amanuensis

It alienated me. I had been completely loyal to Hilton but now I play the field.

jn in ca

Guys, I've read through this thread, and I think my denial beats them all. It would be funny if their attitude wasn't so disgusting.

First I read through Okieflyer's messages about what gets approved, and made sure to book an identical rate/room: prepaid, advance purchase for 2 beds. Saw the exact same rate on expedia.com and hotels.com, but with a 30% off sale. No wiggle room to deny that claim, I hoped.

Here is the excuse the Hilton GA gave me for denying the claim:
I went on www.expedia.com to review their terms. I found expedia.com has a service charge fee when booking on their site. They add the service fee and taxes together when booking on their website. As we do not charge a service fee, expedia.com does not mirror our terms.

She then went on to cut and paste this:

Our Best Rates. Guaranteed. OFFER DOES NOT APPLY to the following:

Taxes, gratuities, service charges, early departure fees, or other fees and incidental charges.

Yup, they are claiming expedia.com is ineligible for BRG because it actually charges a fee. Hmmm... is any website that charges a fee, or taxes, ineligible? Is there a booking website called wedontmakemoney.com?

The young lady at Hilton made the mistake of NOT cutting out the name of the supervisor who forwarded my claim to her (I'm sure she'll get an earful for that), so I sent the supervisor a polite e'mail reminding them that it's tough to claim Expedia isn't a "mirror" now, as Hilton has approved expedia.com claims in the past, and expedia.com is the example Hilton gives on the BRG claim form.

After reading this thread, I assume Hilton will either ignore my mail and hope I'll go away, or deny my claim again. Not sure how I'll pursue it after that, but I'm sure I'll report this to the FTC. I honestly believe if everyone here complaining had filled out a complaint at ftc.gov, by now they'd have enough to threaten Blackstone/Hilton with legal action.

The FTC website says: The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, collects complaints about companies, business practices, and identity theft. Your complaints can help us detect patterns of wrong-doing, and lead to investigations and prosecutions. Capricious fulfillment of a published guarantee is an unfair business practice?

tnt_josh

Not that it will do any good, but I just need the oportunity to vent and maybe get advice on whether or not to keep trying.

A couple of weeks ago, I booked a room at the Homewood Suites in Las Vegas, at a $116 pre-paid nonrefundable rate for a hilton family website. Soon after, I found the the same room, at the same hotel, with the same terms (prepay, nonrefundable) for $70 on Hotels.com.

I filed the BRG claim online. I never saw a claim number. A few hours later I called DD who transferred me to "Guest Assistance". I asked if my claim had been recieved. They said that the claims were being processed and rest assured I should receive something shortly. I persisted so that I could get confirmation of receipt. Sure enough, there was no record of my claim. Since the website says to either fill the claim online, or call Guest Services, I had her file the claim (over her objections that I had to do it myself online).

I called again later that day. The person there said that it had been received and was being processed. A couple hours later, I get an email from the person I spoke with denying the claim. Apparently, the hotels.com $70 offer had a $50 voucher towards a helicopter flight.

I called AGAIN. The person I spoke with made sure to point out that it had to be the exact same. No matter that the other site had a much better deal.

It seems to me that Hilton has their money and would rather drive business off to 3rd party sites. I am a very loyal Hilton customer. In hindsite, I should have put that money into a better room at one of the strip hotels.

I apologize that my rant went on this long.

tnt_josh

I forgot to mention that during the last call I made, I asked to speak to a supervisor. She was "in a meeting". I left my information: HH number, claim number, phone number, and never received a reply.

traveltcf

Used to love the Hilton and was a Diamond member at one point. I tried to get a BRG claim approved and of course was denied. The better rate was with Expedia but they said since you had to pay ahead with Expedia (you could cancel and get a full refund) the terms were not identical (with Hilton you didn't need to pay ahead). I tried to tell them they have effectively eliminated most of their competition because almost all travel websites (Orbitz, Priceline, Hotels.com, etc.) require payment ahead of time.

Anyway, it all fell on deaf ears. I told them their BRG program is consumer fraud and that someone might consider legal action (like maybe a class action lawsuit) and they just basically hung up on me.

I'd love to know if anyone has gotten a BRG claim approved with Hilton recently (I think Hilton started to go downhill a few years ago when the Hilton family sold it). If you have gotten a BRG approved how did you do it? I haven't read this whole thread so maybe the answer is here somewhere . . .

jn in ca

This brings a couple of things to mind.

First, I see a number of people mention that they called the DD. I have never heard of the DD helping with BRG. Even for diamonds, Hilton would rather build up some public animosity than match the expedia rate. It kind of makes you wonder what the elite tiers are worth. If I had a customer staying 50-100 nights with my chain, I'd give him whatever he asked for, certainly a price match.

Second, as many of you know, some hoteliers are screaming their heads off over the amount of price setting power the online travel agencies are developing. Well, here is an example of a way to grab back some customers from expedia et al, and instead Hilton is driving them away. How many people in this thread have stopped booking through Hilton because of the ridiculous BRG denials? I haven't booked through the Hilton website again.

RenHoek

OOFAH!
First time I tried this, and was denied, too.

From the rep: " The reservation confirmed through Hilton requires a credit card but no prepayment and you can cancel 1 day prior by 4pm. Once you confirm the reservation through Expedia the reservation will be charged to your credit card at the time of booking."

Every booking on Expedia charges your cc, and credits it if you cancel.

I pointed out that the Expedia reservation is cancellable, too. (It's actually better because it's 6 p.m. the day before vs. 4 p.m. for Hilton).

I ain't givin' up. I asked for supervisor or the Director of Guest Services to review. Next I will have the local consumer reporter look into this. He is always looking for stories.

RenHoek

I give up. I'm really shocked that Hilton would choose to treat its customer's this way. But reading this thread back a few YEARS, I am enlightened. Your claim will be denied vs. Expedia since Expedia charges your card first, even though Expedia will refund your card if you cancel.
Oh well. It's Business 101: Alienate a customer, and lose them for life. Hope it was worth the $50 bucks, Hilton jerks. Not a penny will be spent with Hilton.

serfty

Oops!

That in itself is enough for the claim to be denied.

Zurich Flyer

You are plain wrong - and the Hilton devils know that!

Your second statement: Your are 100 % right!

anabolism

I can understand why Hilton doesn't want to honor their BRG, but what doesn't make any sense is why they would make the offer in the first place, since it's the fact that they make the promise and then break it that pisses people off so much. If they didn't make the promise, they'd have fewer upset customers.

Zurich Flyer

Right, they had fewer upset customers.

But obviously, the have in the end more customers. More customers, including more upset customers.

As long as nobody sues Hilton, they can play that game.

Guys, if you don't sue Hilton, do at least inform the Better Business Bureau about that!

2035

After my experience with an invalid denial (Hilton didn't resond to claim until after checkout - see link) I tried to esclate, but had no feedback at all after many emails.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...g-problem.html

I tried turning to the BBB, but they didn't want to intervene as it was a monetary claim. In the end I wrote to the letters page of a leading travel magazine , who forwarded it to their contact in Hilton for a response before publication. I got a grovelling apolgy and generous compensation. I have asked them to clarify why these requests are not being answered.

I will update when/if the letter is published.

So my suggestion is to use consumer watchdog channels to force Hilton into action - websites/magazines etc.

Zurich Flyer

Do you think this is helpful? Why don't you write the name of the "leading travel magazine" so that others can do the same?

anabolism

A while back the "Help" column in the Travel section of the L.A. Times featured the Hilton BRG. Someone had written in to complain that his claim was unfairly denied. The editor contacted Hilton, and said Hilton explained that because the person's profile requested a king size bed, the claim was denied. Made no sense, but there it is, in black and white.

Link to L.A. Times column.