Where do I enter my hotel frequent guest number? I don't see it on the hotel booking page.
The short answer is yes, you can still earn points on bookings made on the TravelingToGive powered sites using our Smart Trip Tools. But you can't enter your number in your booking.
The Background
While you can still enter your car rental frequent guest number and your airline frequent flyer numbers in TravelingtoGive, several years ago after the intense consolidation of hotel brands, the two major hotel brands (Hilton and Marriott and all of their sub-brands) mutually decided to prohibit third party online travel agencies (OTAs) from collecting the frequent guest numbers.
The inventory partner that we use to power our system was one of those OTAs targeted.
While this is technically collusion and it is prohibited by our Department of Justice, the OTAs didn't press the matter. They just removed the frequent guest number prompt and told travelers that they would have to work with the hotels directly to add the numbers to their booking record.
Point Inflation
What you may have also missed is that in the last 5 years, hotel points have devalued significantly. In fact, it has been as much as a 500% increase in cost.
Here is a real story from one of our clients that chooses to use our site even though he is a frequent guest with Hilton at their highest level.
"Points have become the hotel industry's cocaine. They know their guests are hooked.
When our daughter went to her first year of university in Warsaw Poland, we got her a room at the Hampton Inn at the airport using points each time she would come home. Her first year (2016), it was 10,000 points for one night. By the time she graduated with her masters 5 years later in 2021, it cost 50,000 points for the same exact room. "
Had you paid for that same room with cash, that would have been 500% inflation. Something you would never do if you weren't using points.
Updating your own frequent guest number
There are two ways to update your number on your own once you receive your confirmation:
1. Contact your hotel's frequent guest program
Your Trip Confirmation from our system includes both a Trip Number and the hotel chain's Confirmation Number. The Confirmation Number (under the blacked out Guest Name) is the one that is for the hotel's own system. When you call them, you will need to provide them with the number. They won't recognize the Trip Number.
Just remember, that as a frequent traveler, you have all the power.
You can vote with your wallet and book another brand if they give you a difficult time. Also, when you signed up for their program, they did not have the ban on 3rd party OTA bookings. That is relatively new.
Alternatively, you can contact the property directly or wait until you check in. Be aware that if you wait until you arrive, the person at the front desk will likely tell you that they can't add it on a third party booking and they won't have the authority to override the policy without talking to a manager.
2. Subscribe to our White Glove Service
This is a new service that we are putting into place, so there are still a few things we are working through to make this easy and affordable for you.
The White Glove Service will be available to our Platinum Level partners and will include:
- Addition of frequent hotel program numbers into your bookings
- Booking services for complex air itineraries
- Booking of leisure travel, such as cruises, groups and tours
- Other concierge services when you travel
For the first item, the goal is to allow you to go on your Client Portal and provide us with your frequent guest program numbers for your favorite brands. When you do a booking in our system, we will automatically have our White Glove Service team contact the hotel chain for you to get your number added to their booking record.
The price for this service has not been finalized, but if you are interested, contact your Account Director and we will make sure to put you on the waiting list for the service so you will be notified as soon as it is launched. You can make your decision then.