submonte

Yes, I am interested.

jamesteroh

I'm interested.

I didn't attend the Delta meet up but something I thought was cool that I read they did was allowing the participants to act as gate agents.

I would love it if participants could do that as front desk clerks or shadow them for an hour or so to see what all is involved with their jobs and how they handle giving out upgrades, etc.

BotB

^ great news (to the first point you mentioned and I hope it will be fruitful for both the members of FT as well as for Hilton). Thanks to Hilton for doing this and taking FT as a serious source of feedback and communication with its membership.

Thanks also for your question Canarsie (and for all of your continuing thankless work on FT if I might mention that as well).

Would I attend: Yes, I would even consider flying to another continent to attend if enough notice was available to book suitable flights AND the event program was of suitable interest/use (if this is a one location / one time event rather than one common programme that is held in several different geographic regions.)

Thoughts on what should be included in this event/other points:

I imagine that it would be helpful to give Hilton feedback on the program in some form of interaction (ultimately to give them a SWOT analysis from the customer perspective) making it useful for them I hope to do the event. It would also be a great way to provide feedback about what we feel works well and what could be improved.

Personally, I would want to hear about future plans for the chain as well as loyalty program. For example is the main focus still in China? What are the plans for the future for an increasing loyalty base? How will they differentiate between mid and top tier?

I would love to hear about how bookings are managed and what the official upgrade policy is and how it takes place before I show up at a hotel (or does it not happen until that point)...how does the process change with the changing situation during the day?

It would be good to do some 'walk through' of the back offices of a Hotel and understand the complexity of the whole operation to better understand where we fit in and to have better empathy for the hotel owner/operator.

Some form of interaction regarding promotions for the coming year and how to make sure members remain 'loyal' after achieving status would be of use to both sides. Maybe they could even consider running the first promotion of the year from the feedback the attendees give.

Some feedback from Hilton about how they 'value' members (and I don't mean the tier one has)...is it simply based on spend during the visit? Is it total stays at that hotel? Do they use/care about incidental spend done during the stay? Is it the average price per night that the member pays?

Some time with the app programmers would be good to discuss what works and what doesn't and what could be useful / cool new features

Hope that provides some starting point in addition to your own thoughts Canarsie and I hope others will pick up on some of the points or add more.

One question to you if you will though: I know this is a bit chicken and egg situation regarding interest, however, without any date I fear you will get unqualified 'yes' from a reasonable number of people, especially without any knowledge of whether it is one event to be held in the USA or several regional events. Would it be of use to ask such questions in a poll? (one location in US or regional and potential dates (could even be quarters of the year?)

Hopefully food for thought, a great idea and I'd be willing to help if desired.

EDIT: two other points for consideration would be:

-what training do hotel staff get and what awareness do they get of their frequent guests?

-a good venue for the event(s) could be a new opening Hilton/Conrad/WA hotel (so they are full service and can show more) just before the opening to the public or at least soon after opening?

Thanks. ^

Canarsie

I just want to remind everyone that an event is under consideration and not a definite plan at this time.

This is actually the earliest stage should it occur, which is why feedback and interest is being gauged.That was already briefly discussed and under consideration — should this event occur.I greatly appreciate your feedback, BotB. Thank you.

Miesque

Any general idea of the location for such an event? I assumed it would most likely be Headquarters which is just two doors down from the McLean Hilton (which by the way I highly recommend) or one of the main US cities (NYC, LA, Chicago etc).

Abidjan

I'd be in, too. Thanks so much.

Michael19887

This sounds like a lot of fun, and I would definitely be in if my schedule allows! Likewise, I'm happy to help with planning as well.

angra

Very interested

etsmyers

In, and very willing to help organize

sebastiansw3

I'd certainly try and attend - schedule permitting.

jhalapin

I'd be in for this if my schedule permits.

groundops

Would be interested in attending if not in US. Will not travel to US for this.

isle-hawg

I would be happy to attend!

Friendly Traveling Deathmerchant

I'm intrigued. Schedule permitting, and if it's CONUS, I'd try to pop in.

NYC2TheWorld

Definitely interested