Gold VIP experience at Hilton Hotel? Not really…
Before Christmas I received a letter from either Hilton Hotels or British Airways that as a BA frequent flyer I was entitled to a Hilton Honors VIP Gold Card. Indeed the Gold Card was enclosed. I scanned through the letter, and stuffed the Gold Card into my wallet – on the off chance that I would stay in a Hilton Hotel in the next few months – within the period for the card to be activated.
A couple of months later I found myself in Glasgow and was booked into the Hilton. On arrival on the first night I handed over the card. I mentioned that I thought it needed activating. The receptionist took the card and swiped it, and offered me a room upgrade as a VIP customer. Great! I presumed that this meant the card was activated (an inactivated card would not be accepted by their system right?) Over the next few weeks I banked the points on the Goldcard, the number was logged at the top of my receipts and I was a generally happy chappy. Until I logged on to their website to find out how many points my card had earned. The card number was not recognised. So I sent an email to Hilton explaining the above and this is the response they sent me.
thank you for your email. The card which you received was sent to you as part of a promotion by British Airways. For the membership/Gold VIP status to be valid, you would have needed to call us before May 31st 2006 to have your card activated. As this was not done, this would explain why your account number was not recognised by our website.
I have taken the liberty of activating your card for you so that you may begin using it. Your account, however, has Blue membership status, as the promotion which entitled you to Gold status has now expired. We can credit you with points for any eligible stays you made with us within the 3 months prior to today. If you have copies of the bills for any such stays, kindly forward them either to this email address or to the fax number listed below, indicating your HHonors account number, so that we may update your account accordingly.
Now I am puzzled. Why was a card that was not activated, accepted by their system? (Where did this record go to?) Why were they unable to retrieve details of stays against a card number that was entered into their system? And how could they give me Gold membership with a card and account (which can be activated now) but withdraw the offer, despite my having stayed at your hotel and enjoyed the Gold VIP status during my stays. When I challenged them with this I received the following response:
The letter which you received with your promotional Gold VIP card would have clearly stated that you must call to have the card activated before May 31st 2006. As you did not do this, the account was not activated in our system and your stays were therefore not registered against it. We regret if you have been misinformed regarding this, i.e. that our hotels were accepting your card even though it was not active. We are, however, unable to honour you with the Gold status you were offered, as you did not fulfill the criteria of the promotion, which has since expired.
Do I have a warm feeling towards Hilton now? Not really. The promise of a loyalty card that would have driven my return business (and reccomendation to colleagues) has been dangled before me and cruelly snatched away. Worse, my conversation about Hilton is now this story of a poor experience. And what is a hotel if it is not an experience?
I TO HAVE HAD NUMEROUS PROBLEMS WITH HILTON HOTELS.
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT THEIR STAFF LACK COMMON SENSE AND HAVE NOT BEEN TRAINED PROPERLEY.
I HAVE HAD MY AMEX CARD CHARGED DOUBLE ON THREE OCCASSIONS.
MY HILTON GOLD CLUB CARD WAS NOT HONERED WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT LONDON OLYMPIA,CAUSING EMBRRASSMENT AND A DISPUTE IN FRONT OF GUESTS.
ALSO IN BELFAST,DESPITE HAVING THE INTERNET CONFORMATION AND PRINT OUT,THEY HAD NO RECORD OF MY BOOKING AT THE HOTEL,AND WORSE,THE HOTEL WAS FULL.
SYSTEM ERROR WAS TO BLAME,DESPITE MY CARD BEING CHARGED.
I ALSO HAD VISA DO A FRAUD INVESTIGATION RE A BOOKING AT GLASGOW HILTON,WHEN I WAS CHARGED FOR THREE NIGHTS,TWO MONTHS AFTER I STAYED THERE AND PAID CASH.
MY CARD WAS USED ONLY AS A GUARANTEE,BUT WAS CHARGED ALMOST NINE WEEKS LATER.
THEY ACTUALLY ARGUED THE CASE FOR TWO WEEKS,UNTILL VISA CONTACTED THEM WITH MY FAXED INVOICE/RECEIPT FOR THE CASH PAYMENTS.
AS YOU CAN IMAGINE I TRY AND STAY ELSWHERE NOW WHEN I CAN.
P.S. THE LETTERS I RECEIVED FROM THEM WERE NOT EVEN APOLOGETIC,JUST COVERING UP THEIR MISTAKES.
KENNY TAYLOR
Hilton is a big name but yet a big scam too. im talking about my personal experience their web site is frudlent. They offered a backage at the time of reservation and after charged my credit card they gave me the room without the package. when i contacted them 3 weeks before my stay to talk to the manager, the manager all the time in a vacation , it seems it is an opened vacation. they changed the web site and claim that this offer was never existed. Yet i never talked to the manage!!!!!!. Moreover, I magin no room service in the new year eve at all , I needed to trash my garbash my self!!!!!!!! and waited for 24 hrs for my beds to be changed. My 8 months had an accident!!!!!!! I really regret the money I paid but because I m a frequent traveler im happy i figured this out and i will never never stay in hilton or any related one again. they nejlect ignore and be careless about your concerns, Also something funny , I never heard about a hotel that does not provide personal care products at its vacinity , if you need extra you pay extra!!!!!!! what a joke!!!! Im glad they did not charge me for towels.
I received the same offer for comp gold vip through klm/airfrance. You assumed that by staying at a hilton it activated the card when the terms and conditions state you have to call Hilton Honours to activate the card..
Its an easy enough mistake to make but it it’s your mistake..
My mistake? Isn’t the customer always right?
have been sent an e mail offering HHilton Honors Platinum Visa CARD..
offering 10000 bonus points
unable to find link …???
just received my 10,000 bonus points for first spend on honors credit card. Am now a Diamond honrs card holder and stay at Hiltons wherever I go, great hotels. There is the odd problem now and again of course, but far less than other hotels I used to stay at.