pinniped

I guess the part I don't understand is why Hilton is trying to drive guests out of their hotels for restaurants, bars, and other services.

So you used an agent to book your room. You know you don't get points for that... Hilton didn't make much money off of you on the room, but you'd think they'd be eager to do so off of incidentals. Everybody knows that most hotel food/bev is mediocre and overpriced. Everybody knows that the hotel services are also overpriced. Allowing you to earn points on those incidentals might entice some customers to stick around instead of hitting the streets in search of dinner.

I rarely do hardly any incidental business in a hotel anyway - regardless of the points, I don't want bland food in a drab atmosphere - but it seems odd that Hilton would be trying to push you out the door just because your room rate was low.