Mar 14, 2019, 8:27 am
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:
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.
- 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
Consolidated "Free Night Certificate Questions & Experiences" thread
Jun 7, 2023, 7:48 pm
#1006
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,350
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).
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).
I do have Diamond status from the Aspire card which is where I have the certificate from as well. Not sure being Diamond had anything to do with it and where your cert is from but it seems to be a YMMV situation with these extensions.
Also I think if you book 1 night on points you can later have an agent swap it out using a certificate; I recall doing it that way once when I was waiting for a certificate to show up in my account and as soon as it did, I called to use that instead of points and I got my points back.
Jun 8, 2023, 7:01 am
#1007
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
See my post above (998) where agent extended my certificate by about 10 days. I didn't specify in that post, but this was for a booking for next year February so IME you were not given accurate info.
I do have Diamond status from the Aspire card which is where I have the certificate from as well. Not sure being Diamond had anything to do with it and where your cert is from but it seems to be a YMMV situation with these extensions.
Also I think if you book 1 night on points you can later have an agent swap it out using a certificate; I recall doing it that way once when I was waiting for a certificate to show up in my account and as soon as it did, I called to use that instead of points and I got my points back.
I do have Diamond status from the Aspire card which is where I have the certificate from as well. Not sure being Diamond had anything to do with it and where your cert is from but it seems to be a YMMV situation with these extensions.
Also I think if you book 1 night on points you can later have an agent swap it out using a certificate; I recall doing it that way once when I was waiting for a certificate to show up in my account and as soon as it did, I called to use that instead of points and I got my points back.
I'm only Gold, but will be Diamond at the time of the stay (due to re-upgrading my Surpass card back to an Aspire). And my certificate is from $15k spend on the Surpass.
What you said regarding replacing a points booking makes sense. Hilton agents don't really have any leeway to make a points or free night booking if there is no award availability, so in the instance where I try to replace a cash booking with a free night booking it's possible it won't work out. It's also possible it wouldn't work out if I have a points booking and on their end they try to cancel the points booking and then (hope the room goes back into award availability and then) make a free night booking... but I would imagine on their end they could effectively achieve the desired result (of using free night certificate instead of my points) without any risk by simply taking away my free night certificate and refunding me 110k points (the amount used to book the hotel) into my account. It seems like that is somewhat what your agent did, and I've had an agents sort of "go around the established protocols" to achieve a desired/fair result in situations somewhat like that.
In any event, I have my points booking to try to convert (or cancel then rebook as a free night), as well as a cash booking that I can cancel to put more rooms back into inventory, as well as a backup points booking (in case my first points booking gets lost as part of the attempt to rebook, so I can use this one as a backup since I'd rather not pay cash price). So the worst case scenario would be that I have to use a points booking if I am unable to use the certificate (which would go unused). Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Jun 8, 2023, 9:01 pm
#1008
Join Date: Jun 2023
Posts: 9
I recently signed up for (a couple) AMEX cards that came with signup bonus point + free night certificate. The bonus points for one of the cards hit my account (about a week after I passed the spend threshold but before the statement closed) - how long before I should expect to see the free night certificate arrive?
Jun 9, 2023, 8:08 pm
#1009
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,056
I have my points booking to try to convert (or cancel then rebook as a free night), as well as a cash booking that I can cancel to put more rooms back into inventory, as well as a backup points booking (in case my first points booking gets lost as part of the attempt to rebook, so I can use this one as a backup since I'd rather not pay cash price). So the worst case scenario would be that I have to use a points booking if I am unable to use the certificate (which would go unused). Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
That is not exactly a way to endear yourself to anyone looking at your account. A worse case scenario would be if two or even all three triplicate bookings were cancelled.
The very worst case scenario would be if your account were closed for violating the Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions.
Jun 9, 2023, 8:13 pm
#1010
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 240
You have a triplicate booking for the same night, two with points and one with cash.
That is not exactly a way to endear yourself to anyone looking at your account. A worse case scenario would be if two or even all three triplicate bookings were cancelled.
The very worst case scenario would be if your account were closed for violating the Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions.
That is not exactly a way to endear yourself to anyone looking at your account. A worse case scenario would be if two or even all three triplicate bookings were cancelled.
The very worst case scenario would be if your account were closed for violating the Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions.
Jun 10, 2023, 9:32 pm
#1011
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,350
Jun 15, 2023, 9:20 am
#1012
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
You have a triplicate booking for the same night, two with points and one with cash.
That is not exactly a way to endear yourself to anyone looking at your account. A worse case scenario would be if two or even all three triplicate bookings were cancelled.
The very worst case scenario would be if your account were closed for violating the Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions.
That is not exactly a way to endear yourself to anyone looking at your account. A worse case scenario would be if two or even all three triplicate bookings were cancelled.
The very worst case scenario would be if your account were closed for violating the Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions.
Perhaps. I was also sort of following the agent's instructions. After initially insisting that there was no risk (she was referring more to how the extension of the free night expiration was basically guaranteed), she did acknowledge that there was the risk that there might not be rooms available (even if I had booked one and then cancelled it. Said the risk was there for cash booking albeit that it was low, and that it was lower still for a points booking). We actually made a cash booking first before she told me that, so it was her suggestion (once I brought up that I had the points available in my account) that we could also do a points booking to reduce the risk that our maneuver didn't work.
I have actually had a few experiences like this, where a Hilton Agent tries to do something unorthodox, either in terms of what they do, or the advice they give you to work around how their systems work, in order to achieve a good customer outcome. Have basically been gifted points to make things work (when there were random site or program limitations that were hard to understand), and had things done manually, or had them give me weird advice on how/what/when to book or what to say to other parts of their customer service world. It always strikes me as weird, but it just seems to be how they handle things (it seems like their CS department just acknowledges that there are weird actions or situations, and they never seem to assume the worst or try to penalize the HHonors member).
Jun 28, 2023, 7:15 am
#1014
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 240
Probably depends on the night. Just search on the app and it will show you the points required as well as the type of award (premium vs standard)
Jun 28, 2023, 7:26 am
#1015
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,220
I just did a quick check of October and looks like there a NO (like zero) standard rooms available. I looked via "flexible dates", all premium.
Jul 4, 2023, 5:19 pm
#1018
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,350
Officially you need to stay by then but you can try calling in with a hotel and date ready to book and ask nicely if they can still use the certificate to book it for you. They may extend it until that date if it's not too far out from your original expiration.
Jul 5, 2023, 8:58 am
#1019
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
I don't recommend this at all. Too many ways it can go sideways. Book and use before expiration.
Jul 5, 2023, 11:52 am
#1020
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 76
Question about free nights certs. I made a reservation for a night in Paris, and I have a family of three, but the standard award only had rooms with double occupancy. I called the hotel directly asking about buying an upgrade over the phone to a room that could sleep three, but the front desk told me that I should wait for the app to tell me when I can upgrade. After some googling, I understand that Hilton has that 72 hour upgrade via the app sometimes. Now, I have a backup hotel in case this doesn't work, but what are the prices usually like? Should I expect to pay exactly the difference in the rooms? For example I'd be going from a standard king bed room, and would be looking for a paid upgrade to a room with a queen and a sofa bed. I know the rule is to book a room you'd be happy with, but the certificate in summer in Paris is pretty hard to use, to say the least.
Should I call Hilton's reservation line to see if they can help? I was under the impression most hotels can process paid upgrades at the front desk but I guess not this Hilton...
Thanks all.
Should I call Hilton's reservation line to see if they can help? I was under the impression most hotels can process paid upgrades at the front desk but I guess not this Hilton...
Thanks all.