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Can you still book into late 2014/2015 with points or did they fix it?

Can you still book into late 2014/2015 with points or did they fix it?

Old May 25, 2013, 2:00 am
  #91  
 
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Originally Posted by Happy
No, no cert emailed BUT the cert is referenced on the booking. Check your reward booking carefully, there are 2 numbers - one is the reservation number, the other is presumably the cert.

Just because the cert does not show an expiration date, it does not mean it has infinite life but people wanted so desperately to book beyond 12 months they were trying to talk themselves out of the concept that cert has 1 year life and it is tracked inside HHonor system.

Whoever is brave enough to show up next year for a ressie that is made 12 months old, would either report back with big smile, or creates a thread for the sob story. I am inclined to think it would be the latter.
There has already been emails from Hilton and people who have successfully stayed at properties that were booked over a year out. All of this info can be found in the thread referenced earlier:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...hey-fix-5.html


Originally Posted by EasternTraveler
I have reservations for June 2014 in Koh Samui, the cert says only good for 12 months even though they were made 15 months out.
What cert says only good for 12 months? Can you post a photo of where the cert says this?
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Old May 25, 2013, 2:55 am
  #92  
 
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I have a booking at CKS over a year out. I contacted the hotel directly some months ago and they email'd me back saying no problem.
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Old May 25, 2013, 6:44 pm
  #93  
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Originally Posted by whimike
There has already been emails from Hilton and people who have successfully stayed at properties that were booked over a year out. All of this info can be found in the thread referenced earlier:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...hey-fix-5.html

What cert says only good for 12 months? Can you post a photo of where the cert says this?
How can anyone successfully stay one year out when the bookings were made just before the March 2013 devaluation?

You have the time warp machine that allows you travel into Apr 2014 to make a successful stay? I think we all love to hear that.

They got the hotels confirmations that the stays would be OK. The hotels better honor such when they finally arrive to make the stay. If the hotels eat their words, they could not rely on HHonor to fix that.

This time the program has a huge point devaluation. Last time it wasn't this big difference in point levels. That may make a difference.

For a location where substitute is non-existent or very difficult to find, the risk is too big for some of us to take.

Last edited by Happy; May 25, 2013 at 6:58 pm
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Old May 26, 2013, 12:41 pm
  #94  
 
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Originally Posted by azepine00
There was no glitch - if you go to hilton site and enter a date beyond 12 mo you won't be able to book. IME a couple agents refused to book a stay beyond 1 yr therefore i expressed my concerns on the other thread. Certificate expiration is discussed on the other thread - check there; the number is listed on your reward reservation - you can call and check if it's valid for the dates of your stay or you can gamble an show up at the property as long as you understand the consequences.
How did you book your award?
They're made online at Hilton website. I have never seen any certs on my past points stays and I have never been asked to show anything at check in.
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Old May 26, 2013, 7:39 pm
  #95  
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Originally Posted by imniclas
They're made online at Hilton website. I have never seen any certs on my past points stays and I have never been asked to show anything at check in.
I know the HHonor site would let you book beyond 12 months if you IGNORE the error message and proceed on 365 days beyond, the site let you.

As for the cert, look at your reservation confirmation - there is a Reward ID or something like that - that is your Cert Number. It is unique. For a fact, I knew of someone who initially booked within the 365 days window, then went back to CHANGE the date to Nov 2014 - the website let her, and the new confirmation has a new Reward ID. However I seriously doubt the new Reward ID (Cert) would give a Nov 2014 date. Well, in her case it is just Conrad Tokyo - if she is refused at check in, it is not too expensive to find another hotel, especially if you are willing to downgrade a lot, you could manage with about $100 to $150 a night. Not such case if you are at Maldives or Samui.
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Old May 26, 2013, 7:59 pm
  #96  
 
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Originally Posted by Happy
How can anyone successfully stay one year out when the bookings were made just before the March 2013 devaluation?

You have the time warp machine that allows you travel into Apr 2014 to make a successful stay? I think we all love to hear that.

They got the hotels confirmations that the stays would be OK. The hotels better honor such when they finally arrive to make the stay. If the hotels eat their words, they could not rely on HHonor to fix that.

This time the program has a huge point devaluation. Last time it wasn't this big difference in point levels. That may make a difference.

For a location where substitute is non-existent or very difficult to find, the risk is too big for some of us to take.
I am one of thse who posted on the other thread. Booked a 365+ day GLON award at Conrad Maldives and finished my stay last month (I booked in 2012). No problems. And for more comfort, I automatically was emailed a new reservation ID at 366 days after the reservation was made. Not definitive, but pretty good data point of HH online bookings system dealing with 1+ year award reservations.
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Old May 27, 2013, 2:04 am
  #97  
 
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For those who have not yet figured this out--devaluations typically occur between February and May.

Thereby ensuring that you are unable to get the old value for Memorial Day or summer vacations the following year.
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Old May 27, 2013, 2:21 am
  #98  
 
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Originally Posted by Happy
How can anyone successfully stay one year out when the bookings were made just before the March 2013 devaluation?

You have the time warp machine that allows you travel into Apr 2014 to make a successful stay? I think we all love to hear that.

They got the hotels confirmations that the stays would be OK. The hotels better honor such when they finally arrive to make the stay. If the hotels eat their words, they could not rely on HHonor to fix that.

This time the program has a huge point devaluation. Last time it wasn't this big difference in point levels. That may make a difference.

For a location where substitute is non-existent or very difficult to find, the risk is too big for some of us to take.
All the data is there in the link I provided and you can answer your own questions if you had clicked and read.

The HHonors program didn't start in March 2013. People in years past have booked over a year in advance, and have completed stays without issue. No time warp machine needed.

Last edited by whimike; May 28, 2013 at 3:28 pm
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Old May 27, 2013, 7:34 am
  #99  
 
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Hilton may choose to not be as generous considering how steep the devaluation was.
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Old May 27, 2013, 9:41 am
  #100  
 
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Originally Posted by Happy
I know the HHonor site would let you book beyond 12 months if you IGNORE the error message and proceed on 365 days beyond, the site let you.

As for the cert, look at your reservation confirmation - there is a Reward ID or something like that - that is your Cert Number. It is unique. For a fact, I knew of someone who initially booked within the 365 days window, then went back to CHANGE the date to Nov 2014 - the website let her, and the new confirmation has a new Reward ID. However I seriously doubt the new Reward ID (Cert) would give a Nov 2014 date. Well, in her case it is just Conrad Tokyo - if she is refused at check in, it is not too expensive to find another hotel, especially if you are willing to downgrade a lot, you could manage with about $100 to $150 a night. Not such case if you are at Maldives or Samui.
Ok. I see the reward id #, but where does it say it expire in 12 months?
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Old May 27, 2013, 11:11 am
  #101  
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Originally Posted by some dude
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Hilton may choose to not be as generous considering how steep the devaluation was.
Exactly my points. The situation is not even similar except the time span due to the HUGE point increases this time.

Originally Posted by whimike
All the data is there in the link I provided and you can answer your own questions if you had clicked and read.

The HHonors program didn't start in March 2013. People in years past have booked over a year in advance, and have completed stays without issue. No time warm machine needed.
The data points reported was for 2012 booking stay beyond a year in 2013.

There was no major devaluation in that example.

We are in 2013 - 2014 period when the devaluation is HUGE.

It is good the hotels sent back email confirmations saying they would honor it. However if they eat their words and just say, "Sorry, we have made a mistake, some employees do not know the policy and mistakenly send you this. We are terribly sorry, but we cannot honor it." when you are standing at the counter of KS, or Maldives, you cannot expect any help from HHonor.

It is a calculated risk which very much depends on WHERE you are going.

To a city like Tokyo or Singapore or Hong Kong, no big deal if the hotel decides not to honor it even it has said it would a year ago. Substitutes are easy to find, especially if you need a cheaper one because you never are prepared to shell out the actual cash for that category of hotels.

To a remote location like KS, Maldives, French Polynesia etc, that can present some very serious issue.

Personally I want a trip that has least unexpected disruption, and do not want to be worried about if the email from 14 months ago would still be honored by the current hotel management as I think HHonor would not step in to help me out should the hotel decides not to honor it because they could not get HHonor to pay them, or at least not pay at then current level.

To each their own.

Last edited by Happy; May 27, 2013 at 11:16 am
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Old May 27, 2013, 11:14 am
  #102  
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Originally Posted by imniclas
Ok. I see the reward id #, but where does it say it expire in 12 months?
It has been mentioned many many many times, it does not show up on our side, but it is in Hilton's reservation system, no difference than the AXON Cert we could see.
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Old May 27, 2013, 12:46 pm
  #103  
 
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Originally Posted by Happy
Exactly my points. The situation is not even similar except the time span due to the HUGE point increases this time.

It is good the hotels sent back email confirmations saying they would honor it. However if they eat their words and just say, "Sorry, we have made a mistake, some employees do not know the policy and mistakenly send you this. We are terribly sorry, but we cannot honor it." when you are standing at the counter of KS, or Maldives, you cannot expect any help from HHonor.

It is a calculated risk which very much depends on WHERE you are going.

Personally I want a trip that has least unexpected disruption, and do not want to be worried about if the email from 14 months ago would still be honored by the current hotel management as I think HHonor would not step in to help me out should the hotel decides not to honor it because they could not get HHonor to pay them, or at least not pay at then current level.

To each their own.
I think if you have a hotel confirming they will take the reward booking more than a year out in writing, you are pretty safe. It's the ones who get no confirmation who will have problems.

It's pretty poor form and terrible customer service for the hotel to write they will take the certificate and then renege. The response also would NOT have come from a low level employee like a FD clerk but from a manager or reservations personnel.

I personally would not (and did not) take the risk. But for those that did and have the hotel's email confirmation of secured points reservation, I think they will be fine.
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Old May 27, 2013, 1:33 pm
  #104  
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Originally Posted by Happy
]

To a remote location like KS, Maldives, French Polynesia etc, that can present some very serious issue.
I can see your point on the Maldives or Tahiti where your choices are pretty limited to a small number of properties (in some cases there's a second plane flight), but Ko Samui? There's a ton of properties there, from luxury to not so luxury. I would be shocked if you couldn't find SOME kind of room there in dire extremis. Worst case you'd be going back onto the mainland with an hour's boat ride.
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Old May 27, 2013, 1:48 pm
  #105  
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Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
I can see your point on the Maldives or Tahiti where your choices are pretty limited to a small number of properties (in some cases there's a second plane flight), but Ko Samui? There's a ton of properties there, from luxury to not so luxury. I would be shocked if you couldn't find SOME kind of room there in dire extremis. Worst case you'd be going back onto the mainland with an hour's boat ride.
True in KS case - but it would be a major downer when you are all set for a luxury vacation and suddenly you find you need either to shell out big bucks to meet that expectation or to compromise to a much lesser hotel.

The need to make sure hotel would honor its emails a year or more from now prior to your making all other arrangement, is too much for me simply to make sure my points get the best usage bucks. Others are more adventurous. I am pretty satisfied to be at Conrad Bali, Bangkok and Hong Kong between Dec and Jan with the old chart on a totally unplanned for trip that I could find CX Fs on both outbound and inbound with AA miles on first search. Initially the trip would not be to Asia but to Africa had HHonor did not pull this on us. C'est la Vie - always have Plan B or C ....
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