My 2 cents worth is I focus on what property is best suited for my needs regardless of its Reward Program. I stay a Hiltons around 150 nights a year, tried Starwood for one year, got status match, treated great, but their properties just were not convenient. When I work a show for 10 hours and a Hilton Garden is across the street I am not going to drive 22 miles to stay at a Starwood. Having been a Diamond for over 10 years I have always been treated decent, and I guess thats all I ask.
Have two stays in Hiltons at the end of this month. Waiting for the bomb to finally drop before making the final decision to move over to SPG. Our corporate hotels are Hiltons so moving will require some creative inputting into our travel system. Never say never, but It's looking like its time to leave.
Location: California; DO-RAGS: Old Gold tagged, PIP, LatPass 1/2, AA 3MM, HH Diamond, *Wood Gold, Omni
Posts: 4,302
Ok, I am open to switching, but: my Diamond status is based on Amex spending (and I spend a good deal more on my *wood Amex). That said, does Hyatt, Marriott or Priority have top tier status based on credit card spending—a cursory look didn’t reveal that benefit?
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Never used an emoticon, never will.
This is yet another confirmation to me that the cost to acquire HHonors Diamond is excessive when: given the lack of distinction between Diamond and Gold in an environment where there is such a low cost to acquiring HHonors Gold; and given so many major HHonors points devaluations over the course of the past several years.
Jailer, Hyatt doesn't have an affiliated credit card so acquiring Diamond status from spending on a credit card doesn't happen unless it involves staying at Hyatt hotels. Priority Club top-tier status is achievable with credit card spending on the affiliated credit card.
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This game is not as much fun as it used to be: 2008/2009 Frequent Flyer Program Fleecing Award goes to Delta Airlines
Programs: Severals Golds (BA, BD, AB and LH), Highest tier with HH, SPG and ICRA, lawyer, sometimes a nice guy
Posts: 4,947
Just one further remark: All this "less-promotions-higher-burning-rate" arguments forget about one important issue: There are some people that are more interested in rates than in points. Hilton had and still has great rate promotions (currently PR13CB, PR24VC).
I told my Westin people in my favorite destinations (40 nights in that town in 2009 in three hotels) that I won't stay one further night unless they do something about the rates. My normal Hilton rate under PR24VC is 153 Euro (or even lower under PR13CB), the best I can get with the Westin is 189 Euro. Both hotels are pretty similar qualitywise. All these nice points are not freebies but one needs to pay for it. And I certainly prefer a decent rate at the beginning.
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Do not feel offended by my posts - remember, I am a simple minded litigation lawyer.
Programs: DL GM, US SE, SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond, HH Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 591
Count me on the "no more" list. No worthwhile promos, the loss of rolling qualification, point devaluation, lack of meaningful differentiation between Diamond and Gold, lack of recognition of Diamond status at many properties, and a paucity of properties where I actually want to use my points leaves very little value in the program for me going forward.
I have status matched to Hyatt and canceled my one upcoming Hilton stay. I will no longer be spending on my HHonors Surpass card, and will likely cancel it when I burn through my >500k points.
Flyertalk Evangelist and Moderator: Talkboard Topics, Coupon Connection and Travel Products
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Medway, MA (suburb of Boston)
Programs: American Gold, United 1K, Marriott Platinum Elite, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold
Posts: 14,185
What this does for me is just guarantees that I will use Priceline for more and more stays.
For example, I am at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Warwick, RI this week. On their site, each night would be $115. I got it on priceline.com (and pretty much knew it would be this hotel) for $34 a night. Tell me why I would not drive to priceline? Especially given the major devaluation of points that is going on during this economic crisis.
I am as upset as the next person in this thread, but we all need to remember that we are effectively a very very small percentage of what has to be the total number of Hilton Honors Members. Even that being said, we are all almost certainly unverified complainants. As much as we all like to tout our status, lets remember we are just nameless people behind internet nicknames. You could register 100 accounts here and complain on them all claiming whatever level you wish. Thus I am sure the general complaints here are taken with a grain of salt in the grand scheme of things.
If you really want to lodge a complaint, I would imagine a call to the Honors desk, especially the Diamond Desk, or better yet a personal letter would serve much more weight that want can be accomplished here. Perhaps the HHonors Rep can enlighten us as to the best way to express our dissatisfaction with these changes.
Mia
Hilton Honors Diamond
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Owner
This year, really? Global demand for hotel stays is down this year compared to even last year and that is showing up in occupancy and/or room rates being lower overall. This economic situation has lead to hotels competing harder for business, and one of the ways hotels are doing that is in the form of more and/or richer promotions. Has Hilton dropped its hotel rates more than other hotel brands running more and/or richer promotions?
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This game is not as much fun as it used to be: 2008/2009 Frequent Flyer Program Fleecing Award goes to Delta Airlines
Programs: UA 1P, WN A-List, AA GLD/MM, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Diamond, National EExecElite
Posts: 8,603
Quote:
Originally Posted by wharvey
What this does for me is just guarantees that I will use Priceline for more and more stays.
For example, I am at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Warwick, RI this week. On their site, each night would be $115. I got it on priceline.com (and pretty much knew it would be this hotel) for $34 a night. Tell me why I would not drive to priceline? Especially given the major devaluation of points that is going on during this economic crisis.
Just makes no sense.
Same boat here. Mine was $125 for a mid-week multi-night stay at the Homewood Chapel Hill, vs. $55 for PL where I was awarded the same property. I am going to have to do a couple of Hilton mattress runs for Diamond, and it's such a low bar that I'd be stupid not to do it. [Amazingly, I'm using my PL savings from multi-night stays earlier in the year to fund it, and I'm still ahead of the game.]
Most places I visit for work are smaller cities where the price has inflated over the last 4-5 years from $80+tax up to $119+tax. At this point, after 1/1, I'm going to be inclined (if there is no Hyatt) to bid up to $65/3.5* and $50/3* across the board.
Will I unilaterally give up Hilton? No.
Will I drop from Diamond to Gold? Most likely.
Will I drop from Diamond to Silver? Maybe, but depends on work travel patterns.
Will I move spending from AMEX Hilton to AMEX SPG? Already done.
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What would happen if Imagineers from Disney designed the security line? Why not let them try? - Seth Godin
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, UA 1K, MR Plat, HH/SPG Gold
Posts: 17,820
Quote:
Originally Posted by wharvey
I am curious... what place is that?
All the programs are devaluating their program.
I have not redeemed SPG yet this year, but from what I gather reading threads in the past day or two (mainly regarding HHonors) they've actually reducing some hotel categories and increased promotions. So I think it's reasonable to say that SPG has not devalued the program in 2009.
Marriott is a bit more subjective. They altered their structure in early 2009, a move that effectively requires me to spend 8% more to achieve my favorite award (a Travel Package). In exchange, they dumped the capacity controls and blackout dates. My personal take on this is that you will benefit if you seek out a popular property in "shoulder peak" season. Hotels can still game the system in max-peak periods and in off-peak periods I never really had an availability complaint with Marriott. They also now allow MVCI's in the Travel Packages, but they took away the best standalone 7-night 2-bedroom suite awards. In any case, I look at it as a slight devaluation - not a major one.
This Hilton devaluation is smelling like 20 to 29 percent to me. They will have to adjust categories significantly in December/January (returning a large number of current Cat 5's and 6's to their 2009 Categories) for me to consider this a "mild" (3 to 5 percent) devaluation.
The structural changes to HHonors don't bother me. The systemwide Category Creep - everything up one level (especially in the 5-6 range) - is the problem.
I'll wait and see. I'm MR Plat but definitely converting my 2010 business to a stay-based program: either SPG or HH. Right now, I'm leaning towards SPG for stays with just enough HH Amex use to keep a good status here. If the December/January categories are reset more fairly, I will consider going total HH in 2010.
I am a diamond with Hilton, and as much as I would love to go to SPG, they don't have as many convenient hotels as Hilton does (Hampton Inns are everywhere)
I guess I could switch to Marriot, but I best use those 600K points I have with them
Which next year will be good enough for two nights at a Hampton Inn
