"As God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"
- Scarlett O'Hara, Gone with the Wind
Two years ago I recall standing in the lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Manhattan with a similar thought, albeit I was substituting "DO THIS" in place of "be hungry"...
I felt just like Scarlett though.
Our family of four had just arrived in New York City after a long morning of moving my younger daughter out of her summer intensive housing in Philadelphia where she had been for the past 5 weeks then driving in traffic to New York City. We were looking forward to checking into our hotel and relaxing for a couple hours before going to see Cats on Broadway. I had yet to dive full on into the travel hacking world but had scored a seemingly great deal on Expedia using my Expedia points by booking a room for 4 in downtown Manhattan, within walking distance of Times Square, for a weekend in August for about $50 a night.
We got to the hotel about an hour early. My husband dropped us off at the door and went to park the car at a lot we had pre-selected down the street which had less expensive prices than the exorbitant hotel parking fees. I went to check in... then the nightmare began.
The front desk staff clicked and clicked on her keyboard, then went to get a supervisor. The supervisor clicked and clicked. They looked at the monitor for an eternity. Finally the hotel manager came over and told me they did not have a room for us.
WHAT!!!! I mean WTF!!!!
I had booked and prepaid for the room 3 months ahead of time. I had a confirmation number. We had even shown up early. What did they mean they didn't have a room?
The manager explained that sometimes, especially with third party sites like Expedia, the rooms get over sold and they have no control over that. It didn't seem to matter that we were actually there early and other people hadn't even checked into their rooms yet. The best they could do is provide a room with a double bed for the FOUR of us for the night, then move us to the room I booked the next day. Had I booked through Hilton they might have been able to see if there was room at a nearby property, however, since my booking was through Expedia we were on our own. It didn't matter that I was a Hilton Honors member. It didn't count if I booked through a third party website. We were free to find another hotel if we wanted... but seriously... it was a Saturday night in August in downtown Manhattan! What the hell was I supposed to do? I already knew calling Expedia would be worthless. I had used points and had already paid for the room. I had no recourse. It looked like we could either sleep on the streets or take this room. They said they would provide extra blankets and pillows and gave us free bottles of water and said we could have anything from the bar while our new room was getting cleaned. They also offered free parking but our car was already parked. This was hardly just compensation. Had we not had Broadway show tickets that night I think we would have just left.
We waited 3 hours for our new room. When we finally got in, it was the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. It was basically all bed. My eighteen year old daughter looked at us and said, "I'm not sleeping in that bed with you." My husband, my fourteen year old daughter, and myself ended up trying to sleep in a double bed that night. Needless to say, no one got any sleep. Oh, and the extra blankets... housekeeping came up and gave us two SHEETS! Told us they were out of blankets...
I am NEVER going
to be treated like THAT again!
This is my current status strategy...
I got the Chase IHG Premier Rewards Club Mastercard. The card has an annual fee of $89 a year but it gives you automatic Platinum Elite status. Other notables included a bonus of 80,000 IHG points for spending $2000 in the first 3 months with another 40,000 points if I spent $5000 total in the first three months, plus a $100 credit for either TSA pre-check or Global Entry. I got this card because we are going on a trip later this year. I used the TSA pre-check credit to get pre-check for my daughter (as I already had it through another credit card). I have also booked four free hotel nights for our trip so far with the sign up bonus points so this card has more than paid for itself. I still have enough points for at least two more hotel nights but those points will never expire as long as I have this card.
Some of the benefits of having Platinum Elite status...
* Complimentary Room Upgrades
* Guaranteed Room Availability
* Extended (Late) Check Out
* Priority Check In
* Complimentary Internet
* Welcome Amenity
* 50% Bonus Earning on Top of Base Points
* No Blackout Dates for Reward Nights
* Free Anniversary Night (with annual card renewal)
If you were to actually "earn" Platinum status by staying at IHG properties you would have to either stay 40 nights in a year or earn 40,000 Elite qualifying points by spending money. Again, the card has more than paid for itself.
Now back to Hilton...
I have been a Hilton Honors member for a very long time but have never held any meaningful status. This year I also got the no fee AMEX Hilton Honors credit card as it offered a sign up bonus of 100,000 points for spending $2000 in 3 months. I got the bonus and booked two more rooms for my upcoming vacation. The credit card gives me automatic Silver status which is better than nothing but really doesn't get you anything great.
On the other hand here are the benefits of Hilton Diamond status...
You can "earn" Diamond status with either 30 stays, 60 nights, or 120,000 base points in a calendar year.
I wanted Diamond status because I booked some higher end Hiltons for free and these did not include breakfast and heck, I want to see what the free food and drinks look like in the Executive Lounge!
Isn't it ironic too that the nicer the hotel the less you get included in the price? I mean, the Super 8 gives you free parking, internet, breakfast, internet and the fitness center. If you stay at a higher end hotel you have to pay extra for all of these!
So here's the beauty of having status at one hotel. Other hotels will status match you. Hilton will status match my IGH Platinum Elite status with their Diamond status. All I have to do is fill out THIS FORM. It requires proof of my competing hotel status, plus, I have to show that I actually paid for a stay at that hotel sometime within the last 12 months.
This brings me to my latest hotel stay. I haven't paid for a stay at an IHG property in the last 12 months. We drove to Philadelphia this week to move my younger daughter back home for the summer and we needed an inexpensive hotel off the Pennsylvania Turnpike for one night. I could have used more IHG points for another free night but decided to stay at a Holiday Inn Express for $94 so I could submit for the Hilton status match. The Hilton Diamond status I was going for is only good for 90 days unless you meet some more Hilton qualifying stays. I have no intention of trying to keep the Diamond status; I just want it long enough that it will be active while we are traveling later this summer.
So, booked the Holiday Inn Express in Donegal, PA with no expectations except for a cheap place to stay for the night and free breakfast in the morning.
Hubs and I straggled in in the evening. And I mean straggled! I had on a concert T-shirt and was totally rumpley. I had to send hubs back out to get the license plate number off his parents' mini-van that we had borrowed and then even managed to spell the make of the car "Odyssey" wrong. Front desk checked me in and handed me a key. I never asked for an upgrade because, heck, we were at the Holiday Inn Express.
I got a bit excited when I got to the door and saw this...
I was not aware there were suites at a Holiday Inn Express!
We opened the door to this...
Living area
Jacuzzi tub in corner of living area
Cute kitchenette with a Keurig, refrigerator and microwave
This was the bedroom...
King size bed
Connected was a huge bathroom. I think the bathroom was huge because this was also a handicap accessible suite. Best of all, this is what made my day...
Sometimes it's the little things!
Sitting on the desk was a cute little box with a bow. Inside was some fun sized candy. It wasn't expensive food but it sure made our day after a long day in the car.
Oh, and the photo at the beginning of this post, that's from the lobby.
I could totally get used to this!
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