My cousin-in-law Jen recently ran into an issue, and I thought it would be worth highlighting it on the blog. So, in a few weeks her family is heading on an adventure that will include Yellowstone National Park. As soon as Jen got the idea, she knew that she wanted to stay one night at an Old Faithful Inn, an iconic lodge located inside the park.
As you can imagine, it’s extremely popular, and snagging a room during summer months is like hitting a lottery. They were planning to spend three nights in the Yellowstone area and there was zero availability. So, she decided to use Hilton points on a Hampton Inn, and to keep checking the website in case a room at an Old Faithful Inn pops up.
After several months of religiously stalking the website, the room did open up and she booked it immediately. Now all she had to do was shorten her Hilton stay by one night. No problem, right? Wrong. When she called Hilton, a seemingly knowledgeable agent said that her original reservation would have to be cancelled first. Unfortunately, the hotel no longer showed award availability for the other two nights. Would they go back into the award inventory after cancellation? The agent couldn’t guarantee it.
Her pleas for help led nowhere. So, she contacted me for suggestions. I’ve never personally ran into this issue, but it certainly seemed like something any Hilton supervisor would be able to solve. My suggestion to her was to contact the Hilton property directly and see what they would say. She did and it accomplished nothing.
I then suggested to contact Hilton on Twitter I’ve had good success when going this route in the past, and Twitter reps had the authority to solve problems rather than kick the can down the road (Marriott, I’m looking at you!). The downside is that they may not respond till the next day, so if you have a pressing issue, it’s probably not the best route.
My cousin-in-law did contact Hilton via Twitter, but after not getting a response that day, she understandably got frustrated. So, she called Hilton again, and the rep barely spoke English and had no idea what she was talking about. She hung up and called one last time. She decided that if this rep wasn’t going to solve her problem, she would cancel the stay at the Old Faithful Inn and forget about the whole thing.
This time, the person knew exactly what to do. He was able to shorten her stay by one night, and the points refund went back into her account immediately. Bingo. Why does it have to be so hard to do something so simple?!
The lessons
If you are not sure if you will be staying at a certain hotel the whole time, make two separate reservations. Edit: as Ian reminded me in the comments, there are times when it makes sense to make one reservation (5th award night free with elite Hilton status etc). In my cousin-in-law’s case, the best thing to do would be to make a reservation for two nights, followed by one night.
Very often people are leery to do this because they are afraid that the property will make them change rooms. It’s possible, but very unlikely, especially in US hotels. Most of the time, they will simply link the reservations. Occasionally, you may have to go to front desk and get a new key, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. I’ve stayed in hotels using two separate reservations many times, and it never presented a problem.
Lesson number two: HUCA! That means “hang up, call again.” Even if an agent seems adamant that there is nothing that can be done, don’t take their word as gospel. You may even have to call a few times to get the desired result, so don’t give up. Things won’t always go your way, of course, but be persistent.
In this case, this may very well be their only trip to Yellowstone as a family. How sad would it be to give up a stay at the Old Faithful Inn because of a poorly trained Hilton agent.
Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
Well, because your cousin really did not know which night will actually become available in old faithful, she should have made 3 separate 1 night reservations with Hilton not 2 and one, smarter this way
@Emily Moroz That’s a fair point! Although in her case, I believe only the last night would work due to various logistics. After Yellowstone they are driving to Montana, so staying in
Hampton Inn first makes more sense. At least that’s the way I understood it.
The multi-reservation avenue can be a bit tricky with Hilton. I’ve had two situations where I looked at different subsets of dates, and the sum of the reservations did not equal the same points cost as reserving all nights together. in one case, I paid more. In the other, I actually paid less.
@Ian That’s an excellent point! Yes, there are definitely times when it pays to make one reservation (5th award night free, price discrepancy etc). My advice, of course, is for situations when there is zero incentive to go that route.
In Jen’s case, the rate was 60k points per night on all three nights, so it wouldn’t cost her any extra points to make two separate reservations. She knew right away that she was going to try and snag a reservation for that last night at Old Faithful Inn. She had no idea it would be that difficult to shorten the stay at Hampton Inn.