Reader Email: Hilton Closes Account & Forfeits 98,000 Honors Points

A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a Hilton case where the Honors account was closed for two compensation cases in two years.

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Here’s the email from the reader:

I wanted to reach out to you and I have forwarded the email from Hilton. They said that I complain and took 98k points from me. I complained 3 times in 2 years and everything was documented. I never asked for points but Hilton gave it to me on their own. Now they took them away.

Email from Hilton:

From: Hilton Honors Service Review <[email protected]>
Date: December 15, 2021 at 2:27:51 PM EST
To: REMOVED <cs@REMOVED>
Subject: Hilton Honors Account Activity– Case # REMOVED

Dear REMOVED,

Hilton is committed to providing our guests with rewarding experiences, high quality accommodations, friendly and efficient services, along with clean and comfortable surroundings, backed by our commitment to guest satisfaction.

Regrettably, your comments/complaints indicate that your stays, and/or contact with our corporate offices, have been less than agreeable. Our offices, Guest Assistance, Corporate Headquarter and/or hotels have, issued refunds and/or points in support of our commitment to you – our guest.

Based on the amount of compensation that has been extended to you against the total revenue spent at our hotels within the last 24 months, our consistent inability to live up to your expectations is very concerning to us. We do not believe that the Hilton Portfolio of Brands is designed to meet your travel needs. For this reason, we recommend that you seek accommodations at a different hotel chain for future travels to avoid this type of inconvenience.

Given these circumstances, the decision has been made to close your Hilton Honors account and there will be no further compensation offered to you in the form of refunds, points, and/or stay certificates.

Such discontinued membership may result in the loss of all accumulated Points and the cancellation of Hilton Honors Certificates, benefits and privileges, including the loss of any associated Elite Tier status.

Finally, nothing in this letter shall be deemed a waiver of any rights or remedies available to Hilton, Inc. or any of our affiliates, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

I tried to probe more what took place:

On March 12, 2020 Hilton awarded us points for 1 night. Our refrigerator in the room went down and we had $60 in food that went bad. Maintenance said it was the compressor.

Then on August 2, 2021 my wife was having surgery and we went down to Miami from Daytona so I can stay there. I booked a four night stay and my wife was supposed to stay in the hospital for two days and then join me. When I got there I asked for extra pillows so my wife can be comfortable once she joins me. It turns out this garden inn doesn’t allow people who are coming down for surgery to stay there.

I was asked to leave and lost all my points. I emailed corporate for Hilton and I also called Christopher Nassert office. They Moved us to the Homewood suites next-door. Same owners.

About 45 days later I receive an email from corporate saying they apologize for what happened and are refunding me all my points.  Great.

Then yesterday I get an email from Hilton cancelling our account. That’s what happened. We lost almost 100,000 points.

After this email was sent to us we received an email 2 hours later asking us to buy discounted points for stats. They are looking for excuses to cancel account and keep the points.

I never asked for the points to be returned to us. Hilton did it on their own. 

I was curious what kind of stay mix the reader had:

I did have paid stays that were always through Hotwire. Only a few times we got points for those stays. The others we didn’t.

We contacted the Hilton spokesperson, who sent us the following statement:

We value and protect our customers’ privacy and are unable to share details of this case. That said, meeting guest expectations is our priority, and we regret when we’re unable to provide our signature Hilton hospitality.

When needed, Hilton Honors reserves the right to suspend or discontinue membership for any member who appears to be violating the Program’s Terms & Conditions, including engaging in any abusive, fraudulent, disruptive, inappropriate, offensive or hostile conduct.

We have had a few similar cases, and they all have similar characteristics:

• The majority of the guests’ stays have been on points or, in the instance above, a non-qualifying rate booked through an OTA.
• Hilton deposits some points for issues the readers have had at the hotels.
• Then a few days later, there comes an email from corporate closing the account for excess compensation.
• They constantly reference that the revenue spent at their hotels is not adequate considering the number of points issued for troubles, whether requested by the guests or not, and they believe that Hilton cannot meet their needs.

Previously:

• Reader Question: Hilton HHonors Account Closed & How To Get Fixed?
• Compensation Clinic Disaster: How To Get Your Account(s) Closed – Case: Hilton Honors
• Hilton Honors Closed Account After Two Complaints?
• Hilton Closes Honors Account Claiming Excess Compensation?

It almost looks like they run an algorithm that identifies accounts with little revenue (award stays are VERY low revenue regardless of the number of points used starting at $15) and then compares this to the non-discounted value of points awarded as compensation.

I believe that this is a somewhat flawed method, especially for guests who have a minimal number of stays or are all award ones.

Conclusion

There is nothing to worry about for Hilton guests that have paid stays and few service recovery bonuses here and there.

I just went through my account, and there are four compensation cases in 2021 from Hilton for a total of 40,000 points. Five nights out of 120 paid ones that I have had this year (no award stays, unfortunately, due to distressed and other discounted rates available).

Any other readers that have had this unfortunate outcome with Hilton’s Executive Escalations?