Hilton £50 cashback on £200 spend

[Jack London]

I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September, just after the offer started, on a semi-flex rate. I was expecting the cash back to have appeared by now so queried that today. The agent I spoke to at AMEX suggested that the cashback hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout.

[NorthernLass]

I don’t see how that could make a difference, unless the hotel uses different payment processors at check in and check out. It sounds like the agent just couldn’t be bothered looking into it.

The Ts and Cs for the similar IHG offer state “checkout spend only”, however I’ve now had 2 x £75 post within 48 hours of pre-paying a total of £300 at 4 different hotels.

[can2]

Jack London wrote:

I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September, just after the offer started, on a semi-flex rate. I was expecting the cash back to have appeared by now so queried that today. The agent I spoke to at AMEX suggested that the cashback hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout.

how do they know if it is checkout or arrival?

I am also annoyed how long mine has been taking — Amex chat representative said I should get it though

[BBbetter]

Jack London wrote:

I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September, just after the offer started, on a semi-flex rate. I was expecting the cash back to have appeared by now so queried that today. The agent I spoke to at AMEX suggested that the cashback hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout.

When was your card charged? Thats an important detail missing. The hotel is within its rights to charge you once the cancellation period had ended and if the card was charged before the offer started, Amex is correct.

[JDB]

can2 wrote:

Jack London wrote:

I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September, just after the offer started, on a semi-flex rate. I was expecting the cash back to have appeared by now so queried that today. The agent I spoke to at AMEX suggested that the cashback hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout.

how do they know if it is checkout or arrival?

I am also annoyed how long mine has been taking — Amex chat representative said I should get it though

Amex generally won’t know if the charge was made on or just prior to arrival, although in some circumstances they might see a difference and Amex does know a lot more about individual transactions than some suggest. The problem comes when the offer doesn’t track (a growing issue for good and bad reasons) and Amex asks for evidence of your stay which will show it wasn’t checkout spend, so they seek to rely on the checkout spend requirement in the terms. Amex has got quite hawkish on some of these offers and successfully defended challenges.

[Jack London]

BBbetter wrote:

Jack London wrote:

I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September, just after the offer started, on a semi-flex rate. I was expecting the cash back to have appeared by now so queried that today. The agent I spoke to at AMEX suggested that the cashback hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout.

When was your card charged? Thats an important detail missing. The hotel is within its rights to charge you once the cancellation period had ended and if the card was charged before the offer started, Amex is correct.

The card was charged a few days after the offer started, upon my arrival at the hotel, so I would have thought it would have been ok. I’ve never had an issue with these cash backs before (including from a previous stay at the same hotel). They have always come through really quickly so this has been surprising.

[MrHandBaggageOnly]

Interesting to see this thread. We checked out of our second stay that pushed us above £200 spend ten days ago. Had expected a near immediate ‘congratulations’ email like in days of old. Nothing came. Checked both receipts today, charged on check out, so we contacted Amex who went with the standard “Please allow 30 days from the second check out”.

One of the things I liked about Amex was the speed offers would track. We are about to ditch the BAPP, as the new parameters don’t work for us. Was going to hang on to a different Amex for the offers, but now doubting if it is worth the hassle. We can just stick to 0.5% back on the MBNA and reset for a couple of years waiting for another good Amex welcome bonus.

[John]

I noticed some UK Hiltons had a “SALE” prepaid rate starting yesterday, which were cheaper than the prepaid rates showing before.

Booked some Heathrow hotels on these rates, for after the end of the offer period. As expected, the front desks of the hotels charged my Amexes between ~4 and 24 hours after booking, and the offers on the transactions which have processed have already credited. I expect the rest to credit tomorrow.

[blitzhy]

chris_fly wrote:

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

I made a non-refundable booking around same time as you, and only just got the cashback today. So it’s possible you’ll still get it at some point

[ee]

I had a booking – payment made 16th October at the Caledonian Edinburgh and the credit has eventually come through today without any chasing.

Still waiting for 1 final credit to be posted but that was split between two properties the latest charge being 7th Nov.

[chris_fly]

chris_fly wrote:

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

Update 2 – it finally tracked on 23rd Nov! so it took 12 calendar days from purchase, but it did finally come 🙂

[Roberto]

Booked Hampton Torquay on prepaid rate £213 for 2 nights in Febuary. Charged to the card in some non-hilton hotel name but £50 credit appeared five or six days later into my amex statement. All good.

[Mikee]

Mine took 4 days between the charge appearing on my card and the cashback appearing.

[NorthernLass]

My 1st tranche of £50 appeared over the weekend for a prepaid booking at the DT Tower of London.

[Jack London]

My cashback from a stay at the Hampton by Hilton in Belfast City at the end of September finally reached me this week after an agent raised an investigation, so the suggestion that it hadn’t triggered because the hotel took the payment on arrival rather than checkout seems to have proved as unlikely as everyone suggested!

Worth keeping tabs on the cashbacks though as this one definitely needed chasing. Great to finally receive it two months after my stay though.

[Blindman67]

So is this offer plagued with problema?

Going to OMAN shortly and may book a HGI

I would do it on-line but the promo states “On Checkout Only

Do I have to PAy at check out and if I do the charge will be in local currecny and not GBP as stated in the T&C’s

Sounds all too risky TBHO

[John]

Blindman67 wrote:

Going to OMAN shortly and may book a HGI

I would do it on-line but the promo states “On Checkout Only

Do I have to PAy at check out and if I do the charge will be in local currecny and not GBP as stated in the T&C’s

Hiltons that are not in the US, Mexico or Caribbean charge prepaid rates using the same system as they would charge you in person at the front desk.

By GBP Amex means the currency that you are billed in – otherwise the offer could never work in hotels outside the UK, which can only ever charge Amexes in their local currency (unlike Visa and MC).

I really don’t understand why others are having trouble with this offer, it has been trouble-free for me since inception. Maybe I’m just lucky. I have recently bought prepaid rates at some of the hotels mentioned as taking long times to credit in this thread, but they all credited for me in 3 days max.

[can2]

You’ve been just lucky @John
I have had no problem with it so far until now.
Numerous chats and phone calls and escalation, and nothing at the end

[itmightbepoints]

I noticed now that in my app, clicking ‘Paritipating Locations’ just takes you too the Hilton.com/en website.
I’m assuming all hotels qualify? Staying at Conrad AUH and thought I had seen this on the list and the extra 50£ off would cover a couple beers at the pool 😉

[NorthernLass]

No – there’s an error and you need to click on the link further down in the Ts and Cs to see the full list. It’s only certain countries.

[can2]

Now I got lucky and received the cashback on both my and player 2’s cards. Finally…

[itmightbepoints]

NorthernLass wrote:

No – there’s an error and you need to click on the link further down in the Ts and Cs to see the full list. It’s only certain countries.

Ah yes I see it now, thanks. I knew I had seen it somewhere. Luckily for me the Etihad Towers are included.

[tiberius]

As an update, I spend £200 in early October for a stay in November and my statement credit never came. I raised a complaint with Amex and money followed tow days later (when I had all but given hope). Perhaps worth a shot if anyone else is in this position.

[Steven]

I’m guessing it was genuine check out spend though rather than a prepaid rate? I have one waiting to credit but haven’t bothered chasing as it was a prepaid rate.

tiberius wrote:

As an update, I spend £200 in early October for a stay in November and my statement credit never came. I raised a complaint with Amex and money followed tow days later (when I had all but given hope). Perhaps worth a shot if anyone else is in this position.

[tiberius]

Nope, it was prepaid online advance rate booking! The complaints Worked for 2x separate bookings, one made on my card and the other on my wifes, much to my surprise