Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

Bernadene
Explorer C

Hoping that someone can help me to understand why it is so hard to obtain rewards points from participating hotels on the southwest hotels.com.   Not sure if I don't understand the process but ALL I get is the run around from the hotels telling me that there is nothing they can do since the bookings are made through a third party (Southwesthotels.com.....booking.com).    Southwest has been less than helpful telling me that I need to go direct with the hotels, hotels tell me to contact Southwest, it is just insane.     I have close to 30 days worth of hotel stays from Florida and Texas, Hiltons and Hyatts and I get no where.    I am hoping that someone can help me understand because none of it is making sense.

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

bec102896
Aviator A

How long has it been since the stay(s) we’re completed? If more than 8 weeks I recommend reaching out to customer relations at 855-234-4654 and hopefully they can investigate and get you the points. Keep in mind some hotels you will only earn a few hundred points so it may have posted and you may not notice it so I’d double check your account activity just in case. 

 

-Blake 

Re: Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

Bernadene
Explorer C
Solution

My recent stay in Atlanta was only three weeks ago, the trips to Austin, San Antonio in Tampa range from the summer to the winter of 2019.   I will definitely call customer relations. I’ve tried often on for quite some time to get this resolved and it seems as though everyone is pointing the finger somewhere else. It’s also become apparent to me that the hotels don’t seem to have a good handle on the process. Thank you so much

Re: Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

SWDigits
Aviator A

Are you able to see your stays on the southwesthotels.com site using this link?

https://secure.southwesthotels.com/content/cs.html

 

As you referenced it's booking.com you're dealing with so I'd start there.  Assuming you have a good paper trail of your activity the folks at booking.com should then notify Southwest to post the Rapid Rewards points to your Southwest account.  If booking.com says they sent the points but Southwest doesn't have a record then check to make sure booking.com has your correct Southwest Rapid Rewards number.  I'm going to guess you'll find the root cause with one of these two steps.

 

Note that I didn't mention the hotels in any of this.

 

Here is some more background information -- I don't work for Southwest but I'm pretty familiar with the travel industry and general processes.  My educated guesses follow:

 

If you use booking.com to book your hotel with any of the chains you mention then booking.com receives a commission payment from the hotel after you complete your stay.  At this point the hotels are done, they paid the commission and what happens from there doesn't concern them as they've met their obligation to the booking agent, in this case booking.com

 

I'm guessing that booking.com uses the cash commission payment they received from the hotel to buy points from Southwest.  They probably buy points in bulk in advance so they aren't waiting until you stay, I'm just trying to show the chain of cash/points movement in a way that hopefully makes sense.  Booking.com takes the points they've purchased and tells Southwest to move some of them to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account.  Repeat the process each time you stay.

 

You pay the hotel cash for your stay --> the hotel pays a commission to booking.com --> booking.com takes the cash to buy points from Southwest & send the points to your Rapid Rewards account.

 

Hopefully this makes sense and you're able to get a straight answer from booking.com.  If they give you the run around then I'd get in touch with the Southwest Customer Relations team and follow up with a letter in the mail (see the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the forum pages).


Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

Bernadene
Explorer C

I get error messages when I try to click on that link whether I try to sign in or create an account – either direction.   I have a paper trail with booking.com whether it’s emails or screenshots that I took reflecting the points I should have received. Really appreciate the information you have sent and I will try the link from my laptop tomorrow as well as Follow up with booking.com. Thank you thank you, hopefully the suggestions I’m getting will get me in the right direction.

Re: Problems getting rewards points on hotels - Just don't understand

jksobonya
Aviator A

When you book your hotel reservation make sure to enter your Rapid Rewards number during checkout - if you don't do this, there is no way for them to give you your points. I've never had a problem with my points posting, it typically takes a few weeks but in some rare cases they will post just a few days after check out is complete.

 

--Jessica