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MMMondayMemo: Hilton’s Digital Key
Each Monday, Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet. This week’s MMMondayMemo focuses on Hilton’s Digital Key tips.
I recently had the opportunity to stay at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. It offers a digital key.
FYI, Digital Keys essentially turn your phone into your room key. You can check in on your phone, select your exact room, and then have your smartphone serve as your room key. Pretty awesome. Over 200 hotels in the Hilton family offer digital keys. You can check out the list here.
The problem is I made a mistake. I had been offered a special upgrade opportunity ahead of my stay. I thought if I checked-in and picked a room that it may ruin my chances at the special upgrade. This isn’t the case. The two are mutually exclusive, but I didn’t know this at the time.
My special upgrades offers…
Don’t make my mistake – I should have just chosen my room. Received my digital key, and then accepted my special upgrade on arrival
And like the app shows below…you’re given options to pick your room. I really liked it.
Then when I checked-in, I requested a digital key. It couldn’t be done.
I was told that digital keys could only be issued “in-app.” Perhaps this was a one -off with the Seelbach, but I was told that the systems only support a digital key being issued in-app and during online check-in.
UGH. Don’t make my mistake, and lemme know what you think of digital keys.
It appears that the room associated with the digital key can be changed, but it can’t be issued. So, if you’re in my situation and bidding on a special upgrade, go ahead and check-in, accept your digital key, and then let the front desk change it around.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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