Originally Posted by
hockeyinsider
Maybe there is such a system but I just don't see it being used. I say that because my colleague with the Diet Coke preference does about 325 butt-in-bed nights in a hotel. Mostly Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and good old-fashioned Marriott hotels. He has something like 8 million points. Other than the St. Thomas Ritz-Carlton saving his Diet Coke preference, none of the other properties give him Diet Coke nor do they seem to treat him as a VIP. He has lifetime platinum and platinum-premier status, but regularly doesn't get upgraded. Sometimes he gets a bottle of wine, but that's about it. How many people do 300-plus nights at multiple hotels? You would think he would be flagged if there was such an internal system.
I'm not surprised with the observation. You would think the hospitality industry would be more hospitable but it seems the trend is to do as little as possible for as many as possible. There are exceptions out there, but generally I see a minimalist attitude in customer-facing operations. Once you get known by a property, they are more willing to recognize your loyalty to them regardless how you rate with their brand/chain. I have properties that know me from frequent stays and even once I dropped in status I was still greeted with my preferred room and given all available perks granted to their top tier guests. Sometimes those properties will reach out to others when they know you are travelling elsewhere to ask for recognition, but that is very rare.
Reading CRM entries, I suspect, is reserved for learning if a future property needs to use caution when dealing with the guest. There was just an incident where a Hilton guest was asked to leave shortly after checking in because of his history of posting prank videos and their desire not to be his next subject (there is a post in the Hilton forum if interested in details). Unfortunately, they played right into his game as he videoed the event.