Hilton £50 cashback on £200 spend

[n1368585]

Hi all,

Both me and my wife have the £50 Hilton cashback offer saved on our BA Amex cards (she’s supplementary card holder on my account).

We are planning a 2-night stay. Would the hotel have any issue in me using both cards for the stay (ie 1st night on my card and 2nd night on her card), so we get the £100 cash back on the stay.

[TGLoyalty]

It what I usually do.

Just ask them to split the bill between your two cards at checkout or if you’re prepaying book each night separately (bit of a faff but worth it for £50 off)

[n1368585]

Thanks, much appreciated

[Rob]

I used 3 for a Hyatt stay last week.

[John]

Ask the hotel at check in otherwise they may just charge the full amount, and the poorly trained staff will pretend that it’s not possible to refund

[chris_fly]

Does anyone have any experience of the cashback being applied for prepaid advance bookings?

The hotel i’m looking to book is on the list, and in the original HfP article it says “In virtually all circumstances, pre-paid bookings will also trigger the cashback because they are processed in the hotel via the same credit card system.”, however I saw a comment on the article that their prepaid booking did not work.

Thanks!

[tiberius]

I have been waiting for 3 weeks for my £50 for a stay at Hilton Madinah I completed last week. AMEX support chat initially couldnt find the offer until I sent them a screenshot, I have now been promised it within 30 days. Strange as I have never had this issue before but have used this offer several times before. I suspect it may be as I stayed in Madinah and the offer is usually restricted to Europe so maybe they didnt update their system to include the new list of hotels.

[NorthernLass]

@tiberius – I had this earlier this year with the Hyatt offer. Thankfully I had taken a screenshot as well before the offer disappeared as Amex just kept saying they couldn’t “see it” and therefore I must not have saved it. Ended up having to escalate it several times and complain twice in writing. I eventually got the cash back plus £50 goodwill payment but I had to push and push.

It was on my supp card so I don’t know if there’s a glitch specifically affecting those offers?

@chris_fly – I’ve made about 7 or 8 pre-paid bookings in the past year and all were charged immediately. They were nearly all UK hotels though (I think one was in Berlin), so I don’t know if that makes a difference.

[can2]

Oddly, I also haven’t received my cashback. With Hilton, it used be quicker.

[chris_fly]

@NorthernLass – when you say they were all charged immediately, did they trigger amex cashback? Thanks

[NorthernLass]

Yes – Amex was charged within a day or so and the cash back appeared a few days after that.

I’ve only used the current IHG offer so far, but that also triggered the cash back very quickly.

[chris_fly]

Thanks, I’ve gone for the prepaid rate and will update here if I get the cashback!

[Maples]

chris_fly wrote:

the original HfP article it says “In virtually all circumstances, pre-paid bookings will also trigger the cashback because they are processed in the hotel via the same credit card system.”, however I saw a comment on the article that their prepaid booking did not work.

We booked with the pre-pay after seeing that article even though I had a feeling that it wouldn’t work, and every time before seems to have always been a gamble. I think it’s now approaching a month or so since we booked the hotel room, and there’s no credit. The transaction appeared straight away on the transactions list or something, and usually, it appears closer to the booking date or a week or so after.

The transaction also doesn’t show the map view of The Gantry in Stratford, so I’m pretty sure it was made by the system (centrally?) and not by the hotel themselves. I think if you see the map of the hotel, the transaction’s definitely made at the hotel.

[NorthernLass]

I feel like I’ve read on here that some hotels use a different payment processor for online bookings than for at check out? Can’t recall if that was specifically Hilton though.

However – I successfully got my Hyatt cash back before the actual stay, so it’s worth flagging up with Amex.

[Maples]

They just hit me with the “checkout only” thing, lol.

[NorthernLass]

Who, Amex? How would they know?

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

Who, Amex? How would they know?

Amex knows as soon as a cardholder chases a missing credit. The OP said it was a month or so since he booked and paid. Amex will ask for evidence of the eligible location and date to escalate the missing credit and then see the mismatch on the invoice. Amex can then rely on the terms not to pay.

[BBbetter]

NorthernLass wrote:

Who, Amex? How would they know?

Very easy for Amex to check. There is a field in the database that captures the mode of payment. Online, contactless, Apple Pay, POS.

I haven’t seen it here, but in some countries, rewards vary by the mode of payment. For example, Singpaore has cards that pay more rewards for online or contactless payments.

[John]

The offer does not require you to physically use the card at checkout.

At all UK Hiltons in the past 3 years they just authorise and charge the card number that I put in the booking. I don’t show the physical card. The Amex offers have always credited. This is the same system that would be used to charge prepaid bookings.

Only Hiltons in the US, Mexico and Caribbean have prepaid rates charged by corporate Hilton.

Obviously if you want you can use the card machine to pay at the hotel and that will provide certainty. But you could also visit a hotel several weeks or months in advance of your stay and pay then, and it would not be at “check out” but would still count for any offers

[JDB]

@John – the problem is that if the offer doesn’t track, a seemingly increasing issue, the pre-payment not in compliance with the terms becomes apparent.

[BBbetter]

John wrote:

At all UK Hiltons in the past 3 years they just authorise and charge the card number that I put in the booking. I don’t show the physical card. The Amex offers have always credited.

That’s the batch processing hotels run at backend. Marriott does the same. Card is not charged for prepaid bookings immediately. Instead, an authorisation is taken and after 48 hours (which CS claim is the cancellation period) the payment and booking details are sent to the hotel who will charge them along with their own payments (those checking out) for that day. This payment processing works well for the Amex offer.

Where it doesn’t seem to work is probably ones where payment is taken immediately, likely triggering an OTP.

[NorthernLass]

I’ve always used the offers to make pre-paid bookings, which always seem to be charged within 24 hours these days, and always received the cash back.

[RonnieB]

Clearly it depends on the individual hotels. If you use a prepaid rate in contravention of the T&Cs then you have little to complain about. Agreed it normally pays out but if not you have little case to argue. In my experience Hilton works better than the IHG offers for prepayment.

[Cognall]

I used the above offer at the Hampton by Hilton London City. The card was charged the day after the booking and the cash back followed three days later.

[chris_fly]

Just an update – made booking for a Hilton in Frankfurt on 11th Nov, processed on 12th (appears as the specific hotel booked) and no cashback as of 19th. The prepaid rate was £20 cheaper so I only lose out on £30 from cashback but it does seem that it’s not going to trigger