<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Thumper:
I am intrigued by your comment that all travelers are to be treated equally, whether they are frequent guests or not.
Honestly, I look at my stay as more valuable to your hotel than the casual user. I spend 25 to 30 nights a year in Denver, as an example, and am free to choose where I want to stay.</font>
Do you remember the movie for Love or Glory, with Michael J. Fox and Gabrielle Anwar? Remember how Fox kept on trying to get this guy who he thought was a big time player to bankroll his project and that guy essentially screwed him? And remember how the guy who was staying at the hotel for the first time ever happened to be a guy who had so much capital that he could have bought and sold the guy Fox was targeting ten times over without a sweat?
Same thing applies here. Before you go and act like you're a big player because you stay at a particular hotel 30 nights a year, think of this. A meeting planner who books one board meeting there racks up more rooms in one week than you'll rack up in an entire year. And that meeting planner also does catering, AV, and so on.
Plus, this guy already said that you will get what you're supposed to receive if it's available, and if it's not available, then you won't. That's the right attitude to have.
I like the attitude that says I will treat all my customers well, and nobody will get better treatment than others. Just because you stay at a particular place a lot shouldn't mean that you get anything more than the guy who shows up for the first time. You never know. That guy showing up for the first time may want to book a meeting there later, and he'll spend more than you do.
And let's be honest here. A lot of the folks here are trying to game the system, to get their "elite" status as cheaply as possible. I guarantee you that someone who's travelling for business and who isn't concerned about the costs generates more revenue in a few trips for the various companies he uses than a lot of the folks here do all year!
I mean, there were posts talking about how to become a 1K on UAL for less than a grand. I spent twice, three times that for a last minute trip that I needed to take! I did that before I got "elite" status on them. So even though I wasn't an "elite" flyer, I generated more revenue in one trip than the folks who gamed the system and got their 1Ks did.
So you never know who the customer will be who generates the big bucks. That's why you have to treat all of them well.