You can attach award cert issued from your account to any stay by anyone. Book award for your spouse and paid for yourself. Xheckout checkin in between - should work i think...

I've done this multiple times at Hiltons and gotten the points every time. I do get two separate reservations and check out in the middle and get the same room. I used to stay at a hilton group hotel for business trip and extended it for personal reasons using points so I got the separate reservations. Never had a problem with getting the points.

This may be another situation where if the property messes up and forgets to code the consecutive rez as being non-eligible you get credit for the paid stay. Personally, I think that you should get credit for a paid stay and this clause is a big negative for HH. But all the programs play leap frog when it comes to benefits.

My understanding of the reason that Hilton has for this rule is that they do not want people "gaming" by using points on nights of a stay where the cash rate is high, and then paying only for the nights of that stay that have lower priced rates.

This policy promotes "gaming" the system. Since they weren't giving credit for the point stays, they end up being booked in someone else's name and the paid stays are in the member's name. I think many properties caught on and stopped flagging the paid stays as being not eligible.

So are you saying that the paid stays would be eligible to earn points? (as was told to me by CS?).

According to the T&Cs, the CSR is wrong. If you have two rezzies connecting and one of them is points and the other dollars, you should not earn points. Now if you change the names and check out then check in, you should. That is providing the FDC does not flag the paid stay as ineligible.

I get points every time too. I "game" the system by booking 2 nights at the lowest rate of the week and the rest using reward reservation of 5 nights (5th night free). It is like a home brew point & cash. Everything charges to the room for that week get points (room rate, food, parking, etc...) And the bonus is that sometime they also waive the resort fee for the 2 cash nights.. because the 5 award nights do not have resort fee.

Thank you Eujeanie for asking this question.

What a crazy rule.

you just saved me from falling into a trap. :eek:

and Thanks for everyone who provided help clarifying this matter. ^

I made a note in my phone. Hilton stays all cash or all points. no mix.

I've got an upcoming stay where the first 2 nights are points, and the last (3rd) night is cash, because the last night was the cheapest. They are not "connected" in that they have separate confirmation numbers. But they are both under my husband's name (since he alone is the HH member).

What would be the best protocol to follow? Check-in like we are only staying 2 nights, then check out, go to a different FDC (if possible)? I really don't want to have to change rooms, but I also want my points since it's a $300+ room rate for the paid night.

deleted. Moot point.

Wow...that really sucks on the Hilton side. Marriott's website has had a cash & points feature for a while where you can select which night(s) you want to use points for and which night(s) you want to use cash for. It's even smart enough to tell you if there's a cheaper combination cash wise. For example, if you select cash for the first night only and points for the rest of the stay, but the last night would be cheaper, it will tell you that. And I've never had a problem getting points on for the paid nights of a cash & points combo like that, though for some reason, I can rarely view the bill on-line afterward.

Does the crazy Hilton rule mean that on an all-points stay you do or do not get points on incidentals (meals) charged to the room?

Your reservation is "connected" by your husband's HH number. Back-to-back reservations get separate confirmation numbers, as do all reservations. Someone at the property is supposed to be looking for these and flagging the paid stays as not eligible for credit. Some do, some don't.

If you've been reading the suggestions, book the point nights in your name and the paid nights in your husband's name. When you go down to check out, ask them to assign the next rez to the same room. Also, make sure both rezzies are for the same room type. Trying to get a bigger room for the cheaper rate may not work.

I say this nicely, but reading the T&Cs of the Hilton program would answer your question or asking the question on the Hilton forum, including any future Hilton-oriented questions ;) Here's the link to the accrual of points section on Hilton's website:

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/terms/...rual_of_points

The "crazy rule" for Hilton applies to cash+reward stay, not paid only or reward only.

Getting back to this forum's focus (ie, Marriott), it's been determined the crazy rule does not apply to Marriott.

Cheers.