The Scam Some Hotels Run To Get Paid More When You Redeem Points - Other Hotels

The Scam Some Hotels Run To Get Paid More When You Redeem Points

Ben Schlappig — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 23:53:49 +0000

Consumers don’t often think about the economics of how hotels are reimbursed when loyalty program members redeem point for a stay. That brings us to an interesting post on Reddit, where a Hilton employee is asking if they should report their hotel to Hilton corporate for a fraudulent scheme they’re running to get paid more…

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Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.

Mark S. — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:16:05 +0000

What are the high costs associated with points customers?

Nightliner — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:11:23 +0000

I have worked for a different chain - and the reimbursement for stays paid for with points was usually 50% unless the hotel is more or less fully booked (dont remember the exact percentage). This was a programme with fixed monetary redemption value per point. So in some cases, especially when someone decided to use their points on dates where rooms were cheap in the first place, the reimbursement for points was significantly less than the cost to turn the room around. "Gambling" the system didnt occur to my knowledge, but I dont see why the properties shouldnt be allowed to push their occupancy (i.e. via last minute promos or the like) in case this benefits them one way or another.

1990 — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:21:56 +0000

Unless… we actually enforce laws against scamming consumers…

Anthony — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:39:23 +0000

Like any business, if there is a way to do it, they will. And it appears the hotel companies turn a blind eye for this practice. So it will continue.

23H — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 05:05:48 +0000

Easy to prevent this: corporate should provide cash rewards to hotel employees who report this fraud. Most hotel employees aren't paid enough to not collect a 50K reward for information that exposes cheating hotels - but 50K isn't a lot of cash compared to the losses incurred to corporate by repeated fake reservations.

BZ — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:34:33 +0000

I used to work at a Hyatt which was thecl crew hotel for a major international airline. The contract stipulated that when occupancy exceeded 85% then the hotel had the right to charge the airline for the rooms booked for the crew arriving on the following day's early morning flight. The General Manager at the time aggressively pushed us to create dummy reservations on many nights when we were way below 85% occupancy, just so that we could bill the airline for these rooms. Over the years, the airline would have paid millions of dollars for all these extra room nights that they should not have paid for. Sad and unprincipled of the GM, and what a terrible example of dishonesty to set for staff. Looking back, I wish that I had notified the airline discreetly of this.

Indian Hotel Franchises are Guilty. — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 23:07:19 +0000

This why you have Auditors and Corporate Investigators. They should be doing their jobs more effectively.Fines and other penalties should be levied on the said hotels. Almost All Indian Franchise owners are Guilty of that. Inspectors should also look at the Low end Hotels of Running "Hore" Houses.

Marco — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:28:00 +0000

They also do fraud on Hilton daily credit that gold/diamond members have. I stayed at a Tapestry in SF, and when I checked the receipt I found out false restaurant transactions they put there for the purpose of redeeming the 15$ credit per day. I reported that to Hilton but nothing heard from them.

Marek m4rol — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 19:45:43 +0000

Sounds like a managed hotel.