I am curious as to where folks will land on this one.

I recently received a receipt from a hotel for a stay in my name for which I was credited with points in the hotel's FF program. I have never been to this hotel, and upon calling, I learned that someone else with the same name as me checked into the hotel. At check-in, the other person didn't know their program number so the desk clerk looked it up, but inserted my program instead of the actual customer's. The points are enough to get me a free room which might cost $200 if I paid for it.

Several months have passed and given what came up during my call, it may be that the real customer travels a lot and has overlooked the points missing in their account.

So the question is: Should I call the program and point out the error?

And for those who say no, would your answer change if this instead involved $200 credited to my checking account?

When you called the first time, did you point out that you didn't stay there and that you didn't earn the points? If you did and the hotel still didn't do anything, AFAIC, you have fulfilled your obligation. If they only told you that they looked up "your" number but you didn't tell them that it wasn't actually you, you owe them a chance to sort it out.

No. In fact, if it were a bank, I'd insist that they do it. Money errors can be a nightmare to sort out.

Mike

Mike

If you found a wallet with $200, would you try to find the owner?

Personally, I would send an email to their customer service detailing the situation and asking them to investigate. After that, it would be out of my hands. Most likely they will never remove the points... but I would have no problem if they did.

That is an inappropriate question. Of course one would. Of course the wallet would likely have the owner's address in it. Otherwise, I'd give the wallet to the police, who have the resources to find the owner.

In the original poster's (OP) case, s/he does not have any contact information, so s/he cannot try to find the guest with who rightfully earned the frequent stay points.

The OP's obligation only extends to (1) contacting the hotel (which has been done) and (2) contacting the frequent stay program. Beyond that, what more can be done?

this is exactly what i did when 53,000 starwood points appeared in an account that normally carries a balance of 0. i got a nice reply thanking me for my honesty, and the points disappeared a week later.

after all, who knows when it (thousands of points missing) might happen to me?

Of course you need to contact the hotel program office. You probaby knew the answer before you asked the questions. Having ethics is something like being pregant; you are or aren't; you have them or don't. After you call the program you have fulfilled your requirement and will sleep better at night.

I would, and in fact have, returned points/miles in this situation in the past.

^

Doing the right thing often gets you bupkis...in a material sense.

But, it's the karmic that matters anyway--which is why the OP asked the question, right?

A tad simplistic, and far from reality.

That's a very particular case: if you know or should have known that money deposited into your bank account isn't yours and you take it out anyway, it's stealing from the bank and you can go to jail for it. This has happened to more people than you might think (although usually for more than $200). Nobody's going to jail over extra FF miles that just appear in your account.

And, I do think an earlier poster's claim that ethics are like being pregnant is overly simplistic. While one should always have ethics, it's not always clear what the ethical thing to do is.

If it were to happen to me, I would write a letter to the frequent guest program giving the facts as you know them and then be done with it. If you don't hear back from them, and a reasonable period of time passes (perhaps 6 months or whatever amount of time the program allows for missing stay credits), I'd consider them bonus points and spendable.

Ditto

Once, I have received a check from a company that owed me $280. The check was for $36k. I called them right away and sent the check back. A year later they have sent me a letter, that they sent me $36k by mistake and if I don't return it, they will sue me. I have called back and clarified.

I agree. Ethics is often subject to interpretation and you may interpret ethics differently than I. The OP's original question is appropriate.

similar question/situation:
I got bumped from a UA award flight (cancellation) and onto a DL flight under Y. I claimed ~3600 miles from Delta. I felt bad afterwards, and haven't used them yet.