Missing F/F points for Qantas Holiday bookings - be warned

[svstrider]

I booked accomodation in Sydney on departure (Mercure Airport) and on return from overseas through Q Holidays. I arrived at 9 pm in Sydney to leave early the next morning to find that Mercure had no booking for me! Luckily I had the booking confirmation paperwork. Scored an upgrade to a suite for the inconvenience of standing around for 30 mins whilst things were sorted.

On the way back stayed at the Sydney Hilton a week after it opened - disaster. Bags took 90 mins to get to the room. Champagne glasses & ice took a similar time to arrive. In contrast it only took 20 mins for a lift to arrive to take us to our rooms!!

Points for the mercure did appear in my statement. However the Hilton points have not turned up 10 weeks later. I rang F/F after 6 weeks and was told to give it another 2 weeks. Tonight I rang F/F and was told I would need to fax them the room receipt for it to be sent back to the Hilton for validation!!! The credit card account receipt and booking confirmation email are not enough, apparently.

To say the least, I was very p###ed off. Q/F/F could not care less. I decided to ring Q Holidays to tell them that they should mention on the booking confirmation that one should keep the hotel bill to claim the points when someone in the QH chain of command puts their brain in neutral. However, a nice lady rang the Hilton for me and arrnaged for them to fax the confirmation to F/F club. She said that F/F club info was incorrect.

Either way be warned - keep the hotel bills for your claim.

 

[shillard]

Don't be such a precious princess.

Hotel spend can take 2-3 months to post to your QFF account - have some patience.

The documentation you get when joining QFF makes it quite clear that you should keep ALL receipts and boarding passes in case your points don't post - so you don't get to claim ignorance on that point.

As for the hopeless service you received at both hotels, I fail to see how that is the fault of QF Holidays or QFF. "Please explain"?

 

[Amelie]

shillard[/b] ]Don't be such a precious princess.

Hotel spend can take 2-3 months to post to your QFF account - have some patience.

The documentation you get when joining QFF makes it quite clear that you should keep ALL receipts and boarding passes in case your points don't post - so you don't get to claim ignorance on that point.

but

shillard[/b] also once]

Won't make a great deal of difference to most frequent travellers. Hotel points are awfully slow to get posted, and if you're staying on some of the discount/ voucher rates you don't qualify for FF points anyway.

I've found that Starwood & Priority Club always post points pretty quickly to their respective accounts, although Holiday Inns/ Crown Plazas in Australia & New Zealand usually post direct to WF within 30 days. Otherwise it's a nightmare, I don't normally bother chasing up the points as it's just not worth the effort.

You may be a newbie svstrider, but there is only room for one precious princess on this forum, and that's Princess Shillard.

 

[tuapekastar]

Can't see anywhere in the post where OP blamed any poor hotel service on QF Hols.

The only gripe was that the points did not automatically post, and that they were asked by QFF to fax receipts to claim the points (though QF Hols stepped into the breech there).

I wouldn't dream of not keeping BPs and receipts just in case they are required for points claims, but am gobsmacked that it (hotel points) should take 2 to 3 months, and that people think this is normal/reasonable. I'm sure posting of points is not a priority for the hotel or airline concerned but 2 to 3 months? Do they use carrier pigeons?

If anyone can offer an explanation of the time delay I'm all ears!

 

[acampbel]

Chris - who asked you to be the voice of reason??? Shillard has rightly picked svstrider to be a tree-hugging bleeding heart, who disloyally bites the hand that pats him on the head when he's been a good boy.

When will they ever learn to keep the riff-raff out? I say thank Travolta for Shillard and his eternal vigilance in defending the good name of Q.

 

[Platy]

I have booked hotels through ready rooms on the QF web site many times and only received the points on a few occasions.

I'll chase them up as a batch when I finally do my 05 accounts, but it'll take a while to list them and double check the QF statements and I really resent wasting my time doing that - but given it may add up to 10,000-20,000 pts it probably is worth bothering, precious princess or not!

I have had problems with Hilton BNE and had the hotel deny it was their responsibility to process the pts and then approached QF and had them deny it was their responsibility too!

My conclusion was that the QF web site ready rooms system simply had not been set up to deliver the pts advertised - typically 1,000 pts per stay, or 3 pts per $, and for some periods with a double pts offer advertised.

Incidentally, I have stayed at Rydges MEL through QF Holidays and been denied the pts on the basis that they had given me a rate which did not attract pts - of course I was not told that at time of booking on the phone - apoparently a $5 difference in rates would have qualified me for the 1000pts or whatever.

When I discovered this at check in the Manager at Rydges MEL refused to do anything about it or even let me pay the difference in rates. What a bunch of cough! QF did eventually credit me with some pts on the basis that they should have informed me at time of booking.

I now NEVER stay at ANY Rydges properties.

Stayed for 7 nights in a QF partner hotel on Malta and again they refused to honour my QFF on the basis that the booking had been made through a travel agent (Flight Centre in Hampstead UK).

Apparently there is some small print that even though certain hotel chains are heavily promoted as partner organisations that doesn't mean you'll get the pts for being a QFF member - many are now "hiding behind" the claim that you are paying a "discount" rate that doesn't attract QFF pts.

I have taken these issues up previously with Jenny Chamberlain at QF and her colleague (whose name I forget) who handles the partner relationships, sicne I regard it something of a con job to actively promote a significant part of the loyalty scheme and then not deliver, hide behind the small print, rely on the customer to do the chasing and wait months to reward the pts earned.

Anyway, beware the small print asnd always check you are on a room rate that attracts pts!!!

Unless of course you are so in love with QF that you don't care at all that you're not getting what you paid for snd your loyalty is being taken for granted.

Personnally I rather be a precious princess than a mug...

 

[MD]

Incidentally, I have stayed at Rydges MEL through QF Holidays and been denied the pts on the basis that they had given me a rate which did not attract pts - of course I was not told that at time of booking on the phone - apoparently a $5 difference in rates would have qualified me for the 1000pts or whatever.

When I discovered this at check in the Manager at Rydges MEL refused to do anything about it or even let me pay the difference in rates. What a bunch of cough! QF did eventually credit me with some pts on the basis that they should have informed me at time of booking.

I now NEVER stay at ANY Rydges properties.

I had the same problem with Rydges in Port Macquarie. Never got the points. I now avoid Rydges hotels (and cinemas).

...but am gobsmacked that it (hotel points) should take 2 to 3 months, and that people think this is normal/reasonable. I'm sure posting of points is not a priority for the hotel or airline concerned but 2 to 3 months? Do they use carrier pigeons?

If anyone can offer an explanation of the time delay I'm all ears!

I'm still waiting for Marriott Brisbane after 6 months and about 5 calls and emails. Most of the other hotels that I stay at seem to take 4 - 6 weeks.

MD

 

[dajop]

A word of advice for those who stay at Hiltons.... join Hilton HHonors and link your QF account to them. Unlike most hotel programs you earn both hotel points & FF points.

Never had a problem with stays at Hiltons posting, but Conrad stays are occassionally a little slack in coming throught, but a quick email to the Sydney Hilton Hhonors service centre, or submission of a missing stay request online usually fixes these up fairly quickly.

 

[serfty]

What is supposed to happen is that:

1. A Frequent Flyer stays at a hotel on a FF qualifying rate.
2. They provide their frequent flyer details to the Hotel.
3. The Hotel informs Qantas of your stay and pays QF an amount in relation to the number of points earned by the FF'er.
4. QF credits the FFer's account with the points

It cost's the hotels $$$ to inform QF of your stay & it's often standard operational procedure for many hotels to 'be forgetful' in regard to this. This can happen within hotel chains and across different ones. It's really down to an individual establishment's management. In these cases you will not get the points until you 'prove' your stay to QF by providing QFF a copy of you statement. A photocopy or facsimile with an accompanying letter normally suffices. QFF will then contact the Hotel, confirm your stay and bill them. After that they will credit your points. There's no skin off the hotel when this happens, since they were liable to pay anyway and, as there are many FFers who can't be bothered back claiming, the hotel saves money.

In some cases a hotel will not 'forget' as such, they will collect 2-3 months worth of stays and inform QFF of them in one large batch. This saves the Hotels money in processing costs and they also get to play with their funds for a bit longer. It is for this reason that you should wait 4 months before contacting QFF re missing points (unless you really need them for that special award ).

dajop has made a good point in regard to Hiltons.

As far as qualifying rates go; I have not come across any accomodation purchased through Qantas Holidays that is eligible for FF points. I generally do much better myself, getting a cheaper rate & points that they can provide anyway.

 

[NM]

A word of advice for those who stay at Hiltons.... join Hilton HHonors and link your QF account to them. Unlike most hotel programs you earn both hotel points & FF points.

Better still, HH have an option to forego the airline points and earn an additional 50% base points. Generally much better value for me and rarely have any issues with posting of HH points. I rarely stay anywhere by Hilton properties now.

 

[JohnK]

I don't normally wait 2-3 months for hotel stays to post to ff account. If hotel does not post in 2 weeks off goes e-mail to Qantas, fax receipt and points post within a couple of weeks.

Last year I booked a stay at All Seasons, Cairns through Qantas, first and last time, and got a good nightly rate from Qantas. Had some problem with booking rang QF a few times and they assured me that booking was OK and I would receive ff points. Stayed in hotel gave them ff number on check in, no problem all is OK. On check out I asked how long before points will post to account and was told that room rate was special and did not qualify for ff points. :? Anyway Qantas came good with their earlier promise and points posted eventually.

I never use Qantas to book hotel rooms anymore, just look to see which hotels have partner agreement and then either ring hotel direct or use wotif.com or lastminute.com

Don't bother staying at Rydges as ff points are only credited at the higher room rate.

I have stayed at Best Western's, Metro Inn Tower Mill, Hilton, Grand Chancellor, Bayview in Melbourne and others, no problems with points posting. Stayed 1 night in Hilton Singapore and points posted within 3 days of stay.

One tip is to always ask if room rate qualifies for ff points before booking.

 

[moa999]

my hilton experience bad

only stay in last 12 months with hilton at hilton auckland (typically a starwood fan) which has been a hopeless experience to date

hh ref showed on my booking and checkmytrip.
booking also showing on hilton online

not showing on checkin slip when i checked in - gave it 1st time
welcome letter in my room had totally the wrong name (same 1st letter about it)
on checking out - still no hh ref on bill
paid bill checking out, 2 days later billed me for additional Internet access (and billed the wrong amount)

one month later still no points (they are so confident in their systems they ask you to wait one month for pts to appear) - although appears in my hotel stay history
three weeks after filling in online form - still nada...

not good service

 

[svstrider]

Don't be such a precious princess.

Hotel spend can take 2-3 months to post to your QFF account - have some patience.

The documentation you get when joining QFF makes it quite clear that you should keep ALL receipts and boarding passes in case your points don't post - so you don't get to claim ignorance on that point.

As for the hopeless service you received at both hotels, I fail to see how that is the fault of QF Holidays or QFF. "Please explain"?

Dear Shillard
I waited 10 weeks and by the sound of my discussion with FF those points were NEVER going to appear.

I did NOT receive hopeless service at the Mercure Sydney airport hotel. Qantas Holidays did not inform them of my booking. I did mention in my original posting that Mercure did upgrade my room after I had spent 30 mins (@ 2130 hrs after flying in from WA) waiting for my booking documentation to be verified.

The hopeless service at the Sydney Hilton was just an aside - PARDON ME for being precious about it.

Frequent Flyer certainly does mention keeping all boarding passes and receipts - and I DO. HOWEVER, if you complete an hotel express check out then, please correct me if I am wrong here, Shillard, all you have to prove your stay at the venerable over-rated Hilton is your credit card receipt - which QFF will not accept.

I was not being PRECIOUS - just merely warning others to not do express check out & keep their hotel receipts.

I could not care less about those points. I was just extremely pi**ed off about the level of service from FF club. Just wanted to share my experience.
Merry Xmas to U
signed Precious P

 

[NM]

Re: my hilton experience bad

only stay in last 12 months with hilton at hilton auckland (typically a starwood fan) which has been a hopeless experience to date

On the few occasions when my Hilton stays have not posted, I have call their 1800 HHonors line and the nice folks at HH in Singapore asked me the details (dates, payment method, amount etc) and have credited the stay and points immediately while I am on the phone.

No faxing, no email, no verification - just credited immediately.

 

[dajop]

I was not being PRECIOUS - just merely warning others to not do express check out & keep their hotel receipts.

If doing express check out, fairly simple process to ring the hotel, and ask for them to fax you a copy of the tax invoice. I've done that on several occasions, with various hotel chains without problem.

 

[inpd]

shillard[/b] ]Don't be such a precious princess.
You may be a newbie svstrider, but there is only room for one precious princess on this forum, and that's Princess Shillard.

Persistence is the key.

I've dealt with too many airlines too many times but
I've found the golden rule is to be polite and persistent.

I'm always amazed that people can paint an entire large
corporation such as an airline as hopeless or terrific.
It just comes down to the individual your dealing with and
if your persistent you'll find the right individual who knows
how to help you and has the time to do so.
Count on calling a good three+ times and if you
still don't get anywhere, then ask to speak
to a manager. It's amazing what a little
persistence can do.

i.e. For an upcoming JFK-LAX flight my wife had FF with
American and me with Alaska (which code shares
JFK to LAX with AA). Now there was only one FF
seat on this particular flight so if I booked it on-line via
Alaska it would disappear from the American site
and vice-versa! So we called up American and
was told there was nothing that could be done.
I then called up again and spoke to a manager
and explained we were traveling with a baby,
he then booked both our tickets and I sent a strong
thank you message to his boss.

and Qantas is just as good. Once Alaska had a deal
where you could dump Qantas points into your Alaska
airlines mileage plan, but it was cancelled in the middle
of my trip! So I essentially got no points for
the return leg. I contacted Qantas a few times
and no-one really knew what to do. Finally,
I spoke to someone who could help me and they
kindly credited by for both outbound/inbound legs
of the flight for my inconvenience!

 

[QF WP]

I've had similar problem with both QF Holidays and QF Ready Rooms, so I don't use either anymore. When I had trouble with both not posting FF points, I scanned and emailed my receipts to QFF. Have no idea whether status played a part, but I got a phone call for both within 2-3 days of the email, advising the points had been posted manually. On both ocassions, I rang to thank the responsible person.

I tend to stay at Hiltons and Starwood properties and use their websites to book. Alternatively, I ring Hilton Premium Club who do a fantasic job.

The OP is right to warn us of his problem and we can take heed...

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Re: my hilton experience bad

only stay in last 12 months with hilton at hilton auckland (typically a starwood fan) which has been a hopeless experience to date

On the few occasions when my Hilton stays have not posted, I have call their 1800 HHonors line and the nice folks at HH in Singapore asked me the details (dates, payment method, amount etc) and have credited the stay and points immediately while I am on the phone.

No faxing, no email, no verification - just credited immediately.

Hilton missing stays can also be requested online.

 

[bambbbam2]

Once Alaska had a deal
where you could dump Qantas points into your Alaska
airlines mileage plan, but it was cancelled in the middle
of my trip! So I essentially got no points for
the return leg.

I had a similar experience - used to fly Skywest a fair bit and points were notorious for NOT being credited. In the end they cancelled the program entirely... still not sure why?

 

[Zanzara]

Ready rooms web site & hotels not crediting points.

Amazing isn't it how much hotel chains plug the capability to earn QF frequent flyer points but simply don't bother to credit the points??

They clearly hope that most people wont bother chasing-up the points. The fact that bookings done by Ready Rooms and on the QF website itself don't materialise is a disgrace & something Qantas should investigate & rectify. But I bet they wont!

I must be a bit precious too as I resent having to spend the time and trouble of hassling the hotel & or QF to get credited what should be done automatically and AS ADVERTISED!

One way I have found of ensuring the QF points are credited is by linking them to my Priority Club (for Intercontinental & Holiday Inns). I was shocked to find a stay at the Intercontinental Singapore & the Holiday Inn in Sydney actually materialised a couple of months after staying there! With the exception of some stays at Hilton hotels, few stays at other hotels have ever done so without me chasing them-up!

A word of warning though. QF wont accept copies of credit card statements as proof that you paid for the hotel. Although it clearly is! Despite me escalating my complaint to a manager in their ff call centre, they have demanded an actual receipt from the hotel (or car hire company) so they can check the rate etc.

It is hassle for me, but I refuse to let them get away with not crediting me the points I have earned & they advertised. If more people did the same, I guess ready rooms and the hotel chains would change their dodgey ways!