Since this blog earns money from credit card sign-ups, I probably shouldn’t tell readers how frustrating it can be at times to use miles and points for redemptions. But, I like to keep it real on here. And the reality is that sometimes I get very frustrated with the games that hotels play with award space.
I often hear from friends and family members who have a frustrating experience using their miles and points for what they need, and newbies sometimes throw in the towel and give up on the hobby. But rest assured, even the most experienced miles and points hobbyists get frustrated when we can’t book what it seems like we should be able to book.
Hotel in Lisbon Using Hilton Honors Points
Late last year, I got the new Amex Hilton Honors Business Card. I also own the personal version of this card and I’ve accumulated ~200,000 points. My family is traveling to Portugal next spring, and I figured that a few nights in Lisbon would be the perfect opportunity to use these points.
I zeroed in on one property in particular: The Emerald House Lisbon, Curio Collection by Hilton. I like the location of the hotel, and it has the highest reviews on TripAdvisor. We would need two standard rooms to accumulate the four of us.
Unfortunately, when I tried to book the hotel, only Premium award rooms showed up for our dates. These “Deluxe” rooms are only slightly larger than regular rooms, but they cost much more.
Initially, I was bit stumped at how there can already be no standard award availability a year in advance during an off-peak time in Portugal. March isn’t even the “shoulder season”. It’s low season in Portugal. So, I started playing with the dates. And lo and behold, I found that if I extended my 2-night stay to a 5-night stay, magically a standard room award appeared for all of the nights. Yet, I was still unable to book it for just my 2 nights.
So, it seems that this hotel is only releasing standard award rooms for longer stays. We are not staying 5 nights in Lisbon, so it’s frustrating that we can’t book the same room for 2 nights when it’s clearly available.
How to Handle a Situation like This
There are two main strategies to getting around a situation like this:
- Contact Hilton to work with you on getting the hotel to free up those standard award nights (via Twitter DM is the best)
- Book 5 nights, and then work with Hilton to cancel the last 3 nights so that you’re left with just the two nights you need (YMMV if that actually works)
Of course, I could always book the Deluxe rooms at the higher price. But, I didn’t have enough points for that, and I’d have to pay cash for the second night.
What I did: I reached out to Hilton via Twitter DM to ask why I couldn’t book those two nights. I received a quick response initially that asked me for my dates, Hilton Honors account number, etc. The rep agreed to look into the situation for me. I was hopeful. After not hearing back for a few days, I reached out again. And then again, with no response or follow-up from Hilton. It’s been a week, and I’m no longer hopeful that Hilton will ever get back to me on this situation.
So, I decided to just move on to a different property. This hotel is not the only game in town, fortunately. I might book the nearby DoubleTree Lisbon, which costs fewer points and gets decent reviews. Or, I may decide to use different points/free night certificates to stay at a Hyatt or IHG property. It’s frustrating not to be able to book the property I liked the best, but in this situation, it’s not the end of the world.
What you should definitely not do: Don’t give up on the miles and points hobby when you hit a stumbling block like this! Contact the brand, search for alternatives, and find a way to make your miles and points work for you.
Readers, have you experienced a situation like this when using hotel points? What was the outcome?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Try using your Marriott free night award! So frustrating.
Had the same problem with Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem – so I booked HIlton in Tel Aviv instead and paying with Cap1 points for a different hote in Jerusalem. I started looking at it before they even opened up for my dates – but nothing on weekends and no standard award availablility for entire month I will be there. If I wanted to go in February 2024 there is much more available.
I have encountered two different HIEs that only had award availability for rooms for 2 people (not 4). This was for pretty much all dates. This seems kind of ridiculous since it’s not exactly a business or couples travel hotel. Definitely games being played.
@Anonymous That’s frustrating! In that case, I’d recommend booking the room and contact the hotel directly to put in a note for a room that fits 4.
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Lisbon in Feb. I really liked it. Not in the middle of the action, but walkable to some stuff (it is walkable do the original home of the custard tarts!). It was eligible for the free night certificates. I got a good upgrade, the room was big. I also stayed a couple of nights more centrally and to be fair being able to walk back to my hotel is a bonus, uber is pretty reasonable thou, and the public transport is cheap in my opinion but not as regular as I wanted to get back to the Hyatt. The food was amazing in Lisbon!
@Reney You had me at “walkable to the original home of the custard tarts”! 🙂 Thanks for your feedback on this hotel. If there is still availability when my free certs come to me later this year, I’ll probably book this one.
We’re staying a few nights in Lisbon next month, ran into the same problem, ended up using a free night and points for the Holiday Inn Express Av Liberdade, good reviews and liked the location, we’ll see how it goes.
@RandyD I’ll check out that hotel. I hope you have a great time in Lisbon!
And the other dirty games that IHG and Hilton play are: not being able to book 4 (IHG) or 5 (Hilton) consecutive nights so you can’t book the 4th (IHG) or 5th (Hilton) night free deals. One night is never available so you lose the free night AND have to pay for one night if you want to stay there.
@Jacob That’s frustrating. I’ve only used the 5th-night-free deal from Hilton one time several years ago.
I have recently has a similar situation with a HIE in Marble Falls, TX. No award availability. And we are talking about a Holiday Day Inn Express in a small Texas town. So I booked with points a Days Inn in a different small Texas town. It must be the IHG dynamic pricing. I complained via DM on Twitter, and did receive a response but no solution.
@CJH That’s so frustrating! Ugh.
I did struggle with those standard room versus premium room awards. The Hilton FNC can only be used for the standard room. So I couldn’t find standard room availability in Venice for a fall trip to Italy, it wasn’t worth using them in Florence, but switching some dates around I did find a few nights they could be used at the Rome Waldorf, which will turn out to be a great value since the nightly room charge is around $800 when I am there. But it was more of a struggle to find availability than I expected before I started looking. I was incorrectly under the assumption that a standard room was more than likely available at most hotels when booking 6 months out or so, which is obviously not the case.
@Tom Sorry to hear you’ve had issues too, but I’m glad you got to stay at the Rome Waldorf!
Hilton customer service is the worst in my experience. It took 4 months of weekly contact before we were reimbursed $500 for an error they made last summer.
@Kelly Oh no! That’s terrible.