Mistake Points Booking cannot be cancelled
 

Last night I was looking around at hotels for 2 nights in Doha. I was surprised to see a points booking at 40k a night at a hotel that would coincide with the semi finals. I don't have tickets or flights but wanted to check if the rate was actually bookable. It was. So, knowing that I went to cancel whilst I investigated flight and hotel availability. But I could not find either.

Called the Diamond Desk within 2 mins, but desk agent could not reach a person at hotel with authority to cancel. This morning I get an email from the hotel to say they won't cancel.

I guess I should have checked before booking but have never seen a points booking that's not flexible. Not withstanding some form of cooling off period.

Any angles you can think of I could try to get back my hard earned 80,000 points?

What does the cancelation policy on your reservation email say?

This seems to be a new trend, there is another recent post about the same thing, and the OP got slammed for not reading the cancellation policy, also....

Well let me tell you that when points bookings have always been refundable, it is just not something we are hard wired to check...

I myself have just been burned by this, also, and my reservation is not until next September! Plenty of cash rates with different cancellation ranges, but who would ever think a points booking would be immediately non-refundable?

I have reached out to the hotel, but so far have heard nothing back except an auto-email that the first person I sent the e-mail to will be out until after Thanksgiving, but the person I forwarded it to has also not gotten back to me, not even to say "no, we won't do it".

I'm just here trying to express sympathy for the OP....it's so easy to sit and be holier than thou and say that it's your fault you didn't read the policy, and while that's technically true, this new non-refundable points thing has literally come out of the blue. And it's not like "X points is non-refundable, but XXX points is refundable" - it's ALL points booking are immediately non-refundable, at least at my hotel in question.

I also will lose a bundle of points if this can't be fixed....and my reservation is not until next year, and not during any special events.

It said I can cancel up until 31st October 2022. On seeing that and discovering in the app I could not cancel with a click, I called diamond desk who have tried unsuccessfully to contact the hotel. No longer than 5 minutes passed between making the booking and receiving this email and me being connected to an agent on the diamond desk.

In the UK I have to wait until 2pm to speak to the diamond desk, by which time it's 5pm in Qatar and it seems those able to sort it have gone home.

I'm now waiting with a case number and fingers tightly crossed it can be resolved.

Regardless of the booking conditions, in the UK we are very much used to cooling off periods, even for the most inflexible air and hotel fares, usually for 24h. Not withstanding, I honestly did think I was booking a flexible room anyhow

OP, are you aware there are entry restrictions into the country during the World Cup period? You might want to look into that before booking your flight.

You might want to PM William (Hilton Honors Ambassador) here on the forum - he has always been extremely helpful to the community (including myself) and while he may not be able to convince the hotel to reverse its policy he may be able to facilitate a smoother line of communication.

Regrettably, only to say, if necessary, please open a case with customer service. They can be reached at [email protected].

Best regards,

William

But can you find out why this is suddenly a thing? Never, ever before have points bookings had zero tolerance, completely non-refundable the minute you click?

The properties control this. If there is something going on, like World Cup, for instance, they are going to be allowed to set the same cancellation policy in place as it is for other types of bookings. If you feel it is error, open a case.

Best regards,

William

I understand most Hilton properties are franchises but it is staggering how little control Hilton has over them.

I'm not saying every customer mistake should be resolved but this comes across as an absolute own goal. If you'll pardon the pun.

I will give them the courtesy of waiting until after the holiday, and then I will do that.

Did you see the Oct 31st deadline before you booked or after you read the confirmation? As it looks like you did the booking after Oct 31st it was immediately non-cancellable. As others have said I don't think I have ever looked at cancellation policies for points booking but admittedly I have never booked a hotel during a major event or holiday with points as they are usually astronomical in points requirements.

While I don't know the details of your issue, restrictive cancellation policies during major events (like the super bowl, F1 races, major conventions, the World Cup) have been around for a number of years. What I think is becoming more prevalent is resorts instituting a very restrictive cancellation penalty due to the number of speculative bookings that are being made. I learned my lesson (lost some points) with this a number of years ago.

I have recently done the same. Had 5 nights booked on points at the Waldorf Palm Dubai over Christmas, but much preferred the NYE 5 nights as they were the more expensive nights in Dubai for our trip. Kept checking and they came up a few weeks ago, excitedly I edited the original points reservation and selected the new dates including the 31st December only to get the confirmation and realise it was now non refundable.

We really are hardwired just to think all points bookings are flexible and Hilton need to get onto this as it’s another devaluation of points and more hotels are doing it.

Not a special event, not a holiday, not a resort - a mid-sized American city. I will name it after I have a resolution one way or the other from the hotel, which may not be for a while