FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Consolidated "Lifetime Diamond - Experiences, Questions, Is It Worth It?" thread
Old Jan 20, 2015, 7:27 am
  #181  
hhoope01
Moderator, Marriott Bonvoy & FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: McKinney, TX, USA
Programs: United Silver; AA Plat/2MM; Marriott LT Titanium; IHG Plat; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 11,721
Originally Posted by Howste
...how about FT usernames that start with H? Seems just as valid as some of the above?
I'm all for it.

Originally Posted by BlueHenFlyer
If Hilton creates a Lifetime Diamond, a load of those folks will move to IHG as they won't have to stay at Hamptons to make their nut to get a nice stay at the Conrad.
Maybe, maybe not. There are a couple of factors that probably go into setting up an LT status.
  1. Matching your competitors. This is probably one of the primary drivers for Hilton going down this path. When it was only Marriott with an LT program, they probably didn't think it was a driver in stay patterns. But with Marriott plus Starwood and Hyatt with LT benefits, I suspect Hilton believes they could be losing business today. BTW, Marriott recently reduced their LT requirements (fairly substantially), and I'm guessing they did it to keep ahead of the curve on LT programs given their competitors are now adding this benefit.
  2. Short term. I'm guessing a bit, but I suspect that the hotel chains are thinking that LT programs will not only lure people to stay at their programs, but for the near term (i.e. next couple of years) get them to stay more at their hotels to achieve this new benefit. And they are probably banking on the fact that actually only a very few (i.e. very small percentage) will actually ever achieve it. So they can drive up short and near-term business without actually having many actually receive that benefit.

    Yes, out of that very small percentage, there may be some that will jump ship, but see the next bullet below.

  3. Long term. Part of having an LT program at all is the fact that should a few jump ship in the short term, what will their long term stay patterns be? At some point their travel will be such that they either can't maintain the elite status in the other programs, or they again desire benefits they see in other programs. Given they have an LT elite status, they may well end up coming right back as they know this program and they have the LT Diamond.

Don't get blinded by the fact that a higher percentage of folks in the Hilton forum on FT might actually achieve LT status versus the general population staying at Hiltons. The vast majority of those millions will never be able to achieve LT status with any program, but if a program can "hook" them for a couple of years with the lure of LT status? Well, that's just extra revenue for the hotels and Hilton.

*Note that I've had LT Plat status with Marriott for years and am just a few nights short of LT Gold with SPG. But I've had most of my stays with Hilton over the last few years. So I do understand the lure of jumping somewhere else once you have that LT status. But I doubt I'm anywhere close to the norm for most members of Hilton's elite program.
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