Award Availability?
 

Trying to book award stays in Europe for a September vacation. Both Hotel I'm trying show standard rooms for sale, but no award available. Awards are available in July, August, October .... not Sept.

Do some properties hold back Award rooms until closer to the date. Should I do something to get around this?

I am "Gold", but phoned the Diamond Desk. First CSR said it looked odd but it was middle of the night in Europe and the revenue manager would not be available.

Next day I called back, different CSR said , that's just the way it is.:(

What city are you trying to stay in? Is there a big event in the timeframe that you are looking at? I've never had any issue getting award stays, but you might have difficulty in times of "high demand"

I learned last week that what seemed to be a Standard room to me ... was not considered a standard room by the hotel ... and not avail for an award nite.

I was hoping to stay at a Homewood in Atlanta that had studios and 1 bdrm 2Q rooms "for sale" but nothing avail for an award. When I called HH to ask they told me the hotel had designated only 1 bdrm K rooms as Standard rooms even tho' the Studios were priced less than the 1 bdrms.

I wish posters would try to be more specific when asking questions such as these. Would you ask and expect to get a useful answer if you asked "I am trying to book a room in the US in September?"
Europe is a big place ,,, believe or not:rolleyes:

That said there is no evidence and I dont believe its the case that more award rooms are released closer to the dates required as may be the case with airlines. September is often the highest demand period in some cities/countries ( for example Paris with the Auto show and Fashion week) and unless one is Diamond and can make a Special Request you may have some difficulty.

mike

Unfortunately,

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...xcuses-15.html

:td:

peace,
~Ben~

Conrad Dublin Sept 1st, 3 or 4 nights
 

I also, was trying to use points at the Conrad Dublin. no luck. They were showing standard rooms available.

Hmm interesting.... last time when some of us (when the usual Gold is the same as Diamond argument reared its little head;)) tried to no avail to tell others here that there IS some subtle
differences in award availibilty afforded to Diamonds .. if only in the form of a Diamond Special request we were pooh-poohed by some the "experts" here:rolleyes:

mike

The problem with saying they have standard rooms available for sale is that there are no rooms listed as standard on the website for sale during the first week of September for the dublin Conrad.

This is the great drawback of the guaranteed award room: there has to be a standard room available. The only way you can be sure that a standard room is available for sale is if the room description says "Standard Room" rate XXX. Any other description and Hilton can say there are no standard rooms available. And the standard rooms are probably the lowest rate and therefore sale out first.

:rolleyes:

That's (usually) a myth. Room prices actually vary up and down because of yield management (based on forecasts of demand). In other words, sometimes rooms actually become CHEAPER as the date approaches, if demand happens to be less than previously forecast.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about, Google "yield management."

And, always check periodically to see if the room you've already booked happens to become available at a lower price. @:-) A lot of us FTers have benefited from doing so. ;)

Of course, it's possible that some hotels (especially outside the US) don't use yield management, and perhaps they actually DO sell their cheapest rooms far in advance. However, I would NEVER, EVER assume that this is the case!

I recently encountered a similar situation trying to book a 3 night reward stay at the Conrad Hong Kong in September. The website showed rooms for sale in every category, but when I tried to book the reward, the website told me that no rooms were available.

The twist in this story is that when I called honors on the phone they booked the reward no problem. I'm currently HH-Gold status.

Yes, we're talking yield management for award rooms. So if the hotel only wants to allow a certain number of award rooms, they simply designate that number as a standard room at the set rate. Once those rooms are sold then, essentially, no more award rooms are available. This has nothing to do with paid rooms.

How can Hilton allow hotels to claim "exceptional demand days" and re-designate what a standard room is and how many there are at will and still claim they have a "no blackouts, no exceptions" award policy?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

peace,
~Ben~

It's called marketing spin...

I know -- I was just being rhetorical with my question. Marketing spin isn't successful if it is recognized as such. In fact, it's negative.

peace,
~Ben~

Forgive me if this is off topic, but I've read this thread and have a couple of questions. First off, I've been Diamond for many years. The only time I've redeemed points has been for miscellaneous weekend stays where the room type didn't really matter. Since I'm also Marriott Platinum, I usually use those points for resort and/or long term vacations.

I'm looking at booking a Hilton awards stay in Barbados sometime next spring. But the only rooms I see available for the dates I have reviewed are for 'standard rooms'. Yet when I look at availablity when paying, there must be 30 different room configurations - resort view, water view, etc.

Does that mean no other rooms can be booked with points? I've scanned through several other Hilton locations for award stays and essential get the same results. Only standard rooms available.

What gives? Is it possible to get 'non-standard' rooms using points?

Confirmed ... no. (but you could get upgraded)

mike

Hilton only has standard rooms for awards. There are no "upgraded room" awards, or award and pay rooms. The hotel is suppose to upgrade you or give you the benefits that go with your Honors status but, unlike the Marriott Platinum guarantee, there is no real penalty if the hotel doesn't do it.

I'm with you, it's lame. But it seems to be the rule of the game with most FFP's these days.

How's the CO life now that you ditched DL/NW?

Wow, this is pretty bad. :td:
As you mentioned, with Marriott I have the option to pay more points and/or cash to get a better room. Plus I might also get upgraded when I check-in (which has happened to me at a couple of their resorts when I only used points for a 'standard room').

Thanks for your response.

WellI suppose you might consider it bad .. not having tried it.:)

I have redeemed in excess of I bet, 2 Million HH points in the last 5 or 6 years and I have never .. NOT ONCE not been upgraded on an award stay
some of them to spectacular rooms/suites.

mike

Agree with Mike. I have had terrific award stays. Been upgraded on all so far, with several suites as Diamond (none as Gold), all for standard awards. Also got Imperial Floor upgrade at the Waldorf-Astoria Rome Cavalieri for me and my second room. YMMV of course. All in all, I've been quite happy with HHonors.

LOL! Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't complain until I try it.
I'll give the Barbados Hilton a shot and see what happens.

Again, thanks for your responses.