Krisz

Does anyone know how Hilton control room inventory? The hotel team says that it’s controlled centrally, the Hilton central sales team says that it’s controlled by the hotel itself.

I’m interested specifically in the Hilton Secyhelles Labriz (Silhouette Island). Around this time last year, I booked standard rooms on points without any problems for Christmas 2019. However, I have been checking the same hotel for Christmas 2020 and no standard rooms available on points. Actually, standard rooms are not even available for cash. The standard rooms are available either on cash or standard 80k points until end of October. Starting Nov 1st, no standard room is listed for either cash or points. Anyone can shed a light on this|?


Thank you

arlflyer

This is all over the place....most Hilton-branded properties are independently operated, so Hilton corporate (McLean, VA) does not dictate room-level inventory to them from on high. As to what you're seeing with respect to a specific property being sold out / not having loaded inventory / possibly deflagging / who knows...well unless there's a true insider I doubt you're going to find the magic answer here.

LondonElite

How would knowing the specifics of inventory management help you secure a room?

writerguyfl

Each individual hotel does control their own inventory. But, every hotel uses Hilton's proprietary revenue management software. That software is automated and calibrated to adjust itself as demand fluctuates. As a former (non-Hilton) Revenue Manager, we were taught to trust the software and only override it's recommendations in extremely unusual events like labor strikes or extended weather events (like volcanoes that shut down major air routes).

It wouldn't be crazy to think that line employees (who would answer the phone or answer guest emails) weren't trained on the minutiae of how everything works. They probably were told that inventory is handled by "the computer" and they therefore assumed that the computer is Hilton Corporate.

To add another wrinkle into the situation, points reservations work differently than cash reservations. While the inventory is controlled by the hotel, all points reservations must be made through Hilton Corporate (via the website or phone). If you show up at the Front Desk of an empty hotel and want to burn some points, the hotel can't give you a room. They will direct you to book online or over the phone. Once that reservation is made, they will check you in. For cash reservations, the hotel can handle everything on their own.

As for a room for next Christmas, you don't have many options. Other than wait and hope, your only option is to call the hotel directly and try to reach someone in charge of inventory. That will not be a simple task. When I was a Revenue Manager, I never accepted calls from guests seeking availability. My time was better spent on other matters. Even if I did take those calls, it would be unlikely that I'd override the software because I was trained specifically not to do that sort of thing. Our policy was to only override the software for repeat guests of our hotel or people associated with our two biggest corporate clients.

The above information is probably a bit discouraging. What I described is how revenue management was handled at all the hotels I worked. But, it's possible that things are run differently at a different property. It might be worth trying to track down the person in charge of inventory at the hotel to see if they will help.

Call during normal business hours and ask to speak to someone on-site about a reservations. Be certain to say "on-site" because many hotels use Hilton Reservations to handle all their reservations. If you are able to reach someone, be certain to mention that you are a repeat guest of that hotel. That fact is important to most hotels.

If you can't reach someone on-site, try sending a fax. Yes...an old school fax. It's easy for someone to ignore a voicemail or email. An actual piece of paper sitting on their desk is much harder to ignore.

TL;DR: Hotels manage their own inventory but they do it using Hilton software. The key to getting a room when there is no availability is reaching the person at the hotel in charge of that function. At most hotels, reaching that person is not a simple task.

The information helps the OP know who to talk to in order to resolve the issue. Spending any time talking to Hilton Reservations would be wasted time because those folks have zero power when it comes to inventory.

So, it was a good question to ask...particularly because she or he was getting conflicting information.

Krisz

Thank you guys for all the good info. I’ll try and track down someone and get back here if I’m successful

NightTripper

I experienced the same thing with Labriz. I was planning a trip for summer 2020 about one year out and was monitoring standard award availability, which would be there one day then gone for some time. At one point, every date from June 1 was not available on points and every date prior to that was available.

In the end, I was able to secure two standard rooms on points for the dates I wanted at about 10-11 months out. Looking forward to the trip !