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Consolidated "Free Night Certificate Questions & Experiences" thread

Old Mar 14, 2019, 8:27 am
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Last edit by: rrgg
Expiration: The 12 month expiration date on a certificate means you must reserve and complete the stay by the expiration date. You can't reserve something beyond the 12 month period. You can't extend the expiration date. (Some exceptions starting with this post.)

Eligible Dates: A certificate can be used for a Standard Room Award any day of the week. (Old policy limited them to Fri, Sat, Sun).

Other Notes:
  • If you earned a free night from a credit card and cancel the card, the free night certificate remains intact.
  • If you cancel a reservation made with a free night certificate, the certificate becomes available right away.
  • After making a reservation with a free night certificate, you'll get an email that says you booked a Standard Room Award. It will also show the points value, but no points will actually be deducted.
  • The free night from the Aspire card arrives by email within 2 months of being approved and anniversary date, and the free night from spend on the Aspire/Business/Surpass arrives within a week or sooner of reaching the spending threshold. This is irrespective of your card statement date. If you upgrade from another Hilton Amex to the Aspire, the free night may post more quickly.
  • Available, reserved and used certificates can be seen midway through the My Account page (https://www.hilton.com/en/hilton-hon...st/my-account/)
  • If you're waiting for a free night certificate to arrive, Hilton reps say it does not help to make a points reservation and then swap it later. The reason is they have to cancel the old points reservation one and make a new reservation. The old one can't just be edited to change the payment to a FNC.
Archived older notes:
  • From the Hilton email regarding a special 2020 policy on some certificates, "For all unexpired Weekend Night Rewards as of March 11, 2020, and all new ones issued until August 30, 2020, we are extending the expiration date through the end of next summer (August 31, 2021). There is no need for you to do anything, as your certificate(s) are being automatically updated in our systems. We hope this adjustment gives you some additional flexibility for your travels
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Consolidated "Free Night Certificate Questions & Experiences" thread

Old Apr 20, 2023, 9:39 am
  #991  
Community Director Emerita
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,681
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
SanDiego1K is offline  
Old Apr 20, 2023, 10:13 am
  #992  
 
Join Date: Nov 2022
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
They will just ask for your Hilton Number and can see the certificate.
Carpetchilli is offline  
Old Apr 27, 2023, 3:47 pm
  #993  
 
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I just got a new certificate ($15K spend on relevant credit card). The email says to note the certificate number and use it when I want to book a stay. All it gave me was the last 4 digits. I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
I just noticed that odd thing today. I feel like we used to get the full cert number in our email and when logging in. However, good news: I've noticed that you could get the full certificate number in the app.
drthunder is offline  
Old Apr 27, 2023, 3:50 pm
  #994  
 
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 42
My brother used his Hilton certificate to book a room for me in Japan. The agent added a note that I will be the one checking in; my brother made it clear that he won't be present. We share the same last name.

I see that Japan may be more picky on who checks in, due to requiring passports notably. Is there any potential for issues checking in?
drthunder is offline  
Old Apr 27, 2023, 4:06 pm
  #995  
DC9
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: QF Platinum, HH Diamond
Posts: 388
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I've gone to my account and see nothing more. Is the entire certificate number given and if so where?
My certificates usually take a couple of days to show up in the account, following the email.

Patience Grasshopper
DC9 is offline  
Old May 1, 2023, 9:42 pm
  #996  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat Pro, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,010
I see the wiki says "If you cancel a reservation made with a free night certificate, the certificate becomes available right away." I realize we are forced to call to book, but can we cancel online? Or do we need to call to have the cert reinstated as per the wiki?
TravelinSperry is offline  
Old May 2, 2023, 7:52 am
  #997  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,888
Last year I canceled a FNC reservation online, and the certificate was restored in my online account without calling. Still had to call to use it again of course.
SPN Lifer likes this.
rrgg is offline  
Old May 4, 2023, 5:05 pm
  #998  
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: xLAS
Posts: 1,362
Hi, I just booked a night using my Aspire's annual FNC. After I ended the call, I checked my account online. The certificate has been moved from "ready to use" to "reserved for upcoming stay," which I expected, but the room rate for the reservation says 70,000 points.

Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?

I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
ajc1970 is offline  
Old May 4, 2023, 5:43 pm
  #999  
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 825
Originally Posted by ajc1970
Hi, I just booked a night using my Aspire's annual FNC. After I ended the call, I checked my account online. The certificate has been moved from "ready to use" to "reserved for upcoming stay," which I expected, but the room rate for the reservation says 70,000 points.

Is this normal (showing a points amount for the reservation instead of a certificate)?

I went to check the activity/history for my miles (because I don't remember how many I had before calling) but there's no running/daily balance.
I just want to make sure that only the certificate and no miles were used for the reservation.
Yes it's normal, if the cert shows as reserved and the points are not debited you should be good.
SPN Lifer likes this.
Beachchaser is offline  
Old May 18, 2023, 9:25 pm
  #1000  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,296
I called the other day to book a room with an Aspire certificate. I didn't realize that the date I wanted to reserve was about 10 days post my expiration but the rep was kind enough and extended the expiration date of my certificate to my checkout date. Not sure if this is standard practice but I thought it was very nice of them to do this without any begging on my end.
friedablass is offline  
Old May 18, 2023, 9:35 pm
  #1001  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat Pro, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,010
Originally Posted by rrgg
Last year I canceled a FNC reservation online, and the certificate was restored in my online account without calling. Still had to call to use it again of course.
btw, confirmed. Back immediately after online cancellation
SPN Lifer likes this.
TravelinSperry is offline  
Old May 25, 2023, 5:52 pm
  #1002  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: LAS
Posts: 210
Is there any way when using search to find hotels with standard award availability to have it exclude accessible rooms? I keep finding hotels that only have accessible rooms available at standard and only premium awards are available for the other rooms. Once I am in the page to view rooms within the hotel I can hide/unhide accessible rooms, but when searching on map view it lists the lowest points price & tells me if it is standard vs premium, except that can include accessible rooms so I keep clicking to find out it is not available. Trying to maximize an FNC but get tricked by this search experience and wasn't sure if I was missing any ways to filter these out.
willywilkes is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2023, 2:11 pm
  #1003  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 117
Is there any recent datapoint on the how much time it took to night cert deposit to account after 15k spend is met
milesjjcc is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2023, 2:27 pm
  #1004  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,212
Originally Posted by milesjjcc
Is there any recent datapoint on the how much time it took to night cert deposit to account after 15k spend is met
Every year my 15K Surpass certificate comes very, very quickly - usually before I've even paid the bill. In contrast to the annual Aspire that takes a long time.
Eujeanie is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2023, 6:38 pm
  #1005  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
Tried to extend a free night certificate that expires on Dec 25th, for a booking on Jan 14th.

Agent did some investigation, then advised that they can extend the certificate (didn't specify for how long, but said that it could be done for my dates), so seems like 2-3 weeks of extension is doable.

However, they said that the extension could only be done closer to the expiration of the certificate, if I call in anytime from 2 weeks prior to 2 weeks after the expiration (so sometime in December or January, which is ~6 months from now). They were not able to make my booking at this time with the certificate. They had me instead make a booking in cash, that I should then call in to basically have the agent rework the bookings. Upon my questioning them, this would effectively be cancelling the cash booking and then booking an award booking with the free night. I brought up that sometimes rooms cancelled don't always go back into inventory. They said that this is technically a risk but they almost always go back to being available (again... we know that's not always the case at properties the WA Maldives or Conrad Bora Bora. I'm targeting Zemi Beach House, and I haven't seen that type of stuff with their inventory, so I was slightly less concerned). In any event, I opted to make a points booking for that night, that I will then cancel and hope goes back into inventory to allow me to use the then-renewed certificate. From my discussions with them, they were adamant from the notes on my account and the booking that customer service would definitely extend the certificate, but still conceded that there was a small risk that an award night might not be available at that time (even if I pre-booked the room then cancelled).
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