Do you get hotel reward points when charges are reversed?

So I recently completed a hotel assignment for Regal Hospitality and my folio charges were reversed by the client. Should I be expecting the reward points and stay credit to be posted to my frequent stay account for the hotel company? I honestly can't remember if I get the points or if I am out of luck. Its been 10 days since I did the shop and nothing has posted yet. I am hesitant to contact the hotel company because my record will show the charges were reversed and it may raise a red flag regarding my status as a shopper. Any thoughts?

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I have received them.

You will get the rewards points for the stay but not for the charges to your rewards credit card. I do a lot of hotel shops where the charges are reversed. However, it "pay" to seek out hotel shops where you get reimbursed because you will be getting twice (or more) the points on those. And, those points are really untaxed income, so worth more than a taxable fee of the same face value.

Also, most rewards programs take more than 10 days to post new points.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

What an interesting question! Thank you.

Thanks for the info,. Based on the feedback I think I will go ahead and submit a missing stay inquiry with the hotel company. It has not yet been 10 BUSINESS days since I checked out and that is the minimum time they suggest waiting before filing an inquiry. Does anyone know if there is a way of determining in advance which properties will reverse charges and which ones will be reimbursed? The listings from the MSC don't usually reveal that information.

Hmm I would not do that. They’ll need to look up your folio which shows it was reversed.

I've done over 30 hotel shops that have had charges reversed. I always get the points.

OHGuy, Sorry, I hit caps lock.
NOT a good idea to contact the hotel or the rewRDA FOLKS YET !!!

wHAT YOU DO NEED TO DO IS WAIT THE APPROPRIATE LENGTH OF TIME AS SPECIFIED BY THE msc GUIDELINES AND THEN CONTACT THE msc TO FIND OUT WHAT IS UP.

btw, i HAVE never, IN 14 YEARS NOT BEEN TOLD WHETHER THE CHARGES WILL BE REIMBURSED OR REVERSED !! cHECK YOUR SHOP GUIDELINES AGAIN.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I've had one eval where I did not receive the points and it was the time that the property reversed the charges literally the day after I checked out. They were so fast that they got out ahead of the rewards system.

______________________________________________________________________
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

I've had three cases where I did not get points - one at a Doubletree (Hilton Honors), one at a Hyatt Regency, and one at a Ritz Carlton (that last one stung because it would have been a lot of points)…. On the other hand, I have received the points in probably close to 200 cases.

It is not guaranteed you will get the points, but it is pretty likely. If you don't get them though you cannot request them. That's an unspoken rule.

@OHGuy wrote:

I am hesitant to contact the hotel company because my record will show the charges were reversed and it may raise a red flag regarding my status as a shopper. Any thoughts?

If I were in your shoes, I would not contact the hotel company not only because it might raise a red flag, but because it would be against industry practice for a shopper to contact the client AND it would be fraudulent (IMO) to try to claim reward points when charges were reversed.

OK, thanks for the feedback. My mind has been changed. I will suck it up and go without the points. I know that many on this forum do these shops for the experience afforded from staying at nice properties. I'm not one of those people. I do it for the fee + points + stay credits that keep me at an elevated elite status at the various hotel brands. When the points and stay credit are not part of the compensation, then it makes the whole work vs. reward equation seem out of balance. I will trust that this was an anomaly and soldier on.

In 15 years of hotel evaluations there's only been twice I didn't get the points...so sometimes it just rolls that way.

I was wondering the same thing the first time I had a stay that got reversed. I am eager to find more companies that will reimburse instead. So far, so good on receiving points. I think of it as a bonus though so I would never ask for them. We are never supposed to contact the client for customer service requests unless cleared by the MSC. That would be for something more essential that needs to be addressed.

From my experience, even the MSC can't say for sure if the hotel is going to reverse or reimburse the charges. It seems to be up to the hotel's accounting department.

From my experience, the shop guidelines will tell you which will happen.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I'm going to hijack this thread to reminisce on my most lucrative hotel point assignment, which does not exist anymore. It was a two-nighter at a local hotel. It involved a lot of work, and I always came out of it completely exhausted, but in one stay I made 72,000 points due to promotional offers and netted over 160,000 points that year. To tie it in to this thread, the charges were always reversed, and I always got the points.

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Do you get hotel reward points when charges are reversed?

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