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I was reminded today of a little Hilton website trick that has saved me a fair bit of money in the past, and thought it worth sharing – in this case it saved me £4 a night and got me a free dinner.
Navigating the Hilton website
When you search for a hotel on the Hilton website, you’ll be presented with a screen showing the “best rate” for each hotel. In my case, I was looking to stay at the Waldorf Hilton in central London, so I saw this:
So there we have it – seemingly the best price for my dates is £247. I therefore selected this, prepared to lock in the £247 a night rate.
This takes you through to the more detailed room choice screen, as follows:
Again, my best option appears to be the £247 rate, offering a modest saving to me as a Hilton Honors member.
But wait! What’s that I see… Look closely and you’ll see the the blue text at the bottom, saying “More prices from £243”. Now clearly, £243 is less than £247…
Sure enough, when I bring up the “more prices option, not only am I offered a room at £243 a night, it includes dinner!
As such, in not blindly going with the “best” rate flagged to me by the Hilton search function, I save myself £4 a night and get a free dinner.
Is this a fair comparison?
Now I do appreciate the £243 rate is non-flexible, versus the £247 flexible rate. However, I have a couple of points to say on this:
This is not an isolated example. I am an extremely frequent visitor to the Hilton website, and I have fairly regularly found interesting or better offers in the “more prices” section. Sometimes this has been a better rate for an entirely equivalent room (e.g. non-flex versus non-flex), other times it’s included an extra like dinner for just a couple of pounds more.
I was simply looking to get the cheapest rate here. I know I am making this stay, therefore all I was looking for with Hilton was the cheapest non-flex rate. As such, this really is money shaved off my stay and a free dinner.
So get into the habit – always check those hidden options available via the “more prices” link.
This has worked for me in the past as well. Looking for a room in the DoubleTree by Hilton Resort in Penang, standard rooms already had a lower rate when clicking through the ‘small print’. But I found out that some odd ‘heritage package’ rate for 5 nightst in a one bedroom suite was 367 MYR as opposed to the lowest 455 ‘large print’ rate, both nonrefundable.
Miles,
Is it possible to search for a HH reward points redemption when you have zero points in your account? (I have Amex points I could transfer once I find something)
I can see room availability with points whilst not logged in but when you click the room to see cash & points options etc it asks for a login and then the points option disappears…. very annoying!
Any tips appreciated…
Where are you searching. I’ll take a look.
Thanks Charlie -i was looking at the HGI in Arlington, VA
Just tried again still the same …error message after selecting the points rate & logging on: “Your selected rate is no longer available. Please re-select rooms/rates”
28,000 points. Is available right through to confirmation page if you have points in account – I’ve got enough. Any day you want me to check (in case different rate)
Thanks for helping out Charlie! Always good to see.
Great tip, thanks for sharing.
I’ve been noticing this recently 🙂
Ever since Hilton rejigged their award price system, I’ve noticed these sort of dirty tricks come into play far more frequently. Technical anomaly or technically designed?
Good question. I don’t think it’s “dirty tricks” as such, I just think they sometimes load up packages like the “dinner inclusive” ones at slightly inconsistent prices, perhaps down to a failure to adequately compare them to what else is available.
I see it as a positive, provided you remember to check the “more prices” option. So in answer to your question, I will perhaps naively submit “technical anomaly”.
Turns out Hilton can reward you for a long stay with a free or discounted breakfast, just look beyond that “More prices from…” line.
Thanks for the reminder as it slips of the radar too easily. Marriott have a similar offering and sometimes you can get a couple of thousand bonus points for paying just a few extra pounds.
Good tip re Marriott – cheers!