Originally Posted by
arlflyer
Aside from who gets it or doesn't get it - and I didn't get it, and I'm not getting it, I'm over that - what I don't understand is this: IF Hilton is going to do this and IF they are going to spend whatever capital it takes to do this (give 100k points to a bunch of people) then why would they do it under the radar and with no fanfare? I mean, isn't the point of giveaways to hype up the vast bunch of people who don't win and get them to sign on in hopes that they might too win? Isn't that how casinos and the lottery work?
So what I don't get is, why are they squandering what if any marketing/brand-building opportunity they have here? At the very least, a simple message would be "We just gave 100k points to X,XXX Hhonors members. Will YOU be next? Earn gold/diamond to find out!" At least something to translate this into some sort of market pull. But instead it's the marketing equivalent of just pulling people into a back alley and paying them off.
I totally agree with you on that. 100,000 points is a lot - even in a substantially devalued program like HH. Usually, giving away millions of points in 100,000 point chunks would be the making of a splashy marketing campaign.
It also would lead to less ill-will from those that didn't "win." Everyone doesn't expect to "win" a "giveaway" - but when it is instead marketed as a "gift" for "maintaining diamond status" everybody that has maintained diamond evidently feels entitled to the same gift.