What Honors status information do hotel staff see at check-in?

When I check into a Hilton-family hotel, I always wonder what sort of information staff at the check-in desk are able to bring up on their screen with respect to my Hilton Honors status. My wife was recently talking to a staff member at a Hilton where I stay frequently and that person was able to bring up information showing that I was the 9th best guest (by revenue, I assume) at that property. That kind of made my day, but it doesn't take much to impress me.

But, if I check into a Hilton family property for the first time, does the agent see any relevant information about my Hilton Honors status (e.g., number of days spent at Hilton properties, amount spent) beyond just my membership level?

I've checked the FAQ and done a forum search, but haven't come up with a thread addressing this, although I could very likely be using the wrong keywords for a search.

Oops: I just found a thread sort of dealing with this: "Check-in agent can see your lifetime no. of nights."

I know they can see points,membership tier status and I think at least the last stay at their property.

There is a program for the front office called CRM (customer relationship management) which lists all the best guests that are arriving that day. Sort of their way of determining how they allocate upgrades, and so forth.

When Hilton went to the OnQ system in 2000 it was all over the computer and data trade magazines what a huge step it was. Their goal was pretty simple, collect data on 15 million customers (hhonors members or not) and translate that into prompts and scores that the front desk could use when you show up. How they greet you (Welcome back to our Hampton Mr Smith or Welcome to Hilton Hotels Mr Smith) to how much they should go out of their way for you based on your past history with them.

as one story said a few years ago:


The system sifts and sorts customers, spitting out lists ranking new arrivals in order of their value to Hilton -- how often they stay with the company and how much they spend. Once a guest is identified at the front desk, the clerk will be prompted with the correct perky way to greet them -- "I see this is your first time at an Embassy Suites. Let me tell you about our made-to-order breakfast," for instance. They may be prompted to politely nudge a guest who is close to the threshold of a higher loyalty level.

A clerk at Hilton's Waldorf Astoria in New York might be prompted to apologize that a guest's room wasn't made up on time during a trip to an Orlando, Fla., Hampton Inn last year. They will be only a few mouse clicks away from seeing the guest's bar bill last week at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland and whether he used the high-speed Internet there. In a demonstration of the technology, we pulled up one customer's record and found he had watched porn movies the evening before. While the names of films don't show in the billing system, their prices are a giveaway.

All that information gets collected -- and could be used to tailor marketing offers in the future. "Every night, when someone checks out, all their information gets sent up to this database," says Tim Harvey, Hilton's chief information officer. The company has been studying how Harrah's Entertainment Inc., a Las Vegas casino operator, has used its database on gamblers' behavior to identify lucrative customers and the most efficient ways to approach them. "I admire Harrah's," says Mr. Harvey. "We need to do some of that stuff."

I some ways this is fine and in others it bothers me.

My favorite is the reaction from the desk clerk when I check in after a day of work. My work clothes are black Dickie's cotton work clothes. You know, the ones you get at Wal-Mart or rent from Cintas. I will be covered with machine oil, grease, ink and paper dust, fresh from the plants in which I work.

They will look at me and say, "Yeees? Can I help you?" like I am there to get directions to the Super 8 or the Motel 6. I hand them my Amex and they pull up my reservation and my info. This usually enlists a stream of ers and uhs and a stuttering "Welcome back to our property Mr. Nails." They will often say, no kidding, "I see your Hilton Honors Diamond status and ....." It comes off as being very insincere, well, because it is. Sorry, I do not wear a custom-tailored Italian suit so that you can recognize my status without your computer.

Bottom line, I get this a lot less at Hampton and HGI's and more at the 2Tree and Hilton's, but it occurs time to time everywhere. It is also much more prevalent with the male desk clerks than the females, either that or the women hide it better.

What is really, really fun is when I stand in the Hilton Honors line for check in. Not only does the desk clerk get a tweak, it gives me great pleasure to accept the check in packet with all of its amenities and the desk clerk mentioning the Exec lounge and the free breakfast and free internet, and the upgraded room, while the guy in the fancy suit in the non-HH line gets a key and directions to the room.

This is classic. ^

I guess this explains the super ackward, highly embarassing greeting I get at this particular "buy the book" Hampton I frequent. I'm really ready for the staff there to get familiar with me so that we can stop this whole "Welcome back. I have your diamond account information on file..." business. All my other regular hotels have started just greeting me like a member of the real world and one more like a member of the family (I got a half hug last week). I prefer to be warmly greeted rather than have the whole lobby be subjected to my Diamond holiness.

I rarely encounter the word "Diamond" specifically used - almost always it's "We have your HHonors information on file" instead.

Well, I can't tell you how many times I've been told "welcome back" and I've never been there.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...?highlight=see

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...?highlight=see

The hotels collect information about their HHonors members and they try to use this information to provide a better quality stay using something called CRM or (Customer Really Matters) with the aim of being able to pass on information about a less than perfect stay at another property and being able to compensate for it. As noted by Cordelli
The system sifts and sorts customers, spitting out lists ranking new arrivals in order of their value to Hilton -- how often they stay with the company and how much they spend. Once a guest is identified at the front desk, the clerk will be prompted with the correct perky way to greet them -- "I see this is your first time at an Embassy Suites. Let me tell you about our made-to-order breakfast," for instance. They may be prompted to politely nudge a guest who is close to the threshold of a higher loyalty level.

A clerk at Hilton's Waldorf Astoria in New York might be prompted to apologize that a guest's room wasn't made up on time during a trip to an Orlando, Fla., Hampton Inn last year. They will be only a few mouse clicks away from seeing the guest's bar bill last week at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland and whether he used the high-speed Internet there. In a demonstration of the technology, we pulled up one customer's record and found he had watched porn movies the evening before. While the names of films don't show in the billing system, their prices are a giveaway.

All that information gets collected -- and could be used to tailor marketing offers in the future. "Every night, when someone checks out, all their information gets sent up to this database," says Tim Harvey, Hilton's chief information officer. The company has been studying how Harrah's Entertainment Inc., a Las Vegas casino operator, has used its database on gamblers' behavior to identify lucrative customers and the most efficient ways to approach them. "I admire Harrah's," says Mr. Harvey. "We need to do some of that stuff."

They can see the information before you check in.

My colleague stays at a Hilton hotel for more than a year, and knows the check-in agent very well. It is almost always the same agent if you check in at the same time and day of week. Evey week when he checked in, there was a half bottle of wine and food plate waiting for him in his room, free of charge.

+1. Indeed, on my first ever DoubleTree stay last week I was greeted with "Welcome back to DoubleTree, Mr. island", although the welcome letter said "welcome back to the Hilton family" instead.

One good thing about this system is that it allows the hotels to differentiate treatment of the "Plastic Diamonds" i.e. those who have earned status via credit card promotions and the like from people who spend large sums of money (their's or their employer's) with Hilton.

I suppose so, though in the long run I don't see it making that much difference, except perhaps as an occasional "tie breaker" for upgrades, if the hotel staff even notice!