We will have to agree to disagree, because I think not having lifetime status or some other system to distinguish does turn off incoming elites from the program. I'm not going to be traveling all of my career, and I wish I had started in a program years ago that will continue to recognize my long term loyalty when my travel does back off, whether because it is a slow year, I move to a different career or when I retire. None of my co-workers stay with Hilton, as they are seeking out lifetime status and Platinum Premiere at Marriott. Hilton loses stays because of this.

It also doesn't seem to stop new incoming elites to SPG, Hyatt, and Marriott that all already do this through the lifetime status and other measures. SPG has the 50/75/100 program and Marriott has the Platinum Premiere program. Marriott evaluates all of their plats through a proprietary formula that they don't disclose and rewards the top 1% (I think) with this tier. It comes with added benefits and my co-workers with this status have scored consistently great upgrades. The lack of lifetime status is a big gap in the HHonors program, and it is unfortunate that they haven't done it yet.

Hilton actually already has something in place called the "guest value rating", where everyone is ranked from one to three stars on a combination of factors. The hotels can see it in every OnQ profile, but I was told by a friend who worked at a DT that it isn't used.