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 charge.
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 when using the gift card at checkout there are no problems. However, many, many people are having issues even when using it out 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.
Update: it seems that if you have the front desk run the gift card as a credit card, not as a gift card, that would obviate the processing issues. Another idea mentioned in the comments is to add the gift card to Apple Pay and that often helps it process properly.
Reading all the comments, I think the only possibility of success is: at checkout ask the front desk to run your gift cards as a credit card. That is the only thing in these comments that seems to work. Do not tell the desk it’s a gift card, that seems to lead to a different process that ends up running a 15% hold before running the real charge on the card. To make this process easier, load the GC to apple wallet if the hotel can take payment from your phone. (I haven’t tried this yet, just summarizing what i’m reading).
Have you tried this?
I just did this and can confirm it worked. Told the front desk that I wanted to split my bill on two credit cards – did not even mention that I had a GC. Swiped the Amex GC myself on the card terminal, saw ‘Approved’, signed, and the balance went on the Amex Surpass. No problems. This was a smaller “boutique” property flagged under Hilton’s Tapestry Collection.
But aren’t we talking about Hilton gift cards, not Amex gift cards?
The Hilton GC is an Amex prepaid card that can be run as an Amex credit card on the card terminal, presumably locked for use at Hilton properties only.
Decided to test the limits today — loaded a Hilton GC on my phone (Apple Pay). Showed as a regular Amex gift card. Tried to use it to pay for a $25 item at the grocery store (on a full $50 card). Didn’t work — terminal said “transaction declined.”
All this together supports your statement of how it works (Propaganda)
Tried this last week at a Hilton in New Zealand and it worked. Haven’t heard any negative DPs yet so I think this process is reliable.
New DP: just yesterday tried to use six $50 cards and six $25 cards at checkout at the Waldorf Los Cabos. One of the $50 cards worked as did one of the $25 cards. The desk clerk who seemed to know what she was doing, said that none of the cards with expiration dates of 2033 are working. The two cards that worked on her system were the ones with expiration dates in 2031. Also interesting is that that hotel is usually populated by 90% gold and diamond guests, who know what they’re doing with points and using quarterly Hilton credits. So she sees multiple gift cards being requested to cash out every day.
Anyone get Hilton GC worked at Japan? Haven’t try the *credit card* way or load it to Apple wallet but trying to see if there is any DPs, thanks! Last time when I tried, they help to swipe 8 of my Hilton GCs and none of it works.. lol
Waldorf-Astoria Chicago …
Data point, 12/31/24: had some small Hilton gift cards ($25 each) and a $35 bill on checkout. Asked to put $25 on a “credit card” … swiped the $25 Hilton GC … approved.
Asked to put the balance on a “credit card” … swiped the other $25 Hilton GC … approved.
I verified with desk clerk that she clicked “credit card” for payment type and she confirmed. Clearly asking to put the partial amount on a “credit card” is the way to go.
I am reading comments about credit card vs gift card, but I haven’t stayed at Hilton in a while and am not clear on how to do this for a future trip. Can I purchase a prepaid card at a local Hilton for $50 this month and then use it next quarter when I will be staying at one while traveling? Thanks.
Yes, but not all Hiltons sell gift cards. We’re mostly talking about gift cards bought from the BuyHiltonGiftCards website.
To those who have run the gift cards as a credit card, did you tell them it was a $50 credit card payment or did you just swipe it and it auto deducted $50? Just wondering if I need to tell the front desk person that I need it run as a $50 credit card? Thanks everyone
Tell them it is a credit card and better still swipe it yourself on the card terminal!
Nothing magical. These Hilton are just Amex GC, and like all Amex GC they’d better charged as Credit card.
If this is true, are they somehow flagged to only work at Hiltons?
Or could we have been using these at the grocery store all along?
I agree with the other commenters who seem to think the key is to have the hotel run these as a credit card. Used one recently with no issues as a “credit card.”
Hilton gift cards are PITA. Hard to use because of 15% hold, Most international hotels, I have been to they don’t accept even during checkout… sigh. Why amex and hilton are even using gift card???
However, I tried to load the Hilton gift cards in my Apple wallet, and I see this registered as Amex gift card, not Hilton. The online balance checker also recognises as Amex Gift card, I am wondering, if this can be used somewhere else, other than hotel, probably no, but just curious
Did you try it out?
At checkout, Hampton Inn, Las Vegas, just stated I wanted to split payment, $50 on one card, balance on the other. Just ran it through card reader as a credit card, and $50 taken immediately with no issues. Didn’t mention the words “gift card”. The documentation that came with card states it is a prepaid card. Used it as a such, ran as a credit card with no issues whatsoever. Good hunting!
I have tried to use at several hiltons internationally, all fail, except one. Tried checkout, at checkin. Every staff person has never seen them. I call Diamond desk, they ask where i bought them, never heard of them. One csr said, “I believe hilton discontinued those. I have a memo about it.” I contact hotels in advance, ask them to call hilton gift card help line, makes no difference. Help line tells them gift cards only work in the U.S. Tried smaller charges. Fail. I have 9 cards. All fail. Balance check, all full balance. One hilton in cancun worked, took 25 minutes of multiple managers. One told me to run as credit. I tell other hiltons this. Fail. Best fail response, hilton in strasbourg manager gave me 20k in points. I told them individual hiltons are losing business. What a s**t show.
Same here. I tried it at the Conrad Bangkok, they said Hilton stopped issuing those years ago, and they couldn’t accept it. Tried it at check-in at the Homewood Suites Macon-North, the agent ran them several times on both terminals, neither worked. Same with the Doubletree Druid Hills. I can’t resell them on gc portals; zero demand (surprise). Add me to the list of disgruntled users, because Amex/Hilton dropped the ball on this. They should be usable at face value, with no added fees/holds to cause an overage rejection. I was resolved to using them only for hotel dining/spa/other services for upcoming stays with Conrad/HGV until this thread. Thought I was the only one who couldn’t figure out how to work this. Thanks!