Comments on: Point taken: how hotels deny your hard-earned awards

By: W

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:24:25 +0000

This is not new. Hotel does this on purpose to save the money they have pay to issue the points. This happens at every level of hotels, not just low end. At the high end, Hyatt is the biggest offender. Hyatt blames it on the computer system and local hotel, but local hotel blames on Hyatt corporate. Whatever the case is, Hyatt almost never post the G promotion bonus points automatically even when it is on the reservation. Even with Diamond member bonus, the G promo worth more than the stay itself in most cases, so it’s very important to collect those G points. This is such a problem with Hyatt, that I start tracking the earning using Microsoft Money. If I do not receive points 7 days after my stay is completed, I will call Hyatt and have them manually add it. I hope by doing this, it will add a significant cost to Hyatt for handling the calls. At some point, the beancounters at HQ will realize it’s cheaper to post the points correctly than having customer call in left and right…

I agree, Priority Club is the better one. Even with its many promos, it manages to post the points correctly and timely. The very few times it didn’t (because of oversea’s property), a call to member service would have the issue resolved under 5-10 minutes.

On the rental car side, Hertz is very good. While they don’t issue a lot of points, they manager to post the points the morning after the closing of the rental agreement and they have managed to do it correclty 100% of the times. Only if customer service is better at the local stations, Hertz would be #1 in my book, but no, local service sucks at many airport locations.

On the airline side, Delta is one of the best. The miles are posted within 30 minutes after landing!!! Bonuses and all, there is rarely any error. I noticed that applies to most of the SkyTeam alliance members. My flight son China Airline and Continental were all posted to my Delta account very shortly after landing.

By: Robert Duval

Robert Duval — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:50:46 +0000

Here are some follow-ups to the initial posting. Choice Rewards did credit the stay when contacted and were pleasant to deal with, as expected. However, when a customer service supervisor was also informed that the wireless internet service does not work at the same property except in their lobby, and that the hotel personnel are fully aware of this and neglect to inform customers who inquire about the service at check-in, customer service accepted the information but didn’t appear to have any interest in resolving the issue.

As a previous comment noted, I also have had great service from Priority Club and would place their customer service at the top of the list. As for the comment regarding the driver’s license, no hotel I know of will allow a guest to check-in without a picture ID.

Total silence from Trip Rewards, also as expected. Their customer service would be the worst I have encountered in any hotel or other reward program ever…no exceptions. The runaround in person, by telephone, and by e-mail would make a great comedy routine.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:47:59 +0000

I am a member of Holiday Inn’s Priority Club, and I have nothing but praise for them. Sometimes the service varies a bit from hotel to hotel, but overall it’s excellent. I’ve received free room upgrades, cookies, free drinks, and free breakfasts.

Plus, there are no blackout dates with Priority Club. I’ve gotten free rooms over Christmas with no problem.

Jim

By: Jim Carmignani

Jim Carmignani — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:35:49 +0000

Why on earth is anyone showing a hotel clerk their driver’s license?

By: In Chennai India - International Award Winning Chennai Hotels Menu

In Chennai India - International Award Winning Chennai Hotels Menu — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:48:08 +0000

[...] Point taken: how hotels deny your hard-earned awards [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:38:17 +0000

I read your post just after returning from a business trip and have to give some props to Choice hotels.

My flight into O’Hare was delayed, arriving at 11:45 CDT. I had an 8am meeting in Milwaukee the next morning. I drove as far as I could, and a little after 1am I pulled into the Comfort Suites in Kenosha, WI with no reservation. I checked into a room, and given the precious little sleep I was going to get, I did not identify myself as a Choice Rewards member at check-in or check-out.

They properly identified me in their system and credited me for my stay.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:48:16 +0000

Interesting. So how would you account for Marriott in Munich not crediting my points when I booked online using my marriott rewards profile? It is just a pain in the butt to chase after these things.

By: Mayer Nudell

Mayer Nudell — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:28:41 +0000

I have experienced the same type of problems with both Choice and TravelRewards. In each case, not only were credits never issued, but with Choice an earned reward was never received. I, too, only use those properties when it makes financial sense for a particular trip.

By: FrontDeskBlog

FrontDeskBlog — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:20:05 +0000

For TripRewards (Wyndham Hotels) the hotel is reimbursed the ADR (Average Daily Rate) for the month during the time of the stay, from Wyndham. This is -much- less than you would expect it to be, unless you’re in the industry, then you realize that at the chains listed above, even though the rack rate might be $70-80/night, the average daily rate is more likely closer to $40-$50/night when you figure in contracts/LNRs/discounts, and groups – all of which reduce the ADR.

So, YES the property DOES get reimbursed monthly for those stays, but it’s at a much lower rate than most people think. Also, Wyndham hotels are only required to honor 3 “Free Night Stay” zero rates certificates per night, and those fill up pretty quickly, especially at larger properties. Each hotel also gets $1/signup after the first 20 valid signups per month – so there is no reason the property would not let someone signup at the front desk. There are also monthly fees associated with the Rewards program, but these are typically worked into the franchise agreement and fees for each individual hotel.

By: sammy

sammy — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:06:54 +0000

don’t forget about discount rates not earning any points in some chains…if the hotel awards a number of points/$, then what difference does it make if the guest has pain $5 a night or $500