Ok, just cancelled my last revenue Hilton reservation. Manager at Hyatt was nice enough to match a rate for the dates I needed to the rate I had at Hilton, so no more Hilton stays for rest of year.

Sorry for being long winded.

I was MR gold for 5-7 years. I stuck with them as I was naive and there was always a MR property. Well last year, made platinum on the rolling calendar, and I subsequently had enough for HH Diamond and SPG Platinum. Havng used MR points 3 times, I found the MR treatment kind of shabby. My plan was to make MR my #3 program behind SPG and HH. Now, I will put Hyatt up there behind SPG. I need 2 more stays to renew my diamond, and after that, who knows

Its interesting how so many view this in so many different ways
Yes reasonable and justifiable devaluation is excepted and understood in every
If I were Hilton HHonors I would be throwing you two free nights to keep your business especially in light you are willing to overlook an upcoming major devaluation

IMO the devaluation is the real issue in principal here.
The other is emotional though I fully understand your feelings.
That said every program is guilty of that at one time or another
Hyatt has done the same business behavior dividing Diamonds with a holiday gift in previous years sent to whom ever they randomly pick. It’s another form of targeted marketing. Targeted gifting?

Though I have taken hundreds of stays with Hyatt and spent tens of thousands I too was one that was passed over. At the end of the day I look at the bottom line. If I was your banker and you put a million dollars in my bank
then sent you an email saying we were deducting 200 to 250k after the first of the New Year you might look at this a little different. Never mind throwing the dog an old tired bone (a devalued free night) why are
they emptying a good portion of our hard earned accounts substantially?

Through the years I always took the bad with the good at Hilton because a reasonable value proposition existed. It made sense to always be actively engaged in the program. I always ended up taking more stays then I really wanted to do
The party ends soon......I hope they realize they could have accomplished a lot more gain with more reasonable increases. Replacing customers in this economy is a liability. There could have been a middle ground. Unfortunately the light is on upstairs but no one knows how to make the right decisions.

The key folks who knew and ran this program sensibly are now gone
Its now in Blackstone bean counters appointed replacement hands
Scary and out of control. The last changes to the program with multi night awards in the past year or two were somewhat justifiable. I accepted that it wasn’t all that radical.Though no one likes increases it was an acceptable change

If Hilton had raised just the points or just the categories I would have swallowed it, but not both. That is too much and it feels like my loyalty to them over the years means little or nothing to them.

This has been helpful - I have been Diamond about five years and have qualified for 2010. Overall, my upgrades have been great. I recognize if there is a convention at the hotel, it may not happen. At some of the properties, I notice a level of inconsistency that I had experienced in the past. At the hotel in Brighton, the bottle of wine and chocolates that had been a constant disappeared.

I had a recent very position HH experience. I needed to take an earlier flight into LAX because I had added a meeting. I arrived at the Hilton LAX around 9 am. The customer in front of me asked to check in early, he was told that there had been a flight cancellation the night before and the best they could do was 12:30. SO, when I got to the desk, I said I had heard the previous comments. The clerk agreed and said, "Let me check your record." He said, "Oh, I see you are a Diamond" He asked if I would be willing to take the first available even if it wasn't a king. I said sure. He informed by that they would call and try to have a room by 930. Invited me to go to the lounge and inform the receptionist that they would call when the room was ready. I arrived on the 16th floor less than 10 minutes later, introduced myself and said they would be letting her know. She checked and said, a room had already been cleared. For me that is more important than whether I have a suite.

Since many of the properties that I stay are not company owned, I am wondering how many of the changes are the result of owner decision and whether the company directs whether a lounge can be closed or if a perk is offered.

If I am interested in changing what would be the best company for matching - about 40+ nights or so are in the US and about 20 are international.

I am blown away by the groundswell of commitment to move our business away from HH, effective immediately.

One other thing we should be doing as we shift our patronage is contacting those properties where we have been very loyal, to explain why we will not be returning any time soon.

When the hotel's owners also push back on Hilton, HHONORS will be forced to take notice.

I had not realized the importance of this step until I saw the post about how the owners of the Sheraton in Moorea abruptly ditched Starwood when SPG increased point redemption levels at Tahitian properties.

Please do not take yourself so seriously. I suspect most on here do not need an internet bulletin board to make a common sense decision. The people spending their own dollars figured out the Hhonors decline prior to most recent move.

Can anyone here remember any time in loyalty history where a sweeping change in a hotel guest program ever devalued a program across the board as much as the current increases set to roll out here?
I can remember a select group of high end properties raising up a category
Anything to this extent?

It will be interesting to see how the Hilton family franchisees respond to this decision.

Of course, FT is not the universe of Hilton HHonors members but those who spend their own dime can see the declining value of the program as Hedoman rightly notes above.

I have got to think that the franchisees are not happy about this move since they are likely going to wind up with less traffic in their hotels -- less people chasing after declining point values and non-existent or paltry bonuses, etc.

Almost everyone who has responded has noted that there is a back-up chain for them, be it PC who has just as many if not more hotels than Hilton and gives out generous point incentives, has decent mid-tier HI-EX and Staybridge/Candlewood suites and point-break offers, to Marriott that at the very least has tremendous breadth, to SPG that has very good Customer service, a presence on this board, newly renovated Sheraton properties after a cull of dismal properties with this or the 4 Points name, expanding new build aloft and element brands, as well as top tier Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W and Westin brands and whose managers who oversee their program actually lowered the points required for stays at their properties -- not to mention having a free night earning promotion earlier this year, to newly strengthened Hyatt with newly built/reonovated mid-market HP or SS properties, unparalleled customer service and the best end of the year bonus promotions presently offered.

Hilton is a dinosaur in need of a new direction, new thinking and new blood. They could begin to mollify many here by placing many of the newly more expensive properties on Point Stretchers, but since they have let that program languish for some time now, somehow I don't see that happening.

They are embarking down the path to making themselves an irrelevancy for many.

Here is what one program is doing below during this tough time during a promotional effort. Then of course there is Hilton HHonors
Has anyone seen the poor showing of Point Stretchers in recent times?
It once was a fantastic opportunity for Hilton HHonors members in the past

Incidentally the Radisson blu international properties that once were called SAS Radisson are typically excellent in the Gold Points program

Dear 777 global mile hound,
More nights. Less points.
Redeem some of your 246,281* points to enjoy an Award Stay for 25% - 50%fewer Gold Points� now through January 31, 2010 at participating hotels in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Check out some of our global destinations below:

Here would be Hilton HHonors version
Dear 777 Global Mile Hound
Stay More Award Nights Spend More Points! Enjoy an Award stay for your hard earned loyalty for significantly more HH points then anytime in our program history. Effective January 10, 2010 your points will be worth at least 20-25% less with our new worldwide program enhancement.

Thank you for your business we look forward to welcoming you to one of our Hilton family of hotels soon and taking back the value of your past loyalty earnings over the past two years.
We welcome you soon to one of our 3000 plus hotels around the world
Thank you for your continued loyalty

I don't think this is a fair way to characterize the changes, they are really just renaming the categories but they are raising the points. If they had left the category names the same and raised the point levels they would still arrive at the same point I think we expect them too anyway, it appears to me they just wanted to get rid of the "Opportunity" level name.

FWIW, I received the free night certificate and I'm no special Diamond customer. In fact, I have barely qualified during the past two years and only with the help of former rolling tier program.

I'll be shifting to Hyatt and SPG as my main choices, with HH my 3rd choice now. Im not a high roller by any means, (gold status since 2006), but this game is all about giving your loyalty to the program that best rewards it. Right now, that isnt HH. It might be again in the future, but it surely wont be the case for 2010.

I'm a Dia with HHonors, Gold with Marriott. I just status matched with Hyatt and cancelled 12 reservations with HHonors and moved 7 to Hyatt and 5 to Marriott. I don't need the nights or points so I'm going to stomp my feet, whine and let them know that they should have excluded those of us who have been most loyal. Hope that biz was worth it HHonors.

As well the other hotel chains (eg PC, SPG, Hyatt, Marriott). Will they match devaluations, or instead stay pat and do status matches. Etc.