Eugene

I've used GLON award in Sydney a couple years ago and had no problem reserving the dates I wanted (and I was Gold at the time). On the same trip I also used a Point Stretcher award in Cairns.

Eugene

dhacker -- Excellent point!

LemonThrower

I think some on this board don't measure the true cost of a GLON award. Sure, 100K points for 6 nights works out to be a better deal than 25K per night, but if you value you points at a penny a point you are paying $175 per night for a GLON and $250 a night for a GLONP. In some locations, this is a good deal (Hawaii), but I think you can do better on your own in cities such as London and Paris. And if you stay less than 6 nights, its even more expensive.

Its odd to me that travelers will only redeem air miles for expensive flights but seem to be much less disciplined in spending their hotel points.

MIKESILV

I have to disagree your analysis with the use of a GLON or GLONP in Paris or London arguably the two of most expensive hotel room cities in the world. I just made reservations to use GLONs in the Brussels and Dublin Conrads (and cancelled one at the London Conrad) the cheapest rate in all those properties available for any day of my stay was 225EU = $205 PLUS between 15 to 18% room tax. DONT FORGET THE TAX which is not paid on award stays
Try booking the Paris Hilton any day of the year for less than $175.00 night. I just booked for the first weekend in Oct. cheapest rate 285EU.
Mike




[This message has been edited by MIKESILV (edited 05-12-2002).]

Andrew Yiu

Trying to book a 6 nights GLON award for London in early June. I know it's almost impossible to try to get a 6 nights award as a lowly Hilton Gold. Just called Hilton and they said none of the Hiltons are avaialble but I checked the website and there are plenty of revenue rooms available.

I've read from past posts that one could call the hotel directly and try to request the room and success rate is quite high.

I just want to know what's the process of doing this. Do I call the hotel that I am looking for, ask for reservations and tell them I want to redeem my points for that specific hotel? [In the past, they sometimes try to transfer me to central reservation when I call to request a specific revenue rate]

Do I have to tell them that central reservation is telling me that it's not available?

If they do ok it, how do I go about the reward cert?

Never did something like this so unsure what is involved.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 05-19-2002).]

mareh

I'm not sure our experience will be much help, but we did this for a GLON award in Amsterdam last month. After being told there was no award availability, my husband called the (Amsterdam) Hilton directly. They agreed to release an award room but said that Hilton Honors had to phone Amsterdam to work out the details. There was no way we could get anyone at Hilton Honors to do this. We went back and forth between the two several times. The manager--who was very nice but was getting frustrated herself--finally contacted Hilton Honors in Scotland. (Why Scotland? We have no idea.) Then she had us call Scotland, and the rep there sent us our award certificate in the mail. It seemed very complicated at the time, but the award arrived in about a week, and we used it without a hitch.

[This message has been edited by mareh (edited 05-20-2002).]

Andrew Yiu

So do I just ask them "I am trying to see whether I could use my Hilton rewards points at this property because reservation said that the regular inventory is gone."?

Just unsure how I should ask them.

squeakr

Hi Empress


We did the same thing for the London Langham Hilton over Xmas - I called the Langham rez desk and said "Hilton Honors told me to call as you were the only ones who could release rooms on my GLONP award" After a few minutes of hold they approved it, but they did have to have Honors call them, which Honors did. I asked for and recieved a fax form the hotel directly confirming the award stay as their regular confirmation just said the rez dates and nightly rate. I requested the cert dierctly from HHonors once hits was straightened out and it arrived promptly.

[This message has been edited by squeakr (edited 05-19-2002).]

LLM

This is a slightly different case, but HH showed had only five nights available at the Tralfalgar when I booked. I checked with the hotel directly and they said they could give me the sixth night. The night manager worked it out with HH in Australia (as Scotland was then closed) and faxed me a confirmation. HH faxed me the cert directly.

Scotsflyer

FYI, Mareh, the reason for calling Scotland is that the HHonors customer service centre for Europe is located in Glasgow (as is Hilton Group Reservations)

Andrew Yiu

Thanks guys. This sounds convincing. I'll give them (thinking of the London Metropole at this point) a call on Monday and see whether they can do anything for me.

TravelManKen

Last summer we wanted to stay at the Hilton Paris during the first week of August and they were booked. We talked to the GM at the hotel and he accepted our cert for the 6-night stay with only 4 weeks notice.

isleroyal

We are a family of four Gold HH and would like to try to use points to stay in Europe during Easter. Does anyone have any experience with award stays during holiday's. Actually ANY holiday. I am aware that Euopean rooms are somewhat smaller than their US counterparts, we typically rent a villa or gite while in Europe, but figure it may be time to use some points. I was wondering how far in advance I would need to request an award stay for holiday times. We typically decide where we are going within 1 to 2 months of travel (due to availabliilty of "cheap" airfare). ANY help and advise will be greatly appreciated. We enjoy France, Italy, Spain, possibly Germany for Easter 2003.

I spent 2 days searching the threads for info. so as to not duplicate my question, but alas no answer found.

isleroyal

Help PLEASE!
Thanks

l etoile

You know, you could make reservations for an award stay at a couple of different properties and then cancel once you have your air reservations and know where you're going.

I've used points before for spring break and did book many months in advance. I wouldn't wait too long.