Eujeanie

This is precisely why we need official clarification.

RogerD408

Did you miss the part about a property going rogue?

Even if you had a quote from Conrad himself on FT, that will mean absolutely nothing to the property. With what we know now, if a property decides to not honor the rate claiming some heretofore undisclosed requirement, your only option is to walk away or agree to the new rate and then fight it.

More and more T&Cs are being written with holes so wide open, they can make the entire document worthless (i.e. subject to change without notice is the best one). Fortunately, should you get this far, the courts will find in favor of the party that did not write the contract should any ambiguities arise.

Eujeanie

Then what is your suggestion? Cancel and rebook all our upcoming reservations at higher rates?

And I'm sure you mean rogue.

sethb

My suggestion is that nothing is going to happen to any existing reservations, and not much to future ones.

I think once someone has posted here about a hotel saying anything about sports affiliations. I bet it doesn't happen again, at least before the actual confirmations start showing requirements.

Roger

Thanks.

AIUI, MVP rates are only available in the US where non-US sports are less familiar. Would we need a membership card, or would it be enough to explain the offside rule or lbw?

dznyboy

AIUI, MVP rates are only available in the US where non-US sports are less familiar. Would we need a membership card, or would it be enough to explain the offside rule or lbw? [/QUOTE]
-------
MVP rates are not only available in US.
idk where,but you will get MVP rate at some UK hiltons.

http://stay.hilton.com/mvp/

Just try
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
28/10-29/10
and u get MVP at
The Trafalgar London
Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo
Hampton by Hilton London Gatwick Airport

ED: I also noticed that the MVP link do not work anymore when directed from this forum,it redirect the links to here http://www3.hilton.com/en/index.html.
but it works perfectly when going there from my mail and other ways.

Craig6z

Hilton is certainly aware of the fact MVP rates are used with impunity, and often guests have no affiliation with sports. In reality this channel is not harmful to their yields, as most of us know that the discounts disappear once the hotel reaches capacity (anecdotally, I'd say north of 80%). So using this channel Hilton gets incremental and recurring bookings as guests feel like they are getting a deal, and will likely to continue to pursue that portal rather than search for non-Hilton alternative properties.

A property I stay at frequently charges between $111 and $127 for MVP. If it is not available, the rate is almost always $159, and the hotel is essentially full. When I see the $159 rate, this prompts me to look elsewhere. Sometimes I will stay at a HGI a 3 miles away if their price is under $125, other times I will stay at a Holiday Inn Express, which has never been higher than $112.

RogerD408

My advice is until Hilton changed the rate rules, continue to book using the MVP rates. Should a property try to push back ask them to show you the rate rules that apply and where those rules are quoted in your confirmation. There is no 100% guarantee with any booking, so best to arm yourself with what you have and let them know you're not going to rollover and play dead.

Thanks for the notice on the typo.

Eujeanie

I thought you meant they were going crazy with the make-up.

Sometimes in the rate details they do refer to the sports connection, in which case I won't book that particular hotel with the mvp rate, but I'm not going to change any of the reservations I have now.

jsnearline

When they get around to changing the rate rules, I wonder if this will retroactively impact existing reservations.

I have a reservation booked for next month in Los Angeles and since it's my first time using this rate, I called the hotel a couple weeks ago to make sure that everything looked in order to them. I was told that the only requirement is that my HHonors number is in the reservation.

I don't want any unpleasant surprises when I check in, because the BAR is considerably higher now than the MVP rate I booked.

Ruhr

When you do online check-in, it's Hilton's policy (at least in the U.S.) not to ask for your ID or credit card. Your hotel key packet is prepared and ready. You give your name to the agent, and you get your key packet. At this point, as they're not going to ask for your ID, I can't imagine they'd ask for athletic credentials in this scenario.

Cymro

For what it's worth, my company is a major athletic sponsor and I've attended sports events in an official capacity - but it's not by any stretch a 'sports company' although it is clearly involved.

Am I entitled to use the rate?

SK AAR

Look, nothing has changed but to those who doesn't feel comfortable using the MVP rate anymore, rebook, pay the higher rates and get it off your shoulders/concern.

My suggestion is that this will not change anything. Even if the rate rules are amended to reflect the ID requirement, I would take the chance at use MVP rate - it is not a guarantee but most likely you will not be asked for ID. If you are, play dumb and accept that the 20% discount is removed.

RogerD408

The rules that existed at the time of your booking are the only ones they can enforce. Preserve a copy of your confirmation and have it with you when you check in and you should be good to go. They can say anything they want where ever they want, but until they change the rate rules provided at time of booking it's available to anyone, and this can be on a per-property basis. So if one property updates their rate rules, it does not apply to all the others.

RogerD408

Until a property changes their rate rules, the MVP rate is available to anyone with an HH account.