Originally Posted by
ProjectSunburst
This is why we cant have nice things.
IHG top tier Diamond status will fearfully become diluted like Hilton's or IHG will close the loophole.
Owners dont like giving away free things. They will go Independent and/or cry to IHG if they feel the influx of Diamonds crush their PNL (or they already have crappy business practices and will blame crappy profitability on increased Diamond memberships)
I don't think you really understand what the large influx of customers really mean to a PNL let alone giving them all status. The industry is hospitality and it's competitive. If someone has the choice to stay at a property as the highest status of membership over a property over little to moderate level of membership they will choose to stay with the highest property of membership. I see this as being very successful in terms of profit for these hotel brands at IHG. Sure, they offer a measly breakfast (sometimes actual quality) but then they actually have that room that would usually go unsold actually booked. Status means something to consumers and in this case that is primarily why IHG has not reversed their choice to bring in all of these new consumers to the brand.