Uniter

Congrats... though why not get into details?

underpressure

Because some of the details are private/private and add nothing to the story. There were some complications that were handled quickly and efficiently. Congratulatory notes are directed at Hilton, where they rightly belong.

Kate_Canuck

I've had good results with birthday/anniversary stays at Hilton family hotels - nothing spectacular - but I'm batting 3/3 for some kind of special recognition of the day. Budapest Castle Hilton (as a Silver) - no exec floor but a perfect room overlooking the quirky courtyard and a bottle of sparkling wine on my birthday; Hilton Providence - bottle of sparkling wine; and the best was this year at the Hilton Venice (as a Gold) - upgrade to a suite for the four night stay (on points), exec club access, a bottle of wine on arrival, and a coupon for drinks at the skyline lounge on my birthday. All the result of a note in my file that I made when I made the reservation.

I'd advise you not to expect (or encourage your SO to expect) the moon and stars, but enter a note in your reservation file and be pleasantly surprised if there is some recognition of the special circumstances.

jan_az

I second Kates suggestion

When my son and daughter-in-law got married 4 yrs ago we sent them them Europe for 3 weeks.

One of their stays was the Rome Cavalieri Hilton ( before it became a WA). They gave them my diamond perks - Executive floor, access to lounge, flowers in room on arrival , etc . I did note in the reservation that it was their honeymoon.

To be fair, the Marriot hotels we booked for them using my husbands points, ( he is a PP) resulted in the same effect.

When they got home, my daughter in law said " do you always travel like that"? . Mission accomplished ( of course now that they are going off to India for a yr - they want Business Class tickets - that can be the problem of spoiling them )

kimslie

I love hearing about all your experiences. It made me think about an upcoming Embassy reward stay we have in a couple weeks. It's at the tail end of 11 nights in Hilton properties and coincidentally we'll be waking up in the Embassy on my daughter's 11th birthday. I took a look at the resv online and don't see where I can add a note about that at this point... would you (should I?) call and ask the hotel to make a note of it? Seems sort of awkward, but I"d love for her to be recognized in some small way... thoughts?

Kim

LongingForORD

Kim,
It works best (and is easiest) if you put the note in the rese. when you are originally making the rese. on line.

Since you are past that, I would email the hotel with a small note "Celebrating daughters 11th B-Day on Friday". Not sure if this particular property is a kid friendly ES or more business minded.

They may come up with a nice surprise, but remember, it is a bonus if the hotel recognizes you, not something to be expected.

bj2757

It's always a toss up on what the hotels will do.

I got a real steal on a hotel (big chain) for a night in Austin, TX - we went up there to celebrate my wife's retirement.

I figured when we went to check in we'd be shown the back stairs to our room.

What really happened was they greeted us like family, told us they had upgraded our (almost free) room to the executive suites on the top floor with a 52" TV etc etc.

When we got to the room we found flowers, a cheese tray and a bottle of champagne.

Come to find out our daughter had called the hotel to order the flowers etc, and told them what was going on. The hotel manager did the rest :-)

I was very impressed, and wish I hadn't told my wife what a good deal I got - she would have thought I was a big spender!!! :-)

kimslie

Thank you. Absolutely, I wouldn't expect anything more than a typical ES stay, but at 11, if there was some tiny thing done she'd think that was pretty COOL. Either way, it's okay. I'll shoot them a note and we'll see what happens.

Kim