Karter

I figure that each hotel prints out a list of all guests and on this list the status is mentioned. What I am wondering is whether if you are Gold when you book a room but become a Diamond before you check in for that room if your status will show as Gold or Diamond. I know that it works this way for some airlines.

For some of my reservations (which I always book online) I've written "HH Gold" in the comments box. I assume this will still appear to the hotels, but will my new status show up too and override it?

pdhenry

What you enter in the comments box will stay in comments box but it may not matter.

When the hotels prepare the rooms they know the status of each guest based on other data in the reservation. So Golds/Diamonds staying at a Hampton get the water & cookies, etc.

When I make a stay with a higher status than I had when I booked the stay I usually show my card at checkin. It generally won't make a lot of difference if you check in as a Diamond and the reservation record shows you as Gold since the systemwide perks don't differ much. There may be local exceptions where the property extends a courtesy to a Diamond that they wouldn't to a Gold. I've seen parking fees waived in the US or lounge access granted overseas for Diamonds only. In most/all cases showing your new status card at checkin should get you what you deserve.

Points Scrounger

I'll mention the time that I made a reservation as a gold and was told by the clerk (DuPont Circle Hilton, DC): "I'm sorry, but the system shows you as Blue [so no breakfast for you!]." He relented only when I physically produced the gold card. From then on, I have made a point of bringing it.
I was rather startled last week when the check-in clerk greeted me with: "Welcome back, Mr. Scrounger!" I had stayed there one night, three years earlier (HGI North @ SFO).

KENNECTED

Your status is shown on the check-in screen. It also shows your points balance.

However, as others have suggested, always carry your card, you might get additional perks (like in Vegas) and always carry a printout of your reservation.

wendySFO

I had an experience the hotel manager read out the screen about my status to me. He knows the status and point balance as Cheap Elite stated here. Also think hotel knows if I am a returning customer or not as sometimes they will greet me as "welcome back".

holtju2

Beside the points amount it also shows the number of stays/nights YTD you have had with the Hilton chain.

HiltonGuy

What you are referring to is "OnQ". OnQ is a program developed by HHC that the hotels use as their in-house system. It recognizes returning guests as well as those who have never stayed at that particular brand before (Ever heard "Welcome to the Hampton/Homewood/Embassy etc brand" ????).

Regarding the apparent incorrect tier level mentioned in another reply to this thread, this is not totally uncommon. A common reason for the tier level discrepancy is that some members have more than one account. Word of advice: make sure your reservations are showing up on the correct account. It's not a problem (multiple active accounts) that can not be overcome but it's nice to have all reservations on one account so that all of the sudden you go to make a points redemption stay and find out that there are very few points in your account only to find out later that all of your stays have been placed on another unknown account for you :-)

pdhenry

I've stayed 13 times at the same Hampton Inn in the past year and unless the clerk recognizes me on sight I still get the "Have you stayed at our hotel before?" question at checkin.

Back when I was a Diamond I occasionally got a comment like "Wow, you sure do spend a lot of time in our hotels!"

underpressure

it's that darned Patriot Act, I tell 'ya.

liveon777

I run into both situations all the time. As early as yesterday when I was checking in, the check in agent started to inform me about how to get to the concierge lounge in th ehotel I am currently in.

I smiled and said, "let me guess, it's on the 7th floor, I'll need my keycard to get to the floor, and breakfast starts at 6:30". She laughed and said "Oh, I guess I should have looked closer. I go on break in 20 minutes, can you fill in for me? " with a smile.

rwill11

they always need your credit card no matter what. always place your Diamond card or whatever on top. Even the dullest of agents gets a reminder, without the chit=chat. They deal with hundreds of people a day. A little reminder jolts them out of their morass. When they plug in the HH# and see you have 800K in the bank, it wakes them up (a bit) YMMV

big4consultant

I got that recently at a hotel I had NEVER satyed at before, so who knows.

I also just checked in to the Embassy Suites in Anaheim and had a letter waiting for me in the room that said I was a diamond (which I'm not yet, I'm still gold).

DCBob

Not if you use e-checkin. The last two stays I had (in Cincinnati and Harrisburg), I used e-checkin and I did not show my credit card at all!

sdsearch

Ah, but does it show the Rolling Tier and EXPLAIN it?

KENNECTED

Thats exactly what I do at properties where I am not a regular or at a property where I do not recognize the check-in agent! LOL