You don’t pay resort fees on Hilton Honors redemptions

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• Alan says:

  22 Jun22 June 07:40

  The Hilton resort fees bit has been around since at least 2009. In general it’s well implemented but some properties do still try and charge it – for a while waiving it only when they were premium redemptions or when the charge was a percentage rather than fixed fee. Also were some times where only waived for Diamond. So although not new it sounds good that they’re agreeing this should always be paid centrally.

  • Rob says:

    22 Jun22 June 08:23

    Should Honors pay them at all? These are fake fees so why should HH reimburse them over and above what they pay hotels for redemptions?

    • Peter K says:

      22 Jun22 June 09:37

      If Hilton didn’t want the hotels to charge them then surely they can tell them to take them off or not renew their hotel contact?

      • Rob says:

        22 Jun22 June 09:57

        Yes, almost certainly they could – but that might mean losing a few Caribbean and Mexican resorts which they are keen to build up (Hilton is having a push to grow its luxury end at the moment).

  • Andy says:

    22 Jun22 June 12:00

    And over on FT there is a long running thread on resort fees. In this the official Hilton Rep has confirmed several times that there are no resort fees on redemption bookings (100% points).

• Alan says:

  22 Jun22 June 07:47

  A different 40k VS miles competition is also available via Virgin Red app. Must confess I didn’t look at it previously until VTEC emailed saying sign up and verify now and get 250 pts/month for the next year. Works by having daily small tasks to do as well as monthly credits for linked Virgin services – number of point unlocks different levels of ‘vault’ with competitions such as this. Use code HIJRYZ at sign up (or afterwards in app) for extra 50 pts.

  • Alan says:

    22 Jun22 June 08:31

    Is Virgin Red just for Virgin Mobile customers (Like Wuntu for 3 and O2 Rewards)?

    • Barry says:

      22 Jun22 June 08:44

      Nope, it’s open to anyone and everyone. I’ve been using it since the start of the year. Small time commitment needed every day to complete various tasks and activities (e.g. quiz, sharing on social media, polls etc). Each one you complete, you get awarded some points. Get enough points and you can enter prize draws. Top prize every month is generally 40k VS miles, but there’s also been a prize for a £3k Virgin Holidays voucher in the last couple of months.

      Shameless plug: Use referral code VRUXOZ for an extra 50 points.

      • Alan says:

        22 Jun22 June 09:14

        OK cheers

      • Rob says:

        22 Jun22 June 12:15

        Note: Virgin Red only works on ios and Android mobile platforms.
        Oh, and watch out for anyone with a rooted handset…

  • Alex Sm says:

    22 Jun22 June 12:49

    My partner and I take part regularly – it’s fun!
    They also run reverse auctions – I was so close once!

• Stu N says:

  22 Jun22 June 08:02

  OT: looking at booking a Ritz Carlton stay for early 2019. Currently 70k Marriott points per night. Not sure whether to book now or wait until after merger of SPG and Marriott Rewards.
  1) Does the 60k cap post-merger apply to R-C as well?
  2) Does the option to make a booking before you have the points survive the merger?
  3) Does the “transfer points between members of a household” option on SPG survive?

  Or do I book now at 70k points (which I don’t yet have) and cancel and rebook if it comes down in price later?

  • Rob says:

    22 Jun22 June 08:22

    I would cancel and rebook to be safe but in theory the 60k cap will apply. Not clear what will happen re booking with points you don’t have. Marriott transfer rules will presumably apply which are a bit less generous but ok (flat $10 fee, must call).

    • Genghis says:

      22 Jun22 June 08:41

      Free for min Gold. Up to 50k pa. This transfer limit – if stays the same – will affect how I redeem in future as it’s too low for his n hers churning amounts

      • DaveL says:

        22 Jun22 June 09:03

        I had a number of reservations with points I didn’t yet have back in March before Marriott released their category changes for the year. One hotel went up by one category – and so did the number of points required for me to order the award certificate, once the new categories kicked in. It was not locked in at the original price. Frustrating as I had enough points by then to confirm the booking by ordering the certificate but just hadn’t got round to it..

      • Stu N says:

        22 Jun22 June 09:06

        Thanks both.

        Will book as soon as dates pinned down and then see what happens down the line.

        Didn’t realise you could transfer Marriott points at all, so while 50k per annum isn’t much, it’s better than nothing.

        In all this I am assuming it will be possible to transfer Amex MRs to Marriot – is this definitely the case?

        • Rob says:

          22 Jun22 June 09:10

          Not 100% definite but no-one has suggested otherwise and I am assuming it does personally, otherwise I would be making moves now.

      • Mark2 says:

        22 Jun22 June 09:18

        The 50,000 point limit (for recipient) does not apply if you are transferring to make up the points for an outstanding booking. The amount you transfer has to make up the points for the booking
        e.g. you have a booking requiring 300,000 points and 200,00 on your account; someone could transfer 100,000 to you. The e-certificate will be issued automatically. Perhaps you can cancel and get the points back?
        The person on the phone (on 020 7012 7312 anyway) will probably deny this and you have to push in my experience of doing it several times.

• timds says:

  22 Jun22 June 09:26

  OT: Had a 5 month gap to fill between BAPP anniversaries, I went for the Amex Gold, then upgraded to Plat but have hit the spending target and still have 6 weeks to “fill”. I was thinking of referring myself for the Amex SPG but will the Gold/Plat cards mean I’ve already had 2 in the last 6 months, or will it be treated as a single card because it was an upgrade?

  • Peter K says:

    22 Jun22 June 10:16

    Two in 6 months is nothing. Don’t worry about it. SPG is not a bad choice or if you have a Nectar account you can get a Nectar AMEX to earn £100 to use on EBay or Expedia.

• BrotherBear says:

  22 Jun22 June 10:59

  OT

  Have 2 one way Avios bookings. Outbound tomorrow and inbound next weekend. Didn’t use 2 for 1 voucher when booking.

  More reward availability has just been added for the outbound flight. So I want to make a new booking for the outbound using the 2 for 1 voucher. Then add the original inbound flight to the booking. And cancel the original outbound flight.

  Spoke to one BA agent who told me this is not possible. Surely they are wrong here? Has anyone else done similar.

  Voucher expires next month so want to use it rather than lose it and obviously want to use it on a return journey rather than just a one way.

  Thanks in advance.

  • meta says:

    22 Jun22 June 11:39

    When is the flight tomorrow? If it is less than 24 hours then the agent is right. You can’t change Avios booking within 24 hours of departure as otherwise you forfeit Avios and carrier imposed charges.

    • BrotherBear says:

      22 Jun22 June 12:01

      It has within the last 15 mins minutes gone below 24 hours. Hadn’t thought of that issue. Although that wasn’t the case when I spoke to the agent. Think lost the ability to do anything now but was the agent correct initially?

      • meta says:

        22 Jun22 June 12:08

        I think if you were above 24 hours then no, he wasn’t right. Also you could have done all this online. If there are seats available as you say, you could have just cancelled original booking and rebooked online. Normally Avios are redopisited immediately or with a short delay, but if you have enough Avios for a new booking no need to wait.

• jason says:

  22 Jun22 June 11:48

  OT Has anyone successfully upgraded from new gold credit card to platinum charge card

  • Stuart says:

    22 Jun22 June 12:56

    This question gets asked frequently, and is never answered.

    My conclusion – “Don’t talk about flight club”

• AlanC says:

  22 Jun22 June 12:18

  Hope Hilton might match the SPG Marriott requirement for Top Tier Lifetime:-)

• Rob says:

  22 Jun22 June 12:19

  You obvs used Yr credit card saved on their instore page. Count it as an additional bonus
  ????

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.