Originally Posted by
BearX220
I regularly get consumer surveys to gauge my interest in potential additional "elite benefits." For hotel programs these include cut-rate concert tickets, wine tastings, gift certs or discounts at local stores, and many other things I would find completely worthless.
It feels like some providers are working terribly hard to come up with dumb "benefits" in lieu of real, tangible ones: upgrades and good redemptions.
LOL...I have yet to get those surveys. A few years ago, I got a Marriott survey (one that several other FTers got) about a new, improved Visa offering. I did participate, and happily they actually did roll out a better Visa card, which I now have.
I have a couple credit cards that include access to concert tickets. Not discounts...just presales and the like. Since big concerts seem to have about 5 different flavors of "presale", I have yet to see this benefit yield anything. I've actually clicked through a couple times, but never found seats that were really that amazing.
SPG has the "Moments" program which is genuinely cool, but not limited to elites (I don't think). I'll give them credit for that one: a wide range of offerings to some cool experiences that you can't easily buy with cash. I hope Marriott doesn't kill it off or water it down so it takes a million points for anything good.