Graciecatt

I have the Aspire card and am looking to book the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort in August for a week. This resort is part of Hilton's Resorts that qualify for the $250 Resort credit on the Aspire.

I also have a free weekend night certificate available from my Aspire and I'd like to apply both the $250 and the free night to my 7-day stay. Otherwise, I'll be paying cash for the stay.

I would prefer to book online so I can stack the Rakuten extra %. I chatted with Hilton through the website and they said in order to use the $250 and the free night cert, I had to call the resort directly and book with them.

Is there any other way around this so I can book online and stack that extra Rakuten MR point?

Jaimito Cartero

Normally Hilton points and benefits are only eligible on bookings made directly through Hilton.

Graciecatt

Well sure - I was trying to book on the Hilton website after going through Rakuten for the extra points.

Jimgotkp

If you want to make it easy see which night (1st or 6th night) is more expensive in terms of cash, assuming both nights have standard room points availability. You would then want to book the more expensive night with the free night certificate via phone call. For the other five nights, book the stay with your Aspire card via HH's website while going through Rakuten's website. Make sure you provide the front desk agent your Aspire card when you check-in and mention you have a separate reservation for a back-to-back stay, so if they can combine the reservations so you can stay in the same room throughout your entire stay. After you check out and the charge posts to your Aspire card, AMEX's system should automatically credit your card with the $250 credit after some time.

Graciecatt

As it works out, for my Monday - Monday stay, the most expensive nights out of 7 are nights 5 and 6 (Friday and Saturday). Should I make an online reservation for nights 1-5 (Mon - Friday), call to reserve night 6 (Saturday night), and an online reservation for night 7 (Sunday night)?

My point being that you suggested seeing which night on either end of the stay is most expensive and the most expensive nights are in the middle of the stay.

Jimgotkp

You could do that too but I recommend letting them know of the three reservations that you have back-to-back when checking in.

Graciecatt

I will. Thank you so much! Cross your fingers that this stay can actually happen!

beachmouse

As long as you land on the Hilton web site after clicking the link in Rakuten or other shopping portals, I've never had issues with it showing up as a Hilton direct booking.