Numerous people have reported an issue with Hilton gift cards whereby the Hilton system charges a 15% surcharge when using it to cover a room
Others have even been told at properties that they can’t use Hilton gift cards at all. It’s possible the hotel location was running into declined payments due to this 15% issue and therefore they stopped accepting the gift cards at all.
It’s unknown exactly how long this problem has been going on, but it’s been at least a year and possibly much longer.
Some reps have said that they are treating Hilton gift cards like they would treat a credit card whereby sometimes hotels and some other retailers will place a hold higher than the amount of the actual charge. In the case of gift cards that obviously makes it much more difficult to use up. However, reports we’ve seen have been inconclusive about whether the 15% ever comes back to the card at all. It might just evaporate into the ether as some type of a fee or surcharge for using a Hilton gift card.
There’s a Flyertalk thread with numerous reports on general issues using Hilton gift cards, and the Hilton rep chimed in there with the claim that there were just fraud concerns causing the cards not to work. However, I wonder if all the issues stem from this 15% hold; I wonder if all those who know to charge 15% less than the total gift card amount would not experience any issues using the gift cards.
There are apparently workarounds to the gift cards to work properly.
Some say that if you check in with a credit card and use the gift card only at check out this issue disappears. However, numerous friends have reported having issues even at check out. YMMV
A Hilton employee suggests processing the gift card as an advanced deposit, not a standard payment, and that obviates the issue. YMMV.
Obviously Hilton needs to get their act together. Personally I’d avoid buying Hilton gift cards. If you have them from some credit or whatnot, I’d recommend using them at 15% less than their total. Maybe that last 15% will come back some time and will be available on a future date.
Thanks to my friend Dawnzerly from ShareTraveler.com for doing most of the leg work on this issue. Please chime in below with your own experiences.