Hilton HHonors - Registering individual preferences

According to an interview with Jeffrey Diskin at http://www.colloquy.com/online/past_issues/v7i3/v7i3_qanda.asp , HHonors allow registering certain customer preferences (see quote below):

"And then there are the continuing challenges related to managing the database and segmenting your customer base as best you can - to truly differentiate member requirements in the hotel. If you like bottled water and you're a best customer, you get bottled water, and if you like apple juice, you get apple juice. We maintain profiles of the customers who furnish the information. So much of these programs is about giving customers a reason to raise their hands and say, 'I'm going to be loyal to you.'"

I'd be curious to know which preferences can be registered globally and at each hotel, and how to indicate those (as an example, I much prefer "The Times" instead of "Wall Street Journal" in the mornings...)

Does anyone have any experiences with registering preferences globally with HHonors (except the standard smoking/non-smoking, near elevator et cetera available on the website) or at their favourite hotel?

I know Hilton Amsterdam allows registering your favourite newspaper (choice between a few free ones if you ask spesifically), while Hilton Rotterdam charges for any newspaper delivery except the Wall Street Journal..

quote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"...We maintain profiles of the customers who furnish the information..."
-------------------------------------------------------
I have always carefully listed my desired "Room Preferences" etc on my HH profile page. To date, I have had NO indications in over 8 years any desk clerk at Hilton had ever read them or heeded them. Usually I am given a room totally different. They then change it (most of the time).

I would not tend to believe this standard PR crap if I was you. If you must believe it, I not only can be trusted, but I also have a bridge for sale you may be interesting in buying as an investment. Cheap too.

MisterNice

I'm not currently in the market for a bridge, but it is ever so nice of you to offer, MisterNice! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

There may be something to this profile stuff. While making a reservation over the phone at the HH 800 # a few years back, I mentioned to the CSR that my most important priority was a nonsmoking room. I told her that I'm (mildly) allergic to cigarette smoke and would appreciate it if she would emphasize my request for a nonsmoking room. She said something about putting a note in my permanent record (or words to that effect.) Since that day I have always been given nonsmoking rooms without fail. And once when making a reservation, I started to mention the importance of a nonsmoking room for me and the nice lady said that they already had a record of my request.

My second reason for believing that you can put permanent requests in your profile is that a couple of weeks ago while making another reservation over the phone I was being helped by an extra friendly lady who offered to put in a permanent request for any and all available upgrades. (I'm HH Gold.) I had mentioned that upgrades were fewer and further between these days, or so it seemed, and she said that it might help if she recorded my upgrade request so that it would always show up on my reservations.

We'll see if it helps. In any case, it certainly sounds like there's a way for HH to record some preferences if we ask. Has anyone else had experience with this?

I would not tend to believe this standard PR crap if I was you. If you must believe it, I not only can be trusted, but I also have a bridge for sale you may be interesting in buying as an investment. Cheap too.

:-) I'm not really in the market for a bridge either, but seeing that the same guy is lined up for a FT Chat session in a month and a half or so, I'll be sure to post the question for him to address -- if he says he has it, he'll get the chance to tell us more about this option...