ed

I know Hilton doesn't give points for stays on a group contract (room billed to a "master account"). But if I have incidental charges during a stay that I pay myself, will I get credit for the stay?

GYK

I am organizing a meeting at a Hampton Inn, and trying to figure how to maximize points. The stingy hotel is not offering any HH incentive for planning the event. I've got a conference room and 15 overnight rooms. Any ideas? HEre are mine:

1. I was going to charge any expenses on my HH AMEX for the points.

2. Trying to figure if I would get HH points for the rooms (i.e the 10points per $1 spent).

3. Does master billing allow me to maximize my points and let me get credit for ERWDC promo?

Any thoughts? Both the hotel and HH CSR have been no help!

Eugene

GYK -- Check this:

http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/poi...tplanner.jhtml

HHonors members who hold qualifying events at participating HHonors hotels can earn one HHonors bonus point and one airline mile for every eligible U.S. dollar spent on guest rooms and meeting room rental.

GYK

Thanks for the link. I actually saw this before. If you look at he fine-print, it also says that this is individually negotiated with each hotel. Unfortunately, this hampton Inn does not award HH for the meeting planner (this my frustration), and my desire to figure a creative way to mazimize my points.

buddman

I've arranged to have an evening work meeting for about 45 people at a Conrad property in Europe. When booking I told the hotel that I wanted HHonors points, they took my number and nothing else was mentioned.

How do the points work - I estimate that room rental, bar service and buffet dinner will be about $3000. Will I get 30000 points for the booking, or do I have to negotiate this with the hotel?

[This message has been edited by buddman (edited 02-21-2002).]

LemonThrower

I am having my wedding at a hilton in the U.S. My experience was you have to negotiate this. We negotiated a favorable room rate for our guests, and for those guests who do not have their own HH number we get their points. Plus points for the money we actually spend on food, etc. The only draw back is no double dip for money spent by people other than ourselves. on top of that, I am using my hilton credit card so I expect to get additional points.

LemonThrower

After thinking about how much we would spend and how many guest rooms we reserved, I called HH Services and requested that they bump me to Gold which they did.

shinbal

I am a Diamond.

I'm staying at the Back Bay Hilton in Boston 7/26-28 with a group of 30 co-workers and clients. My reservation was done by the TA coordinating our group.

I called the Diamond service center who wouldn't (couldn't?) enter my diamond number on my reservation, though it clearly showed on their system. I called the hotel directly and they were able to add it.

The Diamond service center told me, "no points, no miles, no stay credit, no recognition, no benefits" on a paid group stay. The hotel didn't really have an answer other than to say "we've added your number to your reservation".

What should I expect? Stay credit? Points? Miles? A big fat nothing?

shinbal

OK.....thanks for the links. Now for anyone who likes to talk.......I get the part about direct vs. indirect billing.

But doesn't Hilton want to every RECOGNIZE its Diamonds staying in its hotels? It's not like I'm on a free stay. I found it very confusing that the Diamond service center CAN'T add any type of status recognition to a record.

Eugene

shinbal -- I'm not sure if that's applicable to your situation, but sometimes travel planners (especially when arranging conferences, etc.) negotiate with the hotels (not just Hiltons) that no upgrades are to be given.

Also, you've made a comment about not being on a free stay. Actually, you would have been eligible to all Diamond benefits (upgrade, free breakfast, etc.) if you were staying on an award.

shinbal

Thanks, Eugene for your input. I'd forgotten that point and actually called the hotel again. Where the service center was unable to put my number in, the hotel did step up. The lady said that they always want to recognize their Diamonds and that I can be assured of benefits.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Eugene

FWIW, I've had a similar situation before with another chain. Since my reservation was made directly with the hotel, central reservation center was able to see that reservation, but had no ability to alter it in any way, like putting my FF number in). Unfortunately, compatibility between central and in-house reservation systems is not as complete as we all wish.

Brian-AAFlyer

One of the reasons that there are 'no rewards' group bookings is because the administrator/coordinator is getting rewarded for MAKING the reservation and you are now a captive audience.

Apparently, these programs can be very lucrative for the admins!

marchdisney

PLEASE, help, this is getting RIDICULOUS! NO ONE at any of the full service Hiltons I have booked groups in OR at the Hhonors 800 number seems to know the policy for points when you book a group of rooms! A couple of years ago, you had to agree upon a number of points and have that written into the contract. Now, from my understanding, you are given point based on total amount spent for rooms, but NO ONE seems to know how to calculate this! I had 8 rooms at Hilton Niagra Falls, and got 50 points for a $7.00 tip I left at breakfast!! AND THAT WAS IT!! I have called the person in sales I booked the rooms with and she is trying to investigate this, but again, NO ONE she talks with at HHonors has any answers!!! Please, I need help with this, since I take groups to Hiltons and Hampton Inns quite a bit. If anyone knows anything about how group points work, please tell me. I am a Gold member with 156,000 total points now. In Niagra, we had 8 rooms for 2 nights and total bill in US dollars was around $1400. Very nice property and fabulous restaraunt, breakfast was free for me and those in my room and was GREAT!

skippythelizard

When you checkout, have them transfer the charges from each room to one of the rooms that is in your name with your HHonors number associated with it.

If you get all of the charges on to one folio, then you won't have a problem getting credit for all rooms.