This may qualify as a rant, but I've been claiming for some time here that the Hilton Family focus on being greeted by name is silly. I don't stay in any invidual properties frequently enough for the staff to know me, and having them use my name is completely irrelevant to me, yet every time I fill out a survey they ask whether the staff greeted me by name. Another FT member made the interesting point, however, that being greeted by name may be a symptom of quality customer service, so I've decided to track that and am wondering if anyone else cares to weigh in on this.

Last week I stayed at two Hilton properties: neither one greeted me by name, and I received excellent "above and beyond" service at one, and rather indifferent service at the other.