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Hilton Points Pooling - Account Closed. Beware !!

Old Dec 11, 2017, 1:13 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: MaldivesFreak
Here is a link to Hilton T & C on pooling:

http://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/p...money/faq.html

1. What is Points Pooling?
Points Pooling will allow Hilton Honors Members to combine their Points with family and friends to book a stay. With this perk, a Member (and up to 10 others) will now be able to combine their Points. For example, if a group of friends are taking a trip together and individually dont have enough Points to cover their entire stay, they will now be able to combine their Points, free of charge, into one account to unlock new redemption opportunities.

2. Is there a fee to participate in the Points Pooling program?
No, there is no fee to participate in Points Pooling.

3. How many people can contribute to Points Pooling?
A total of 11 Hilton Honors Members can pool their Points together. One Member initiates the pooling and up to 10 other Members can contribute.

4. Do I need to create a new "pooled" account?
No. Members can use their existing account.

5. How many Points Pools can I be in?
There is no limit on the number of pools a member can be in at a given time.

6. Can you use Pooled Points for just room rates or can it be used for non-room rewards including shopping and experiences?
Yes, once Points are pooled, they can be used for any room or non-room reward product, including the experiences available on the Hilton Honors auction platform, Hilton Honors Shopping Mall and any other non-room reward products.

7. Can you combine Pooled Points with money?
Once Points are pooled they can be used for any room reward product, including a Points & Money Rewards reward reservation.

8. What is the minimum/maximum number of Points that can be pooled?
A Member can transfer a minimum of 1,000 Points and a maximum of 500,000 Points into a pool in a calendar year. A Member can receive up to 2 million Points in a calendar year.

9. Are there particular qualifications you must meet to be able to pool Points?
To use Points Pooling, you must be an active Member, be in the program for 30 days, and have a minimum Points balance of 1,000 Points.

10. When will Points Pooling be available?
Points Pooling is now available. Start pooling your Hilton Honors Points here.

11. When will the Points be shown in the other Members account and be ready for use?
The transferred or pooled Points will be available for use at the time of transfer, but please allow up to 24 hours for pooled Points to show up when you log in to your account.

12. Where and how do I Points Pool once I have a group of Members that want to combine Points?
All Points Pooling activities will be transacted online via HiltonHonors.com.

13. Where do I go to transfer my Points to the Points Pool initiator?
The Points contributor must access the transfer page through the Points Pool invitation email sent on behalf ot the Points Pool initiator.

14. Whats the difference between Points Pooling and Points Transfer?
Points Transfer is a 1:1 transaction, while Points Pooling allows for combining Hilton Honors Points with up to 10 other people (11 including yourself).

15. After I send Points to a friend for Pooling, what happens if he/she cancels the trip? How can I get my Points back?
If your friend has to cancel his/her trip, he/she can simply transfer the Points back to your account for free.
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Hilton Points Pooling - Account Closed. Beware !!

Old Oct 26, 2017, 6:47 am
  #256  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Is there any difference in approaching this through point transfer instead of pooling? I am still unclear on the difference between the two?
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 7:26 am
  #257  
 
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Originally Posted by jerry a. laska
Ok, so one report on a non English speaking forum in this post:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28942714-post2.html
So three reports of account closure for pooling issues.

I read Jimgotkp's post about problems with pooling as one that he wasn't able to complete a pooling request. He says there has been no account closure. Pooling has had problems since it started with failed pooling requests, there are a number of reports like Jimgotkp's in the general pooling/new perks thread.
I asked on the non-English (Polish) speaking forum if the problem was resolved and account reinstated or not. But not everyone logs to forums frequently. I can only assume new members asking questions like this, because they don't know where to turn to resolve the issues when they hit the wall with Hilton CS.

Last edited by Richmond_Surrey; Oct 26, 2017 at 7:32 am
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 9:11 am
  #258  
 
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A month ago I tried to transfer points to other account but points didn’t go out of the account, so I tried once again – the same situation. I thought it must be some technical error so I tried to do transfer to another relative’s account ( third transfer) did not pass this one also. Total four transfers, for third points arrived but after receiving points suddenly Hilton closed all three accounts.
HH told me to contact hhfraudprotection, they replied two weeks later asking to authorize transfers but only for account with no points. Account with points has been closed for unauthorized transfer with no possibility to reactivate so far.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 9:32 am
  #259  
 
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This is extremely disturbing. To those who say it's "only a few cases" those are the ones who found their way to FT, who knows how many are out there?

This is one thread where Lauren has been eerily silent...and a thread where we have to really know what is and is not ok.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 4:17 pm
  #260  
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Originally Posted by Eujeanie
This is extremely disturbing. To those who say it's "only a few cases" those are the ones who found their way to FT, who knows how many are out there?

This is one thread where Lauren has been eerily silent...and a thread where we have to really know what is and is not ok.
Has anyone involved tried a PM to Lauren to get her attention? I don't think it's reasonable to expect her to be reading every thread in the the forum. She may be cherry-picking messages where she can actually help.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 7:48 pm
  #261  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
Has anyone involved tried a PM to Lauren to get her attention? I don't think it's reasonable to expect her to be reading every thread in the the forum. She may be cherry-picking messages where she can actually help.
To be fair, I doubt that HHonors Reps on here are authorized to speak on fraud issues.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:03 pm
  #262  
 
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Originally Posted by gengar
To be fair, I doubt that HHonors Reps on here are authorized to speak on fraud issues.
Agree, but a general statement of what is acceptable and what isn't doesn't seem out of bounds if you ask me.

I haven't even thought of my wife opening an account and transferring points to my account. I'm too busy working to have time to find value in purchased points and then transfer to my account, in fact I'm pretty sure I have missed out on promotional points that I haven't signed up for over the years. Nevertheless, it would be nice to know what is allowed and what isn't.

If Hilton cannot provide that info, well then shame on them.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 7:12 am
  #263  
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Originally Posted by gengar
To be fair, I doubt that HHonors Reps on here are authorized to speak on fraud issues.
I definitely don't expect them to get detailed about any situation, but addressing what is considered over-the-line in general terms should be fair game. I would not be surprised if any resolutions worked out with (suspected) violators include a NDA so as to not give guidance to how to avoid detection.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 7:18 am
  #264  
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Originally Posted by xtradexp
A month ago I tried to transfer points to other account but points didn’t go out of the account, so I tried once again – the same situation. I thought it must be some technical error so I tried to do transfer to another relative’s account ( third transfer) did not pass this one also. Total four transfers, for third points arrived but after receiving points suddenly Hilton closed all three accounts.
HH told me to contact hhfraudprotection, they replied two weeks later asking to authorize transfers but only for account with no points. Account with points has been closed for unauthorized transfer with no possibility to reactivate so far.
What do you mean by "other account"? Do you have two HH accounts? If so, that's probably a violation of their T&Cs.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 7:31 am
  #265  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
I definitely don't expect them to get detailed about any situation, but addressing what is considered over-the-line in general terms should be fair game.

They do give it "in general terms". The only line in the T&Cs that matters is this one:

Any improper usage of Hilton Honors Points shall be grounds for immediate confiscation and forfeit of such Points, and may be grounds for the forfeiture of all Points in the Member's account and the Member's ejection from the Hilton Honors Program, all as determined within Hilton Honors’ sole discretion.
They are the house. We play by their rules. Period. They keep it general so that they don't have to chase down and write out exhaustively every single detail of every single fraud scheme people can think of. Because if they did that, then they're implying that anything outside of those is fair game, and thus incentivizing people to cook up more wacky schemes.

I'm not being pedantic; that's how all these programs work. They have sole discretion. I'm not aware of any case in which a court has sided against the companies in frequent flyer/hotel programs.

The people begging for clarification, I guess that's your prerogative. I doubt we're gonna get it. I'd be highly surprised if Hilton legal ever let the ambassador within a mile of this thread.

I've done legitimate points transfers/pooling and have never had so much as a hiccup. One data point does not a proof make, but that works in the other direction as well. The three data points we have are 1) an ambiguous story in Polish that was never responded to, 2) someone who seemed to be a longtime troublemaker that Hilton finally disposed of, and 3) what appears to be an error in a fraud detection algorithm that was quickly recognized, corrected, apologized for, and compensated.

If people want to work themselves up into a lather, then they can, but I'm not losing any sleep over here.


Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
What do you mean by "other account"? Do you have two HH accounts? If so, that's probably a violation of their T&Cs.

Yerp.

Members must not maintain membership in or earn Points on multiple accounts.
And then people wonder why they get shut down.

Last edited by arlflyer; Oct 27, 2017 at 7:36 am
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 7:47 am
  #266  
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Originally Posted by arlflyer
They do give it "in general terms". The only line in the T&Cs that matters is this one:
...
Agreed, but when they use general terms like "pooling" then they should be able to define what that means. For instance I use a CMRF as a mailing address. Not all members of my "household" use that address. So does that prevent the pooling?

There are several corner cases that won't be spelled out in the T&Cs but at least their FT representative could help define the HH perception of a situation.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 9:46 am
  #267  
 
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Posted this in another thread. Moderators - please take mercy on me if this is considered cross-posting


**********************************************

Can't earn points with pooling, just use them

See the site next below and then the Hilton T & C below that

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/04/hilton-points-pooling/


B]Points Pooling FAQs [/B]
1.What is Points Pooling?
Points Pooling will allow Hilton Honors Members to combine their Points with family and friends to book a stay. With this perk, a Member (and up to 10 others) will now be able to combine their Points. For example, if a group of friends are taking a trip together and individually dont have enough Points to cover their entire stay, they will now be able to combine their Points, free of charge, into one account to unlock new redemption opportunities.
2.Is there a fee to participate in the Points Pooling program?
No, there is no fee to participate in Points Pooling.
3.How many people can contribute to Points Pooling?
A total of 11 Hilton Honors Members can pool their Points together. One Member initiates the pooling and up to 10 other Members can contribute.
4.Do I need to create a new "pooled" account?
No. Members can use their existing account.
5.How many Points Pools can I be in?
There is no limit on the number of pools a member can be in at a given time.
6.Can you use Pooled Points for just room rates or can it be used for non-room rewards including shopping and experiences?
Yes, once Points are pooled, they can be used for any room or non-room reward product, including the experiences available on the Hilton Honors auction platform, Hilton Honors Shopping Mall and any other non-room reward products.
7.Can you combine Pooled Points with money?
Once Points are pooled they can be used for any room reward product, including a Points & Money Rewards reward reservation.
8.What is the minimum/maximum number of Points that can be pooled?
A Member can transfer a minimum of 1,000 Points and a maximum of 500,000 Points into a pool in a calendar year. A Member can receive up to 2 million Points in a calendar year.
9.Are there particular qualifications you must meet to be able to pool Points?
To use Points Pooling, you must be an active Member, be in the program for 30 days, and have a minimum Points balance of 1,000 Points.
10.When will Points Pooling be available?
Points Pooling is now available. Start pooling your Hilton Honors Points here.

11.When will the Points be shown in the other Members account and be ready for use?
The transferred or pooled Points will be available for use at the time of transfer, but please allow up to 24 hours for pooled Points to show up when you log in to your account
12.Where and how do I Points Pool once I have a group of Members that want to combine Points?
All Points Pooling activities will be transacted online via HiltonHonors.com.
13.Where do I go to transfer my Points to the Points Pool initiator?
The Points contributor must access the transfer page through the Points Pool invitation email sent on behalf ot the Points Pool initiator.
14.Whats the difference between Points Pooling and Points Transfer?
Points Transfer is a 1:1 transaction, while Points Pooling allows for combining Hilton Honors Points with up to 10 other people (11 including yourself).
15. After I send Points to a friend for Pooling, what happens if he/she cancels the trip? How can I get my Points back?
If your friend has to cancel his/her trip, he/she can simply transfer the Points back to your account for free.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 9:51 am
  #268  
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Originally Posted by milesmilesmiles
Posted this in another thread. Moderators - please take mercy on me if this is considered cross-posting

...
Looks like a good item to put into a wiki for easy reference.
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 10:07 am
  #269  
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: Hilton Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 1,266
If only I was smart enough to do so

Here is the link to the T & C. Scroll about half-way down for the FAQ on pooling.......

http://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/p...money/faq.html
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Old Oct 27, 2017, 10:24 am
  #270  
 
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Originally Posted by milesmilesmiles
9.Are there particular qualifications you must meet to be able to pool Points?
To use Points Pooling, you must be an active Member, be in the program for 30 days, and have a minimum Points balance of 1,000 Points.
Maybe this is what is tripping some people up - attempting to open a new account, buy points and pool before 30 days is up.

Not sure what an "active member" means - one with a stay in the past year?
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