2nd person free benefit
 

hi,

in Europe they sometimes charge for the 2nd person in the room. But being a Hilton member one benefit is that the 2nd person stays free.
unfortunately the booking engine on Hilton.con doesn’t take this fact into account (even if I am locked in).
what do I do? Reserve for 1 and show up with 2? Reserve for 2 and ask them to adjust the rate? Pay for two and take them to small claims court?

That was obviously the red herring answer :)

It is second guest for all member (Diamond myself and my wife but it should not matter here so I kept it as broad as possible).
A second guest stays free in the Member's room on qualifying stays at hotels when there are additional charges for double occupancy. This benefit excludes stays at any hotel when the rate includes additional components (e.g., meals, activities, parking), or specialized rates (e.g. package rates, bed & breakfast rates) that are quoted as a per person or per room charge.

The obvious answer which is what I always do is: Reserve for one. Then in the section where you can put additional requests, I write: "my dear spouse will join me on this trip". That is not really needed but prevents the hotel for downgrading me to a single room. There are hotels in Europe where a single room has a bed that only fits one person (Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor, for example).

For sure, do not book a pre-paid rate for 2 and think that they will adjust the rate. Once it's booked, it's booked and there are no changes to the rate to be made.

That is (for now) my strategy. Book for one and enter additional guest name.

BUT their IT department should be able to give the correct rates without me "tricking" the system. And no joke here if this is intentional this is a possible class action.

And if you book for two guests how is the IT department knowing that you are not planning to show up as a group of 3 adults? You, your spouse that stays free and another adult.

The only result of a class action lawsuit would be for Hilton to remove that benefit and we would all end up paying for it.

OMG, Class action? Small claims Court? Are you American or seriously kidding?

If there is a difference in rate, just book for 1 pers. and write "2 guests, HH spouse stay free" in the comments box - and you will be fine. This is really not an issue and no need to make rant out of this IMO.

Obviously, you can't use the "spouse stay free" benefit to squeeze 3 persons into a room by only paying for 2 pers.

It is an issue as if I book normally (2 people) I pay more (and I paid more in the past without noticing)

No you didn't pay more. You paid the same as other guests (when 2 pers. in the room and not entitled to or aware of "spouse stay free benefit"). Maybe you could have saved a bit/got a cheaper rate by booking for 1 pers only, but that is not the same as you paid more (than other quests). Let it go and be glad that now you have learned to check the rates for 1 pers. before booking for 2 pers.

Are you not good at math? With the benefit I should have paid the rate for 1 person. Without knowing about the benefit (or trusting the system) I paid the rate for 2 people > So I paid more than I had to (Hilton overcharged me as a benefit was not granted/implemented)
And that argument to "as other guests" .... everyone uses another rate and books at another time so no one pays the same to begin with.

As I stated above it is NOT "spouse stays free" but "2nd guest stays free"
copied and pasted from Hilton
A second guest stays free in the Member's room on qualifying stays at hotels when there are additional charges for double occupancy. This benefit excludes stays at any hotel when the rate includes additional components (e.g., meals, activities, parking), or specialized rates (e.g. package rates, bed & breakfast rates) that are quoted as a per person or per room charge.

It used to be "spouse stays free" and they changed it to "2nd guest stays free" a few years ago. To reflect changes in society.

I have used this benefit for more than 15 years and it's one of the main reasons that I first look if there's a Hilton convenient for my destination.