Originally Posted by
leeky
...now the shout and tout is about those sham $50 meetings in order to get 10 nights and easily qualify for G/P without even having to log in one bed night, but all it would take is for Corporate to qualify legitimate Reward Meetings with a minimum of say $250/per to put an end to this sham (and as to the allegation that whatever the hotel is charging is pure profit, wrong, as the properties actually pay for nights, just like they do for points), so please, PLEASE, keep on shouting and touting so this flaw is closed sooner than later.
EQNs for meetings are not a sham. By design, no rooms (paid nights) are needed. They are issuing elite nights to reward profitable revenue. Simple as that. The other "shams" you cited were stopped because they were doing fiscal harm.
You're suggesting that revenue obtained from meetings (especially those where no housekeeping or other labor is necessary) is not extremely high margin? Of course it's not "pure profit" in the truest sense, but it's pretty darn close.
Originally Posted by
RogerD408
MR has had many opportunities to close the loophole and chosen not to.
That's because it's not a loophole. They are rewarding the activity purposefully and abuse isn't even possible. If giving away status in exchange for high-margin revenue was a bad idea, wouldn't they first cut the status-buyback program? Again, we see this across many hotels and airlines... credit card and other high-margin revenue is rewarded with status, and that status can only be utilize when it generates more revenue.