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Do you always get the free breakfast benefit even if you don’t book the room direct via Hilton?
No. Occasionally you might get lucky though.
So it’s always worth trying to add your Hilton number for incidentals.
It’s not guaranteed but the 3/4 times I haven’t booked direct all of us still got free breakfast, I think it depends on the hotel. Like Froggee says, if you ask the hotel to add your HH number and they happily do it you’re usually in luck.
Work accidentally booked a DT through Expedia for reasons unknown.
At check-in, they pointed this out but were happy to comp the breakfast. Got a room upgrade too.
This was for a week stay.Also not recommended in the US, the welcome you get borders on verbal abuse if you haven’t booked direct!
Thanks fir the replies. It’s in the case of a BA holiday where breakfast isn’t included so obviously would be a major perk if I get breakfast being Gold. I can’t book direct with Hilton in this instance.
On a BA holiday to Rome a few years ago we stayed at a HGI and got breakfast each day for 3 of us due to my gold status. It’s always worth contacting the hotel and asking about it.
Work accidentally booked a DT through Expedia for reasons unknown.
At check-in, they pointed this out but were happy to comp the breakfast. Got a room upgrade too.
This was for a week stay.Some corporate travel agents have now sneakily been booking hotels via consolidators or with their own consolidation arrangements directly arranged with hotel groups, or on some deals with the likes of Expedia, for a few years now. Unlikely to be accidental. It used to be this was not done for corporate travellers, but employers and their travel management companies seeking to save money have brought this about.
The equivalent in air tickets is occasionally some will also book you on IT(excursion/holiday) type tickets now, if the corporate instructions they receive permit this. This allows them to book seats at lower cost which are inflexible, do mot earn and can’t use status benefits and may not allow upgrades. The traveller may not know this type of ticket has been booked till too late so always scrutinize any booking as soon as it’s done (there may be a short time in which it can be re-done). This is historically one of the problems with OTA’s (and has even been reported with Amex Travel for private bookngs) but occasionally a corporate will allow the corporate travel agent to book this ticket type too.
Your only hope is to be nice and ask the hotel – for a longer stay or for a corporate ( or possibly for a corporate travel agent’s own deal) this may be in the rate or they could agree to do it anyway.
Some corporate travel agents have now sneakily been booking hotels via consolidators or with their own consolidation arrangements directly arranged with hotel groups, or on some deals with the likes of Expedia, for a few years now. Unlikely to be accidental.
It might appear sneaky as it wasn’t communicated to end users like us, but in the background it’s a consolidation of booking platforms. Many corporates and even Amex have started using Expedia’s platform. Makes sense from a company’s point of view as there is no need for dozens of platforms which will require development, testing and maintenance teams of their own. Covid must’ve accelerated outsourcing and consolidation in the travel industry. Of course, bigger corporates still negotiate rates directly.
I work for a university and 99% of the time have to use their designated travel agent. I see the bookings coming through from Expedia at twice, sometimes more, than Expedia’s price. The system is an absolute joke. If I’m lucky and they don’t respond quick enough to my email, I can use this as leverage to book my own travel and claim the expenses.
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