Hilton has teamed up with Expedia to launch the HiltonGetaways.com website, allowing travelers to package hotel stays with airfare and/or car rental.
The HiltonGetaways.com is powered by Expedia (essentially a white-label solution), but you don’t see this OTA mentioned anywhere else than the site’s T&Cs.
You can access HiltonGetaways.com here.
READ MORE: Hilton Honors Rate & Bonus Points Offers
What got me worried about this product was the following part on the Hilton’s T&Cs:
A “stay” is defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, whether or not a guest checks out and checks back in again.
Specifically excluded from the definition of “stay” are the following types of ineligible stays: wholesale/tour operator packages; contracted crew rates; travel agency discount rates; packages exclusively for casino player card holders; unauthorized Members staying on Go Hilton Team Member or Family & Friends Travel Rates; stays secured utilizing Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Hilton Club timeshare programs, HiltonGetaways.com bookings; Hilton Grand Vacations marketing packages with a sales presentation requirement; complimentary or barter rooms; NET Group rates; Series Group or IT Group rates; contracted Entertainment or Encore rates; third party websites bookings (irrespective of rate paid); and “opaque” channel bookings where the brand may or may not be known at the time of purchase.
The Hilton T&Cs explicitly state that HiltonGetaways.com bookings wouldn’t constitute a valid stay that is important for all Honors members because eligible stay allows you to earn points, qualifying nights, receive elite benefits and possible upgrades.
We have confirmed with Hilton that HiltonGetaways bookings are eligible for elite night credit and on-property benefits, such as lounge access, breakfast, and upgrades. So, the T&Cs on Hilton’s website are incorrect.
Hilton Honors members earn 3,000 points for each package purchased, but to my understanding, no other points are earned for the hotel portion.
Eligible stay/night should, however, yield any promotion bonus from Honors promotions that are not based on the spend but on the number of nights/stays, like when you earn bonus points for award stays.
Search For Barcelona:
Essentially an Expedia search is only returning Hilton-affiliated hotels.
You can choose the preferred room type.
And between various flights by several airlines.
The form later prompts for your Hilton Honors number to “collect your rewards.”
Conclusion
Hotels, airlines, and car rental companies offer discounted rates, not publicly available, for travel sector companies, often for OTAs and travel agents, that can use them to sell packages that allow consumers to buy them at a discount.
I have not played around on this pilot website to see if they offer special fares for hotels and airlines.
It is interesting to see how hotels handle the elite member treatment of reservations coming through from Expedia, as they are usually excluded.
I have not yet seen Hilton promoting this product and what approach they take. However, Marriott has already offered packages for a while through a partnership with the same company – Expedia.