case, I made 2 AXON award reservations for Summer 2014 for the Conrad Maldives. The phone agent was more than happy to make this for me, and certainly made no mention of any cert expiration. I suspect that they would have to jump through some odd logic hoops to justify not honoring these reservations.

nittany987

As an update, got an email confirmation from hotel saying they'd honor and started selling the upcharges. I think this is much ado about nothing.

whimike

^^

And, to those that claimed doomsday for us all (including the guy that kept PM'ing me) and got some to change their reservations...