Originally Posted by
freed0m
help me understand that Marriott sells points cheaply does not cheapen the brands. Maybe Marriott should try to give every member 1 million points for free and let everyone redeem whatever hotels they want. Yeah, that will not cheapen the brands.
Loyal customers earn their points, not purchase points. Only cheap customers purchase large amount of points because they can't earn enough.
because there's a long and short game. you're looking at a limited short game. that's like saying airlines that honour error fares go bust.. never seen that contribute. in fact, honouring error fares is a great way to market their product and get people interacting and experiencing the product.
selling points cheaply and often, regularly would cheapen the brand to some extent, depending on how often this happened and how aggressively they sold them. however, the price is so inflated (to start off with) vs their true value that rarely does it make sense to buy the points at such prices. simply making them more expensive cuts off a revenue stream, increases the need to find profitability elsewhere and results in further cost cutting, higher marketing budgets etc. it's nonsense to suggest that cheap rather than loyal customers buy points because points can only be redeemed with that brand. in other words, as soon as the points are bought, there is instant profit, which may or may not be cashed in. do you think shops would offer giftcards for sale if it there wasn't opportunity in there, and why would they be discounted? loyalty does matter.