elkhornne

If your my way benefits are checked for an upgrade you should have gotten one if available. Checking in online would make no difference.

GoAmtrak

I strongly recommend against checking in online the day prior to arrival. Just wait until the same day. Most of the time you'll be upgraded during the night audit and can then select a good room within the upgraded room type. If I haven't been upgraded at that point, usually the property will have selected a default room, and I won't bother with OLCI at all and I'll just inquire about an upgrade upon arrival.

There's just too much variance from what "should" be official procedure to be overeager with OLCI and little apparent benefit.

Michael19887

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Using eCheckin significantly decreases (or at some properties eliminates) your chance of receiving an upgrade. This is because the hotels are strongly encouraged to leave the guest in the room they select. It even goes into the hotel's guest satisfaction survey scores. There's another thread about this as well. I've been told a similar story by FDCs at different properties. If you want an upgrade, do not use this feature unless you were preassigned an upgrade, are happy with the category you are upgraded to, and then chose from the available rooms in that category and complete the eCheckin. I think this is a major gap in this entire process. Hotels should pre-assign upgrades before the check-in time window starts. Then if the category assigned is higher than cat booked, the app could send a notification when the time window opens with something like "it's time to select your room for your stay from date, and it's looking good for your space available upgrade! See you soon, hotel name".

milesmilesmiles

Erin -

The below refers to the SF Hampton Inn near the Moscone Center. Seem like the opening has been pushed back (again).

Can you confirm when the opening is scheduled? About a month ago I was to make reservations for 4/19/15 to 4/24/15.

"This hotel will soon be joining the Hilton Worldwide Portfolio of Brands and is presently accepting reservations for arrival June 1, 2015 and beyond.

Thanks.

ptownca

I am completely unsurprised by this, given the red tape one endures in san Francisco with building and construction permits.

snevillio

Hi Erin,

Are there currently any promotions with Virgin Atlantic? These are fairly frequent but not often well publicised and i haven't heard of any since the Q3 promotion last year.

Thanks,
Simon

Hilton Honors Ambassador

Hi Simon,

I'm happy to check into this for you!

Cheers,
Erin

Hilton Honors Ambassador

Hi there,

Thanks for your patience!

Guests are not responsible for room rate taxes on Reward Stays redeemed in full by points. Those taxes are paid for by HHonors. For Points and Money Reward Stays, the guest must pay taxes for the portion of the stay that was paid with money.

We are not always able to determine all taxes at time of booking because they can vary based on local law due to a number of variables – for example, the guest's length of stay or where the guest is traveling from (his/her originating country or city).

The tax rate can also change between time of booking and date of check-out. I recommend reaching out to the individual property to confirm local taxes before finalizing your booking.

Thanks,
Erin

donnak

Is this accurate? The taxes vary based upon where I originate? Why would that have any bearing on the taxes charged where I'm staying? I've never heard of any such thing and it seems illegal to me. So if I stay at the Hilton in NYC, the taxes vary based upon my home city? Also, I fail to understand why the taxes would vary based upon my length of stay. The tax rate per night should remain consistent.

sethb

Some places have VAT refund for foreigners.

Some places have hotel taxes but not apartment rental taxes, and if a stay is long enough it's legally a rental so those taxes aren't due (or are refunded).

The former doesn't apply in the US, but the latter does.

arlflyer

Thanks, Erin, for the response and the clarification on award stays. It would be helpful if the text on the "rate details" page for award stays was clarified to not talk about paying taxes.

donnak

Hi Erin, Have you gotten any feedback yet on fixing our HHonors email situation? Still not receiving any emails whatsoever on this end. I'm hoping you have finally received some type of answer. Thanks.

travelingbob

Hello .... Can you tell us if there will be a Q1/Q2 promotion? I believe the current promotion expires at the end of the month.

Thanks!!!!!

jefftiger

I'm one of those who hasn't received Hilton emails in years, until last week. Just now, I received my second HHonors email that wasn't tied to a reservation. This one dealt with remote check-in using the app. It was generic and didn't appear to have anything to do with my upcoming reservation. I wonder if Erin has indeed made progress with this issue?

Hilton Honors Ambassador

Hi all,

Thanks for your patience!

My team is continuing to troubleshoot each account for those of you who have provided contact information.

We understand your frustrations surrounding this topic, and we are meticulously checking each user's settings to ensure we are finding the cause of the issues you're experiencing.

As soon as I have more updates, I will post them here.

Cheers,
Erin