marley

Just checked my Amex statement and I thoght I had cancelled a reservation for Hilton Heathrow (420$ OUCH!). I had made the reservation directly with the hotel sometime ago and very well may not have cancelled. I obviously do not have a documentation of the cancelllation. I believe Hilton would be well within their rights to charge me for the no show.
I am Gold, should I politely ask for a full credit? What should I expect?

jgxtrav1

You can always try ....

Don't be surprised if Hilton customer service says you need to call and work it out with the hotel as that has been my experience.

In my three such experiences (no show that I neglected to cancel by the cancellation deadline), I have had one hotel that refunded the charge and a couple that did not. I don't think my Gold status had anything to do with it. The one that did a refund was one that I had stayed at a few times while the others were not ones with which I had a history of stays.

Canarsie

It never hurts to ask.

However, setting aside policy for a moment, I would guess that it depends on the occupancy of the Hilton HHonors property for the night on which you were to stay. If they were completely booked and could have sold your room but it had been left empty, they would probably feel inclined to charge you for the room.

They may be more forgiving and apply a refund to you if their occupancy was not completely full for that night.

As I said, this is merely speculation — and it never hurts to ask.

Good luck, marley — and please keep us up to date.

JDiver

They might additionally cast the lapse in a different shad eif you ask the amount, or at least most of it, be applied as credit toward a future stay, if you have such planned. DO let us know... them's a lot of bickies!

mrhotelman

Given my experiencing with managing hotels, this is probably you best course of action to "recover" some of your money. If a guest forgot to cancel their reservation but yet they said they were going to be staying at the hotel on another date, I'd transfer the deposit without hesitation with the condition that if they cancel the new reservation the deposit would still not be refunded. Refunding of the deposit would not happen.

Ritz

If you checked your Amex statement, i take it they already charged you for the no-show. If they haven't yet, however, here are my suggestions - one f these have always worked for me - I have never been charged a no-show - here's how:
1 - Keep a cc on your hilton profile that you no longer have open. When you make your res, the online res system lets you use the card no matter what. They dont auth any charge (not even $1), unless its a prepaid res. When the exp date on the card comes around - just change the exp date in the profile - simple!
2 - If by some chance the hotel does have a valid cc to bill, complain to whomever will listen that you talked to someone at the hotel either the day of checkin - or the day before, and you told them you them that you were stuck at the airport you were flying in from because of bad weather. Take a name, make one up, whatever - just be extremely irate and keep touting your VIP status and eventually you should get escalated at the hotel to someone of decision-making capability who whould have enough common sense to cave.

If you have already been charged - you're at the hotel's mercy. Even for a Diamond, CS always directs you to the hotel directly. But, try #2 from above - and if you're creative and persistent enough - hopefully they'll shoot you over a refund. Then, do #1 ASAP! Let us know what happens.

omegadeal

If it was a billable call for you (i.e. cell phone or long distance) when you called to cancel then I would submit a copy of your phone bill with a letter explaining that you had canceled.

DCBob

Having worked at a hotel, I can assure that being "extremely irate" for failing to cancel your own reservation will guarantee that you WILL be charged. The hotel can easily find out from your flight number whether the flight was delayed or canceled and the reason why.

Ritz

Having stayed at a hotel or 2, I can only share with you my experience (and those of my friends and family), and although the hotel can find out the details of the flight delay/cancellation, they NEVER have gone to that step with me. If you're a higher up in the program's food chain, usually you dont have to get too irate to receive that refund, but occasionally you do. And as I said before, as long as you get to someone of a decision-making capability, it works out. I find that most hotel office employees tend to be conciliatory toward a VIP, or incompetent - either way, validation of flight status is something I've NEVER run into.

loomis

I find your approach to be highly unethical. To think that you would beat up on a hotel employee for something that is your fault is just plain rude.

I applaud the OP's level head and honesty. I hope that it helps you out in this instance.

Ritz

My "approach" is to not pay for a room I didn't occupy. Ethics? I didn't realize we all became so complacent as to find it ethical to donate money to large corporations for services or goods we didnt pay for. How quickly we forget that it was as recent as the 1980's when there was a no charge cancellation policy for most Hilton Family hotels (except on extremely high occupancy nights). I guess my approach is just plain nostalgic for a time when I didnt have pay when I didnt cancel a res too late (or not at all - wonder if any of us remember those great times?). In any event, I'm not advocating "beating up" (figuratively) on any hotel employee, just raising a little heck to get to the decision-maker at the hotel - in hopes of not getting charged, or getting a refund. Usually a top-tier status with any major hotel chain negates having to "brow-beat" the decision-maker at said hotel. You just might have to cause a little unpleasantness to get to talk to that person. And if you are of top-tier status within a hotel's program, one would think you might have encountered a little unplesantness for said hotel chain's inept employees along the way somewhere. Gee maybe not, but then I guess you would be in the extreme minority.

JDiver

Well, if we complain a hotel charged us for the room we forgot to cancel and we consider it ethical to weasel out of the situation so the hotel does not get paid, what right have we to complain when the hotel decides to sell the room we have booked? If we get to choose what part of the terms and conditions we wish to conform to, the hotel should also get that opportunity - and the airlines as well, of course.

Ritz

Perhaps I just dont think any hotel chain's "Terms and Conditions" are synonamous with the "Absolute End-All Be-All Definitive Rules Of How I Must Conform". Just because a hotel sets up guidelines to be followed, doesn't meet we have to act like drones and say thank you for ripping us off less. When the hotels unilaterally decided in the late 1980's to institute industry-wide cancellation fees, didnt many of us complain and try to get the them to change their policies? In fact, as I recall, several hotel chains reversed some of their severe policies, and then reversed them again, when they could get away with it. I'm not trying to get something for nothing, I'm just giving a little advice to the OP who started the thread. Having been with Hilton for some 25+ years on, I could say that I've seen quite a bit from the various properties I've stayed at. And if one could get a refund for a no-show - or a late cancellation, I dont see the harm in ruffling a few feathers to do it. If a hotel's capacity is nowhere near sold out on the night in question, do you think its fair to pay the hotel for a room that would not have otherwise been used. I don't. If you do, then you can follow said hotel's "Terms and Conditions" to the letter - and donate your money accordingly.

flyaway101

If I had not called to cancel then it is plain wrong to say that I did call to cancel! After all, the hotel did not change their policy in the middle of the
game and you know the policy before going in.

Couple of years ago, I lost money with a Best Western hotel in New Orleans b/c I forgot to cancel on time. I called them later to explain the situation and they were sympathetic but would not refund.

As other posters said try calling them to see if there is any way you can get some money or a voucher for future stay

fthrsdghtr

Marley, honesty worked for me. I had this situation a year or more ago at a hampton. I called the hotel direct and explained what happened, both my husband and I thought the other had cancelled. I was apologetic and undemanding. Before I had a chance to ask for any consideration whatsoever, the hotel quickly said they would remove the entire charge from our card, no problem. More than I expected as I had thought only to ask if a discount was possible. I'd guess a lot depends on the hotel though. Good luck.