tezzer

I made a booking using my points for my daughter to stay at Hilton Garden Inn Montreal, after a transatlantic flight, before another flight this morning.

I put a note on the booking to say that SHE was the guest, not me. At check in she in her words had "her head ripped off" by the check in agent, as the Diamond member MUST be present at the time of check in, with NO exceptions.

I'm not sure what happened after that as I was already in bed here in the UK, but I phoned the diamond help desk to make a complaint, and was told that my daughter, the guest rather than ME the member must call in to complain. My daughter has no dealings with HHonors, nor the diamond desk number, but I have.

I'm a little bit cross !

SK AAR

I suspect the check-in agent may have referred to HH DIA benefits rather than whether your daughter was able to check-in alone or not.

It would be in line with HH policy to require the HH elite member to be present before granting any HH benefits at check-in.

tezzer

No, she was apparently refused check in.

deskover54

So you went to sleep while your daughter slept outside on a bench?

tezzer

I was already asleep...........when she tried to check in.

serfty

You can add additional guest names to a booking (even online).

If you want to book for another person with your points when you are not staying, I believe you need to call Honors.

SK AAR

Yeah, that would have been the safe solution. But I believe it has been reported several times in this forum that second guest (whether stated as a note or in the second guest entry line) should face no issues to check-in on her/his own, i.e. even if the primary guest is not present - I believe this is what the OP refers to.

PayItForward

Another question which may (or may not) be related
Is your daughter above 18 years of age?
If she is not, that could be the reason why she was not allowed to check in on her own.

http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/e.../policies.html

tezzer

She's 27, so we can discount that one. I've spoken to her this morning, and the agent claimed that Hilton are cracking down on this new policy, and that she would make an excpetion this time, but if anyone asks, I'm staying too............like that would be right, a 57 year old father sharing a king bed room with his 27 year old daughter.

retiredfromhilton

I checked with former colleagues at the Diamond Desk: if someone other than the member booking the reservation checks in, the reservation needs to be made over the phone. Hilton's crack down on this is, in part, due to the emphasis they started putting on verification of members' identity about a year ago - apparently in response to fear of lawsuits for 'mis-appropriated' points and accounts. Rooms booked in names other than the member's - especially rooms booked with points are an obvious opportunity for fraud. (Expect a lot more fun and games on this front in the coming months when it becomes possible to name other Honors members with who you can pool points and, after that, when points can be used for purchases on Amazon - a fraudster's dream come true.)

A couple of further points: 1) if you're daughter is not at least 21 years old, she would ordinarily have been unable to occupy a room with a mini bar in it. 2) your daughter would have needed a card that she could produce at check-in to cover the anticipated cost of the room plus an allowance for incidentals. Otherwise you would have needed to go through the tedium of getting a 'credit card authorization form' to the hotel in advance of her check-in.

GJS - yow

Is this a Hilton policy? The legal age for alcohol consumption in the province of Quebec is 18, so I do not know why one would need to be 21 to stay in a room with a minibar. Of course, in this case the OP's daughter is 27, so no concerns there.

cjd

The correct procedure for issuing Rewards to family members or friends is to contact Hilton Honors by phone and get the Reward issued in their name and the reservation made in their name. Have done this numerous times in the UK and the US and never had a problem. Some Ft'ers are adamant that you can book online in the Honors member's name and add the actual guest using the reservation as a second guest. The Honors member does not turn up and on most occasions, they get away with this. On this occasion, it has not worked and your daughter obviously got a lot of hassle at the hotel. Luckily they let her have the room and she wasn't out on the street.
The relevant rules are under "Reward Redemption" in the Honors T & C's and quoting one section of these rules: "If a person other than the individual named on the Reward documentation attempts to redeem the Reward, the Reward will be deemed void and accommodations and/or transportation will be denied."

arlflyer

Just curious...if a member made a reservation at a hotel with Digital Key (for, say, a US property where no passport verification were required) and then gave their hhonors account credentials to their companion, how would verification of the original guest's presence ever occur? Is there something I am missing here matching the account to the physical device? (not a cyber security/data expert by any means)

deskover54

Is the crack down to prevent points/nights being awarded to someone not physically staying at the hotel?

MBS MillionMiler

2 weeks ago, I booked an award for a family member (same last name) from my account, online at an overseas property (Europe). I secured the reservation using the family member's card and listed their name as the second guest. I noted in the comments that said family member was the guest, not me and would be checking in.

My family member had zero problems/issues during the stay last week.