Exactly. And let's not forget that the "property [you] have never been to before" got your business in the first place almost certainly due to its affiliation with the chain. The odds that a business traveler would choose that same property, operating as an independent hotel? Undoubtedly lower, I'd say. So it's not like that property is doing anyone a favor by recognizing a first-time guest that has earned status through properties elsewhere in the chain. It's how the system is supposed to work, and there's mutual benefit.