Here are five reader questions from the past week (so many good questions coming in!) that I have decided to reply to publicly. You can always email me, leave a note or private message on Facebook, or Tweet me with your questions.
Note that I can shorten the emails and edit them for clarity. I always remove the personal information of both the reader and front line employees. If there are managers involved, I may leave their names intact, however.
Question using a corporate rate not entitled to?
I am trying to book New York Hilton with IBM corporate code which gives me 10% discount of Best Rate. I wanted to ask whether they would check that I work for IBM? And whats the risk if they find out that i don’t work for IBM.
I would certainly check first if MVP (read more here), Gold Medal (read more here) or AAA rates would be available. These usually offer 10% discount or more when available.
Some hotels check your credentials while some others may not. If they decide to check and you are not able to provide adequate credentials, the hotel may charge the current Best Available Rate for the day.
Question about consecutive nights for Accor promotions?
Do you know whether consecutive nights in accors t&c’s for the TCAH Feb offer means you can not book consecutive nights at 3 different hotels or whether you cannot book consecutive nights at 1 hotel or does it mean you simply can’t book consecutive nights in either scenario?
It just means that you cannot stay at the same hotel night after night by checking in and out daily and expect to get the bonus points. You can do back to back stays at hotel A and B to get the bonus points. You can also stay at hotel A on day 1 and then again on Day 3.
Question getting more qualifying Marriott nights for lifetime status (enough points already for Platinum)?
I have over 3 million Lifetime points with Marriott, but only 335 nights. I have Silver Status because of my CC. is there any way to get to Gold with this many points? I have been Silver forever it seems and have been with Marriott since the late 80’s. Any ideas?
There are not that many choices to get room nights FAST. If you don’t stay at Marriott properties a lot, how much is the Gold or Platinum lifetime status worth for you?
There is a way to get nights fast if you are willing to pay a bit (need to write about this).
You can arrange “meetings” at some local Marriott affiliated hotels (Courtyard/Fairfield Inn etc) and get 10 nights for each one of them. I have received emails from readers that had been able to get these for $100 or less. You can just ask for a meeting room for an hour or two. You don’t need to stay at the hotel.
Question registering for Hilton HHonors Gold fast track back to back?
My Hilton Gold expired recently (used the fast track promotion to get it the first time). I tried to register again as I am now silver and the message that pops up says that I have already registered.
Is this a one-time deal or have I missed something in the process?
There are several different Hilton HHonors Gold fast track offers out there that I have written about. If you have already done i.e. the MVP, why wouldn’t you sign up for the Accenture one (read more here)?
Question about converting SkyMiles to Marriott Rewards points?
Transferring Delta Sky Miles to Marriott Rewards?
These questions come quite often. People would like to convert airline miles to hotel loyalty program points. Unfortunately this is not possible, although there are couple of exceptions such as converting Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles to Hilton HHonors and United MileagePlus miles to Marriott Rewards points.
You cannot convert Delta SkyMiles to Marriott Rewards points.
Conclusion
Keep the emails and messages coming. I will have these READER QUESTION pieces at least once a week (sometimes more often) and try to cover issues that would help LoyaltyLobby readers.
