Hilton HHonors - Did the 50k promo make yourself a new Hilton customer

Ever since a bad experience I had at the Palm Springs Hilton back in the 80s, I have avoided Hilton's like the plague.

However, when I saw the 50k (I got gold via another offer) promo this spring, I thought I should give it a whirl again. I was suitably impressed enough with the service that I actually enjoy staying in a variety of Hilton properties, including Hampton Inns, Doubletree etc. So they got me in the door and got me hooked.

I have not had any of the service problems others have had--getting my breakfast/room upgrades with amazing regularity and little pain.

The addition of the flyertalk@hilton.com just made a good thing better. From 0 stays per year to over 16 (I know not a lot) should have been as good for Hilton as it was for me. I would have stayed in more but some destinations that I go to do not offer Hilton properties of any description (e.g. Edmonton--used to have one but not any more).

Any others who came in for the promo and started using them more often?

Absolutely. I still use Priceline most of the time for hotels...the deals are just too good.

But when I am able to find a reasonably good deal I will try to use a Hilton hotel. And I also did several bookings that helped me to qualify for the promotion, even knowing Priceline would save some $$.

I had never stayed at a Hilton until I learned of this promo (Thank you again FT). Within 9 weeks I have 12 stays and 16 nights and several more scheduled. The double miles bonus as well as the points promo has made me a convert. Despite claims of dilution by others, I think this is good marketing by Hilton as they now have a new HHonors member who goes out of their way to use Hilton.

I qualified and so did my wife (maybe I should tell her!)

Combined we have 228,000 points...on the way to 250 and Safari. And 100,000 points was challenge bonus'. (50k for each of us).

Dan

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BlondeBomber:
Any others who came in for the promo and started using them more often?</font>

I'm one. Did the promo this Spring, have been staying at Hilton/Doubletree/Hampton/Embassy ever since (other than a few Priceline stays), and requalified for Gold last month.

With very few exceptions, I've been treated well as a Gold, any any minor problems have been quickly resolved at each property without having to go any further.

I'm pleased with Hilton, HHonors, and count myself as one whose future business has been won via a promotion.

Dittos here. Littleleaguedad and I have 280,000 points between us, will be spending Easter at the HHV, with tickets on HA courtesy of the 20/20 promo, thanks to tips from this board. All this came about because the Courtyard by Marriott near my mom's nursing home was full last June and we had to stay at the dreaded Valley Forge Hilton where they treated us like royalty. Found out about the EWRDC on this board shortly thereafter and now am a loyal Hilton guest as are lots of my in-laws. We have six rooms reserved for a Thanksgiving reunion at the Anaheim Hilton/Disneyland coming up next week.

Me too. Hilton's HHonors promos have definitely influenced my hotel choices both for business and leisure. I'm an EWRDC Gold, aiming for Diamond (via 60 nights) by the end of the year.

But it isn't ONLY the bonus points. Since Hilton bought Promus a couple years ago, the chain has a much broader range of choices. I have often stayed at Embassy Suites (long before they became Hilton), and I have also enjoyed my stays at Homewood Suites, Doubletree, and Hampton Inn. And Hilton too of course.

Kathy

Hilton's consistent bonus structure has solidified my loyalty for the a long time. Not only to I go out of my way to stay in a Hilton property, I espouse the virtues of Hilton to all of my friends and co-worker. I have gone from a "non-Hilton" person to an HHonors Diamond in less than two years. Clearly Hilton is interested in rewarding their most loyal customers. If they continue to demonstrate loyalty to their customers, their customers will reward them with loyalty in kind.

The various 50k promos definitely made me into a new Hilton customer.

I was previously a Marriott customer but for 50k free points, I couldn't resist giving Hilton a try.

It didn't make me a new customer ... but it made me a better customer ... until the obnoxious "energy" surcharges started appearing, and I responded by deliberately booking a lot of non-Hilton properties. So, I'll still end the year requalifying for Gold under the standard qualification ... but falling short of what's needed to advance to Diamond.


[This message has been edited by EPS (edited 11-15-2001).]

I definately sucked me back into the Hilton fold. At least for some of my stays.

And I will say I have been generally pleased with the quality of the Hilton product.

I definetely started using Hilton more because of EWRDC: I signed up in late August and managed to get my 50K bonus and Gold status despite 9/11. Averall I'm quite satisfied with Hilton and Hilton affiliated hotel, although Doubletree in STL could be better...

Definitely YES.

The bonus plus the perk of getting Gold the fast path made me aim the Diamond level, through nights.

Wise marketing decision on their side.

Definitely a new customer here as well. Between EWRDC and the AA 20/20 promo I racked up 14 stays this year, normally my travel patterns don't require staying at a hotel.

I had never taken the time to join a hotel progam until Hilton offered the 50,000 point bonus. I now stay only at Hilton brand properties. Since the bonus program Hilton has received over 50 nights from me.

A related question is if these promos are a revolving door - do you stay with Hilton or would another promo from another hotel chain entice you.

I know of at least one FTer who said that she switched to Hilton (in those days one could get Hilton points in addition to United miles for United flights) - later she switched to Starwood (on a Platinum comp).
http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum57/HTML/000213.html

[This message has been edited by PG (edited 11-15-2001).]

Despite other "offers" and comping at other chains I have stayed.

These promotions and customer service keep me at Hilton.

I had been staying at Marriott on a regular basis before this promotion at Hilton. Hilton has now had 40 stays from me in the past year which would have been at Marriott. So if anyone from Hilton sees this message, your promotion made a signficant change in my travel patterns.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PG:
A related question is if these promos are a revolving door - do you stay with Hilton or would another promo from another hotel chain entice you.</font>

Since I have been pleased with the Hilton product, including the range of accommodation offered by the various brands purchased from Promus, I have little incentive to switch programs. I do have a pile of points with Starwood, but nearly all were transferred from ClickRewards and only some were from Sheraton stays.

Until the last year or two, I didn't really bother that much with hotel loyalty programs. Hilton HHonors has made me a believer with its generous promotions.

Kathy

I was mad at hilton for "handing out Gold cards like candy." But not that I am diamond (at 37 stays so far) I am all in favor of giving out lots of bonus points.

BTW, I HAVE been treated to some spectacular upgrades since 9/11, including a corner suite overlooking the lake at the Drake earlier this week...

YEP and with a couple of trips in the next few weeks I should make Diamond. I only wish they had more Hiltons not HGIs that werent vertical motels.
Seems Marriott still has better hotels,shearton is OK but theyre not where I have to be.
As for VEGAS cant beat Hilton!!

I went from blue to silver in quick time last year. Got the BT2YM Gold... and quickly added another 72+ nights so far in 2001.

Yep, the goodies of Gold are nice, but as soon as you need an award stay that Diamond status comes in nice and handy!!!

I have signed up over ten people they all look for Hamptons or Hilton's now. And it's like Amway I keep racking up lots of referrel points.

In a word, yes. I can honestly say that since I have become Gold, I have always received room upgrades, free breakfasts, and occasional in room welcome gifts upon check-in. I think Hilton has a winner here.

Yes, made me switch from Marriot to Hilton. So far I have been happy and plan on staying with Hilton.

------------------
Sagy

the EWRDC got me too! a former disgruntled Marriott customer and now a happy HHilton Customer.

Hilton kept this diamond member very happy, and stopped me staying at any other properties as Virgin only reward fully non Hampton Inn and Garden Inn stays.

Cant wait for next promo - will have to do a lot of stays

I have to admit that when the 50k promos started I thought I'd just earn some quick points. I have been splitting my time evenly between Hilton, and Hyatt/Starwood ever since. What made me more of a Hilton customer was not just the 50k however. It was the 50k combined with:

1. Better treatment of elites than Marriott.
2. Marriott's *******ization of their rewards offered.

So, I guess to answer the question directly, yes but there were other factors involved as well.

First, excellent question!

Hilton and its family of hotels is always my first choice now that Marriott has decided to destroy their awards program by upping the points required, without any opportunity to realistically increase the points you can earn.

The answer to your question is therefore, self-evident for while Marriott has been messing up their program, Hilton has been making it more lucrative to earn points and status by staying at their hotels. Given that their hotel portfolio now covers a very braod spectrum of properties, they are and will remain for the forseeable future, the number one hotel chain for me.

I had previously avoided Hilton in favor of Hyatt or Marriott, and even Radisson, before the 50K bonus; found I liked the Gold VIP program so much that I'm trying to make Diamond before year end.

Hilton hit the jackpot with me: instead of my usual 3-5 stays per year, it's going to be 28 if I can swing it.

The 50K promotion help greatly, but the earlier key factor for me (in addition the others already mentioned) was the addition of the former Promus brands (Doubletree, Hampton Inn) etc. to the Hilton program.

The promos certainly made me a better Hilton customer. I used to spread my stays between Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton - depending on the location and price. Now I check Hilton first and only if they're considerable more expensive will I stay at one of the other two.

To me Hiltons best asset is their wide selection to choose from. its not the double dip either as miles on an airline are the last thing I need (well except for elite qualifying miles) There promos only made me adjust my stays to collect the points as fast as possible. I am actually turned off by the way they dole out Gold Cards like candy at Halloween. I am first a Marriott customer and Hilton 2nd. However I still stay enough at Hilton to make Diamond year after year but again its not the promos as much as it is the selection to choose from.

I do believe my service at Marriott is better but the choice is better here at Hilton especially in the smaller cities and urban areas. I love hampton inn joining this program, what a life saver. That was a great move by Hilton

Absolutely...I do not travel and stay in hotels much. Since this promotion, between me and my wife, we have 7 stays and about 20 nights already...I must admit a big portion of those were in nearby Hiltons for some quality time and shopping (arghh)...I will surprise my wife with the Hawai reward when we hit 100k points (coming soon, two more stays scheduled already)...I am hooked, why go anywhere else...DoubleDipmeanytime http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Yep. Before I stayed at whatever hotel was around (though often Extended Stay America). Now I stay mostly at Hampton Inns, with a few other Hilton brands sprinkled in, as much as I can. Usually they're price competitive.

In fact, in Europe I stayed at a $150/night Hilton in Prague for three nights, which I hadn't at all planned. But I knew I could get on the concierge floor and, after trekking around the less Westernized areas of Eastern Europe, I really "needed" a concierge floor.

I think I've got about 25 nights since I started with them on the EWDC (or whatever it was called) promotion. That's about 15 stays.

Yes. I was loyal to Marriott for years with a very similar travel pattern with either Courtyard or Marriott hotels. FT actually turned me on to the promotion and I started staying at Homewoods and Hamptons. Aside from a couple of newer Courtyards, I have found the Hilton product to be newer, cleaner and generally friendlier than the Marriott chains. Cashing in my bulk of Marriott points for a week in Kauai made the transition even easier. I just made Diamond from travel in 2001 and look forward to a "peak" week somewhere nice without blackout dates.

Yes, It worked wonders. In previous years I never was loyal to any one hotel chain. This year I will have done 40-45 nights with Hilton due to the bonuses. Smart move on Hiltons part.

Absolutely. The Gold promo was a central ingredient of taking my parents to London this year, both for the 54k points as well as the VIP ALON awards. It meant that we got an extra three nights free for each of our two rooms, and my parents got upgraded to a Junior Suite.

I still use Priceline for a majority of my work trips, and some of those translate into HHonors stay credit w/o points. But I've moved most of my non-PL trips to Hilton whenever they are close on price and location. I just finished requalifying for Gold over the last few weeks with a HGI and two Hampton Inn stays.

As my job responsibilities shift during 2002 and PL becomes less feasible for many trips, I fully expect to make Diamond next year.

Now if Hilton would just get up to speed with Wyndham and Amerisuites and start putting high-speed laptop connections in 100% of their properties, at least for some brand names like HGI....

Yep, and it paid off for them as I earned my Gold for next year the hard way.

Like not a few here, I took advantage of these two promos for defensive reasons, having been an HHonors member for over a decade, slowly amassing and using points over that time. But it was too much of an outrage to see these promos come up and offer as many points in four stays to newcomers as regular Hilton users might see in a year of stays, even for those like myself who achieved Gold regularly.

But things have also changed at Hilton. My stays for the past 20-years had tended to be at Hilton Internaitonal properties, which were at a quite different quality level around the world, than were Hiltons in the US. For the most part, the US properties were shabby and inconsistent, with only a few stars which reached the level of the International properties -- all consistently high quality -- or competitors like Westin and IC [Sheraton had the same problem vis a vis quality found within the US properties and those overseas].

Hilton has generally raised the standard of its US properties, and of course diversified the range of mid and low cost brands. This obviously helped make them a more accessible program and chain to use.

However, I still find the web site impossible to use, and among the worst of all the major chains. That more than anything would be responsible for my not using these properties as much as I might have this year, beyond the two 50K promos.

I did not make enough stays to requalify for Gold -- having been Gold when I enrolled in both these bonus programs, I did not benefit from the additional year, just the points -- and have not received an email indicating I will be renewed next year at the same status when my current level expires in April 2002. However, as an AC SuperElite, I should be comp'd Gold status once again.

Yes, since the 50k promotion I definitely have a preference for Hilton properties.

You can add me to the list. I had around 28 nights this year all due to the 50K promo and instant gold status. Marriott is still my first choice, but Hilton is now my second.

I did the 50K promo in 99 and it resulted in turning over 90% of my business over to Hilton. Diamond ever since, with an average of 100+ nights a year.

I switched to Hilton this year after registering for the promo and hit Diamond in September. My only recommendation is that they comp Silver for any future promos, not Gold. Hilton diluted the value of Gold significantly, in my opinion. For those people that go out and earn Gold the hard way, it's not fair and it could backfire on Hilton in the long run.

My wife and I are upe over 20 stays with Hilton this year, almost all thanks to these promos (we'd probably have had 5 without). As a Starwood Platinum I try to always stay with Starwood. But there are Hilton brands lots of places where there are no Starwoods, and in some cases we've stayed with Hilton in cities where there were Starwoods just to take advantage of these promos.

BUT, when it comes to actually USING the points I have been disappointed. We tried to use them on our recent 2 weeks in Italy for a stay at the Rome Hilton, but were told there were no dates available at all for points stays, even though they had plenty of rooms. We did use points one night at the Rome Airport Hilton, but I was shocked that it was 30,000 points. We could have paid for the room for about $150, so that means the points are not worth much. On the same trip we used 56,000 Starpoints to get 5 nights at the Gritti Palace, in a huge suite when their going rate was $300 for the cheapest room. So, that means that 56,000 Starpoints were worth $1500 (much more if you added taxes). While 30,000 Hilton points were worth just over $150, meaning a Starpoint is worth more than 5 HHonors points... That will make me think twice about doing these promos again, if we cannot actually get free stays when and where we want or for a reasonable number of points.

Yes, definitely. We normally concentrate our stays (mostly on vacation) to Marriotts or Starwoods.

Except for 2 weeks stayed at Walt Disney World hotels (Beach Club & Polynesian) this year, we have only used members of the Hilton family of hotels this year.

You can say that we've been converted http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Mary

In general I used the best priced hotel between Marriott & Hilton. Now I use Hilton all of the time due to the upgrades that come with gold. I know there is not a guarantee, but I get upgrades most of the time. I have four Hilton reservations now between the Holidays and the summer for our family that I might or might not have made with them before this promotion.

The promos got me to consolidate my stays to Hilton properties. As long as they keep things as they are now, I'll continue to book with Hilton.