Hilton HHonors Free Night Registration is Live and Americas January Sale

It’s January 7 and the Hilton HHonors “Have a Free Night on Us” promotion registration is a working link. Already there is confusion and disappointment being expressed on FlyerTalk. There are non-participating properties in the USA and Canada, but the hotel exclusion list is relatively small. There is no restriction mentioned in the promotion terms regarding property redemption exclusions with the free night certificate . There is a list of non-eligible room rates which is already creating confusion among members.

The basic promotion offer is a certificate for a free night at any Hilton brand in the system after every four stays or 10 nights through March 31, 2010. The certificate is valid for one year from issue date. You must register for the promotion before your hotel stays. There is a maximum of three free night certificates per member during the promotion.

Here is my initial Loyalty traveler post from Jan 3 on the Hilton free night promotion.

My initial take on the free night promotion rules is the January Sale rates in the Americas will count as eligible stays for the free night promotion, but the international 50% off January Sale rate will not count as eligible stays for the free night promotion.

What appears to be clear is the January Weekend Sale for 50% off international properties in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia/Pacific in 2010 is a rate plan not eligible for the Free Night Promotion. Rates I checked in London show this rate plan as PRO9SW. The rate plan exclusion list shows PRO9SW as ineligible for the free night promotion.

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Update: HHonorsRepresentative posted on FlyerTalk, January 7, the international January Sale 50% rates, PRO9SW rate will be eligible for the free night promotion and these are the points made by HHonorsRepresentative today.

1. All eligible stays from January 1 – March 31, 2010 will qualify for the offer regardless of when you register for the offer.
2. You do not have to book your stay during the offer period.
3. The January Sale & the Night on Us offers are combinable. The SRP code PR09SW for the Q1 Free Night offer was inadvertently included on the SRP exclusion list. We are working with the appropriate parties to have this removed from the exclusion list.
4. Third party rates do not apply.
5. The hotels that are listed as non participating, are the only properties that you will not received promotional credit for. All other properties worldwide are participating.
6. Reward stays will not count towards this offer this quarter.

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My checks of USA rates for the January Sale showed rate plan PGJS01 and this rate plan is not on the rate exclusion list for the free night promotion. A search of Hilton Colon Quito, Ecuador showed a rate plan PGJS02.

Advance Purchase rate plans I checked on Hilton.com are different codes than shown on the rate exclusion list as A01 and A41. It appears normal advance purchase rates found on Hilton reservations are eligible for the promotion. I am not a Hilton rate expert and these are just my initial findings from rate searches in the Americas and London.

This is a fluid situation with the details for the Free Night Promotion and live registration link only becoming active a few hours ago.

This story is subject to change as details and clarification from Hilton become available.

January Sale in the Americas Terms: (Hilton January Sale link)

I wrote about the January International Sale for 50% off at 220 hotels for 2010 weekends in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia/Pacific regions on Dec. 24.

Since then, Hilton rolled out a January sale for room discounts in the Americas. The good news is these rates appear eligible for the Free Night promotion. The bad news is rate discounts are not 50% like the international January sale.

• The sale includes Hilton brand hotels in North America, Caribbean, Central and South America.
• This is a nonrefundable, prepayment rate charged at time of booking.
• Purchase must be made at least 3 days prior to stay.
• Discount is based on Best Available Bed & Breakfast rate and varies by hotel brand.
• 33% Hilton and Doubletree Hotels.
• 30% Hilton Grand Vacations Hotels
• 20% Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites hotels
• 15% Embassy Suites
• No Conrad Hotels or Waldorf Astoria Collection January Sale discounts.