travel4free

Thought I would share my data point. Had a 2 night award stay at Doubletree Beach Resort by Hilton Hotel Tampa Bay - North Redington Beach. Racked up a fair amount of incidentals on beach chair rentals, wave runner rentals, meals and gift shop. At check out, put the first $250 on my wife's Aspire account and the remainder on my Aspire account. The credits for all charges to my room posted to our accounts 2 days after the charges posted.
DoubleTree gave points from my bill (30x per dollar for Diamond) for all of the charges, even though the beach vendors are not owned by the hotel. Likewise, when my credit card statement cycled a couple weeks later, I received the 14x points per dollar for the hotel charges even though AMEX had reimbursed them.
All told, we had a great free 2 day stay, including food and entertainment and ended up with 16K+ points and still have some resort credit leftover.
They were unable to give us a late checkout, but we wanted to stick around at the beach longer and ended up eating lunch there. As expected, we did not receive the reimbursement for that charge since it wasn't able to be charged to the room. However, on our credit card statement we did get the 14x points per dollar (associated with Hilton properties) for the lunch.

happychic

What about for the nights where the Free Weekend certs are used? The ones that comes with the Aspire credit card signup.

B3nder

Same. The cert terms actually specifically say there are no resort fees when redeeming certs. I think Citi's old certs said resort fees weren't included (but they actually were), so that's a good change.

happychic

Thank you! I am booking a three nights stay at a Hilton resort: two nights with the Aspire signup bonus certs, and one paid night. I assume that this means I will only have to pay for one night of resort fee?

B3nder

Same. The cert terms actually specifically say there are no resort fees when redeeming certs. II think Citi's old certs said resort fees weren't included (but they actually were), so that's a good change.

PumpkinSmasher

I'm still slightly confused. Can you use the $250 resort credit at any non-resort Hilton in the US? If you book at the HHonors rate and use your Aspire card at checkout? There doesn't seem to be a clear answer unless I've missed it. It's my understand that this definitely works in the US, especially if you make prepayments. But does this also work in the US if you pay at checkout instead?

Adam1222

no.
it can only be used for resort properties.
Advance purchase rates for US resorts do not qualify.

JJeffrey

Eh, no. The benefit is a Hilton Resort credit, in order to trigger the credit you must book at one of the properties on the Hilton resort list (http://hilton.com/resorts). Any properties not on this list have never been eligible, not sure where you're getting confused there.

In order to trigger the credit you must have a charge post directly from the hotel. Of course charging your card at check out will count. But prepaid rates in the US generally will not trigger the credit, because these are billed by Hilton corporate and not from the hotel directly.

FZD

Made a regular reservation at Hilton Tokyo Bay using the Aspire card, but the resort credit hasn't posted after 1.5 months. Will probably end up calling in for this.

ccuser11

My expectation and takeaways are what Adam1222 stated.However, there are DP claiming to receive credit for Hilton Anatole(non-resort hotel) stays. I can see why it may be unclear for some.

I'd be interested to have more data points whether non-resort hotels charges are also being credited.

Adam1222

The Hilton Anatole absolutely is on the list of resort hotels. https://www3.hilton.com/en/resorts/i...ts5US7BR840893

ccuser11

You are correct. It is listed as as resort. I have been Anatole many times but it never came across as resort hotel (its more of convention IMO) ... I guess we learn something new everyday.

Thnx,

NWplatinum

JJeffrey

I don't understand how there can be so much confusion over whether a property is eligible or not.

If the property is listed at the Hilton Resorts link, then its eligible. If it's not listed there, then it's not. If the Conrad Dubai is listed there, then it's eligible. If it's not listed, then it's not.

In order to trigger the credit you need a charge directly from the hotel on your Aspire card. So if you book an OTA rate that is charged by Orbitz, Expedia, etc. you will not get the credit. If you book an OTA rate that is "pay at hotel" and the property bills your Aspire card directly, then it will trigger the credit. Even if you book an otherwise ineligible rate from Expedia but still spend $100 on incidental charges that you settle directly with the hotel with your Aspire card, you should see $100 of the resort credit because the hotel charged your card directly.

NWplatinum