If You Use Hilton Points to Book a Room, Can You Cancel and Get Points Back?

A friend of mine and I had a chat earlier this week about Hilton award reservations, why you cannot merely modify one but must cancel and rebook, and why points are not instantly refunded?

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You can access Hilton Honors here.

READ MORE: Hilton Honors Rate & Bonus Points Offers

Note that this was a chat with a friend and hence the format:

So I had booked an award res but for the wrong dates. So all i wanted to do was modify the dates. But no you can't do that unless you have double the points in your account (old+new). So I was like ok I'll just cancel and rebook. So I did and then noticed I didn't get the points back. So I called the diamond line and they said it can take 48-72 hours to get points back from a canceled res. I'm like wtf? But they were back the next day and I rebooked.

But now I noticed that the number of points required is down a bit from when I booked and I was hoping to rebook but since I don't get the points back right away I don't wanna touch it cuz the points may not come back in time.

Any way around that or is that just the way it is for HHHonors?

I noted that I had mine refunded within half an hour the other week (those Conrad Bora Bora ones that I did – read more here)

I checked mine 2-3 hours after cancelation and it wasn't there.

Cuz if it's points and you don't have enough to cover the new res it will only give you points + cash options for the new res up to the total in your account.

And I asked the diamond rep guy can I just book with cash and points and modify it to just points when I get the other points back and he simply said NO!

I think that's completely ridiculous for any hotel loyalty program in this day and age!

The number of points required had gone slightly down:

Well the original res is 170k points and the "new" rate is 164k so not that much but still… If it goes down again tomorrow to like 150k then I'd def wanna rebook (stay starts Friday).

You can easily modify a paid reservation done directly with the Hilton when the prices have gone lower. The system automatically cancels the reservations and makes a new one.

Here's how it shows on the website:

Hilton Rotterdam & Den Hague

I have kept rebooking these reservations as the prices have dropped.

The issue with award cancellations, however, is exactly what my friend experienced. The points are not instantaneously credited back to your account but can take some time. I would say that in my case, they were back in half an hour, but apparently, they can take much longer.

You cannot make a new award reservation unless you have enough points in your account, at least temporarily, for both the old and the new. This is likely not an issue IF the points are back in half an hour, but there is no guarantee that the award space still exists the following day,

Conclusion

The reader is correct. There is no excuse for Hilton not to credit the Honors points back to member accounts immediately after the award reservation is canceled UNLESS they expect some fraud.

You should frequently monitor both your paid and award reservations with Hilton and rebooked if the prices drop.

I wish that Hilton would make modifying Honors reservations as easy as paid ones.

If You Use Hilton Points to Book a Room, Can You Cancel and Get Points Back?

Source: https://loyaltylobby.com/2021/08/12/reader-question-why-no-easy-modification-of-hilton-award-reservations-honors-point-redeposits-can-take-days/

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