1. How many paid nights do you stay in hotels each year? How many are business/personal? 20-business 25-personal
2. What is your primary hotel loyalty program? Now, Marriott
3. How many hotel loyalty programs do you belong to? How many do you really focus on? One, two, three, more? I belong to three. I only focus on Marriott.
4. How important is a loyalty program to the hotels you choose to stay in? Fairly important.
5. How far out of your way (or price range) will you go to stay with your preferred hotel, because of its loyalty program? Any specific examples you can share? My TA (who I use for business travel) is instructed to follow a hierarchy for booking -- Marriott, Starwood, then Hilton. She'll usually inform me if my preferred chain doesn't have a hotel close by my destination. However, if I'm renting a car and/or taxis are not particularly expensive, I'll usually stay at my preferred hotel.
6. What features of a hotel loyalty program do you find most valuable? What perks are least valuable to you? Most valuable: Free nights at international destinations. Least valuable: Free snacks or "loyalty" gift, free breakfast.
7. Do you consider hotel loyalty programs a game, a deserved perk, a competition, or something else? What most makes you stay active in accumulating points? The ability to use them for personal vacations which, for my wife and myself, are always international. One of the reasons I like Marriott is because they have lots of hotels all over the world. One of the reasons I don't like Starwood as much is because their reward program is something of a scam -- I've been burned a number of times by "Starwood hotels," that "don't participate in the program," i.e. no points, no rewards.
8. What hotel loyalty program do you most admire, and why? Admire? None of them.
9. Where has your primary hotel loyalty program most faltered? Please be specific. Where have others failed? As I mentioned above, "Starwood" is no guarantee that the property actually participates in the rewards program. I've never really had any problem with Marriott. I had dropped them when they dropped out of Amex' Membership Rewards, but I dropped Amex last year so there was no reason to continue with Starwood.
10. Do you think that, overall, hotel loyalty programs reflect well on the brand itself? Some do, some don't. Marriott's does. Starwood's does not.
11. If you could say anything to the people running your preferred loyalty program(s), what would it be? Please don't assume that "one perk fits all." I don't care about exercise rooms, room upgrades, snacks, gifts, or being greeted by name. I do care very much about devaluation of points, lack of availability of award stays and anything else that interferes with my ability to cash in and use my points.
12. Any other thoughts you’d care to share about hotel loyalty programs in general?[/QUOTE] Customer service is the key. I've always been treated well by Marriott, not at all well by Starwood (I'm referring specifically to these hotels' rewards programs). All other things being equal (and, with respect to these two programs, they're not), is it any surprise that I prefer the program that treats me courteously?