Hi Flyertalkers,

You’re right - booking reward nights in some of our cities has become challenging lately due to a huge increase in demand. Like all other loyalty programs, we have always had a certain amount of reward inventory that we make available each night. This isn’t new even for Inner Circle members. In some of our cities (New York being one) reward nights have already sold out for the rest of the summer, which is why we urge our members to book further out during high demand periods.

The reason that you were able to book more easily in the past was that demand was lesser and the program was smaller. It really is more a matter of explosive growth and high demand than “stealthy capacity controls”. Our membership has more than doubled in recent years, and rest assured; we are close to announcing some exciting changes to address that growth and continue providing you value.

As far as devaluation of the welcome amenity, there has been no edict from our Home Office about cutting costs for this perk. In the years I’ve been with Kimpton, our program has always promised Inner Circle members at least two custom preferences (usually a favorite beverage and snack of choice). Then, time allowing, each hotel has the option to get creative and include any little extras they’re inspired to add. That said it’s clear that we have some training to do. No one should be receiving water in place of their preferred beverage. I know that I personally always look forward to a glass of wine in my room, and some bottled water just isn’t going to cut it after a long day of travel.

So thank you all for your feedback. Praise or complaints, it means a lot to us that you take the time to reach out. We take all feedback to heart and continue to use it to learn and improve.