biztraveler2007

As you may have heard, last Thursday to Saturday Texas was hit with major storms. And we stayed at Hilton hotels from the beginning of our business trip on Wed until the end of the bad weather on Friday night. Yes we had options, particularly when in Houston and Corsicana.

Separately, months ago we made a Hilton 'prepaid' reservation for a pleasure trip. However, due to bad weather, ie flooding, mentioned above we could not be in two places at once.

Since we stayed in Hilton properties during the same time period why can't Hilton refund a 'prepaid' reservation ? So far, Hilton's prepaid unit, has said no refunds. To me, this comes across as opportunistic greed, ie taking advantage of the misfortune of being in bad weather.
However, it could be that within Hilton, the Hilton divisions are not sharing information. For example, does the prepaid division know that I stayed in Hilton properties during the same time period as the 'prepaid' reservation?

Is Hilton being greedy ?

smmrfld

What happened when you asked Guest Assistance? What about the property itself (i.e. having prepaid funds applied to a future stay)? Seems it would make sense to ask a source other than the one enforcing the prepaid T&C.

RogerD408

Very good chance both properties are not owned/operated by Hilton, and highly likely not even owned/operated by the same company. So asking property A to forego revenue since you are staying in property B instead might be a tough sell. Now given extenuating circumstances, it would be smart for property B to be more lenient and allow a cancellation or maybe reschedule your stay for a later date.

I had a stay that I wanted to cut short due to a local fire and the smoke causing breathing problems. The TV and radio was always broadcasting the need for places to relocate those evacuated. My call to the front desk was meet with "oh no, you will not get a refund for the nights". I escalated to the GM and even though he started out with the same story, he did change once he knew I knew he'd have the room rebooked with hours of my departure. Point being each situation needs to be evaluated.

Often1

Why not simply claim against your travel insurance. Can't make it due to weather where you are strikes me as an easy claim and it gets you a full refund no muss, no fuss.

But, beyond that, funds are not necessarily transferable and I presume that the place with the prepaid rate wasn't in the bad weather location so it wasn't likely impacted by issues.

For what it is worth, I have never had a property refuse to make good when I have called them the instant I knew that there was a weather, aircraft cancellation, and so on issue. Often, it's a refund. Other times, it's a credit and more often simply a free change to another date so long as that other date is booked on the spot.