OttoMH

Hi,

New to the site - so please, go easy

Got an email before xmas offering fast-track to VIP status: 2 stays for Silver, 4 stays for Gold.

Can anyone tell me: (sorry, there is zero info on hilton's website and you can never get through to anyone on the Blue HHonours line )

a) What constitutes a stay? Is it 1 night? 2 nights or more? or any stay period at 1 hotel?
b) What rates are allowed? I often stay on a friends & family rate (seriously - you need to get to know someone in bookings!! GBP26pppn b&b) but i assume this is not allowed?

Otto

flydrha

To answer your question:

a) Stay is anytime you have "stayed" at the hotel, it could be as short as 1 night. But if you try booking 2 stays (2 reservations) on consecutive nights, it will be counted as 1 stay or 2 nights
b) I think all rates are valid except Priceline, Hotwire or any of the bulk rates available as "last minute deal"

Good luck

TrojanHorse

I don't believe that 3rd party sites like travelocity expedia etc count either; although I'll admit, I don't know 100% that it is a correct statement

UpgradeMe

Not exactly:
a) is answered here:
http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/...FCVUUC#accrual
(see #3)
b) is answered at the same link (see #11)

OttoMH

^ my bad - sorry - never read the fine print when i joined :-\

myfrogger

Reservations booked at 3rd party travel sites are not supposed to be eligible per the HHonors TOC but many have reported that they got a "one time exception" and had the points posted, along with an email going over the rules. People have reported that they've received these "one time exceptions" over and over again as well.

KENNECTED

I feel like that was way back in 2000/2001 when Hotwire and other 3rd party sites were coming into the mainstream and business travel was slow.

At this point in time, people should know the rules of the game and should not receive points or services because they booked thru a third party.

TrojanHorse

I sure would not try to count on these type of things if I was qualifying for something via a promo.. no way would I use that route

aztimm

When you mention 3rd party sites not counting, I'm assuming that excludes company-provided travel sites. I've gotten credit for all stays, both through the hilton sites or my company's. In fact, I was shocked that once I made a reservation through my company's travel site, it showed up under my HHonors profile, now that was a pleasant surprise (wish my airline of choice could do that).

id9795

In my opinion - 3rd party - mostly refers to "opaque sites" (such as priceline and hotwire) where you are not specifically "picking" the Hilton property, you just happen to get it.

For corporate bookings, I am assuming that the travel portal gives you a choice of hotels and you "pick" the Hilton hotel. Thus, you should get stay credit and points.

myfrogger

I haven't heard a single person report that their corporate bookings don't earn points and stay credit.

However, 3rd party sites are not just the opaque sites. Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and the like are all 3rd party sites which are technically not eligible for credit.

I see no reason to even mess around with the 3rd party sites. You'll likely have to pay up front for the room, suffer a financial setback if you decide to cancel, and then you chance not getting points and stay credit! I'd much rather pay when I arrive at the hotel, be able to change and/or cancel my reservations at will, and ensure that I get my points. The rate is almost always the same anyway.

celticanvil

Was the email from Hhonors? Can you post the details of the offer ?

MJonTravel

I received the same, minus the Silver option (which I just made anyway). I need 1 more stay to qualify for Gold, and can't get any Hilton at what my employer will pay for my next trip in 2 weeks. Believe me, I am booking myself a room at the local Doubletree at the weekend rate. This was too good to pass up, and I've discovered something....I think I like HHonors, and will certainly be concentrating my business with Hilton family hotels going forward.

FWIW, I've booked many a hotel via our corporate booking engine, and I've always received points. The restriction on points has to do with the opaque booking sites as someone else posted. I've also always received points when booking through Orbitz, but these are for the regular rates, and not their "special deals" or whatever where you pay immediately.

Fiumicino

Friends and Family rate are the 60%-80% off rates offered to acquaintances of Hilton's employees. They usually do not count for HH stays so I would not see how they would count for the fast track... Some hotels will give you the stay credits if you spend a quite big amount on incidentals, but most will not.

bbkenney

Not true. I check out then check back in often. Sometimes I don't even have to move my stuff, sometimes I do. YMMV