Originally Posted by
austin_modern
Which is why the trend in the industry is to take into account $ when considering elite levels.
Originally Posted by
austin_modern
I was referring to the recent moves in the travel industry (airlines), that I believe will bleed over into all the segments over time. Notice I said "trend." Also, there are levels within diamond based on spend.
Your first quote implied the hotel industry, not the TRAVEL industry. Your second quote only speaks of the airline industry, not rental car companies (which don't use $ spend for elite levels).
But let's examine the airline industry. Delta's been using $ spent for several years. United will join next January. That makes two airlines. Please provide a third example.
Due to hotel chains having a wide range of properties/price points, I don't see wholesale movement to a revenue based model.
Originally Posted by
YYZC2
Or we can go back further and talk about Priceline stays counting for status and FFN... the game has definitely changed.
Please excuse me; I'm going to cry softly in the fetal position for awhile...
The game has changed in the travel industry (it's not just hotels) because travel has increased. More hotel rooms are being filled. More airline seats are being filled. More rental cars are being rented.
A large part of this is due to capacity discipline across the travel industry. Less hotels, less airplanes, less rental cars added to inventory.
As a result of increased travelers and capacity discipline, travel companies do not have to offer as generous incentives in order to fill their hotels/aircraft or rent their entire auto inventory.
Not to worry; the economy will have another downturn and travel companies will once again shower frequent travelers with incentives. During the 'golden age' of hotel incentives in the last few years, I had an almost exclusive 'relationship' with Marriott. During that time, they offered bonus bucks/extra euros/premium pounds, BOGOs, double elite credit, 135K points = $1000 in Marriott certificates, etc. All of those perks are gone now. Scratch that ... all of those perks are gone
for now.
I've shifted most of my discretionary stays to Hyatt and SPG, as I find their loyalty programs to be the best
for me at the moment. I expect further deterioration of both of their loyalty programs, just as I expect all loyalty programs to pare back on perks while the hotel business is booming.
One of the big cutbacks I currently see is point devaluation across the entire travel industry; Hertz has announced a minor devaluation but they've also severely limited their Standard rewards so it's almost impossible to get them. The difference between a weekend day for Saver Rewards is 500 pts vs 1000 pts for AnyDay Rewards. I used to be able to get a weekend rental in Denver for $20; this next weekend, it will be $52 plus a ton of fees which will make the price $71 for one day.