Not all of us are on big-time corporate expense accounts. Quite a lot of business travelers are self-employed or work for small companies where every dollar counts these days... or where every unnecessary dollar spent on lodging is a dollar less in your dividend check. For this sizable cohort, overspending on lodging to earn points of much-diminished value as a "personal kickback" is an increasingly indefensible or nonsensical practice.

Let me put myself into hotel worker's shoes for a second:

Some big shots running the company pi$$ed off our guests to save a few dollars and now we have to work harder to make those guests feel better while making the same salary, same benefits (if not less, those big shots probably looked into saving money there too) and less in tips as loyal clients stopped staying with us. Yep, I feel already motivated... Where do i sign up for union membership?

Yeah, right... I would not buy a used car from the Gguard.. Did HH put you up to this charade? The point below represents how I feel about the OP's post:

There is no reason why you should have to work twice as hard. Who in the world advised HH to make things worse for their customers during one of the worst economic downturns ever? A bad idea that competitors (e.g., IGH) are using to lure loyal customers away from HH. Leave the points where they were and work at your normal pace.. That will help your bottom line more than the devaluation fiasco.

I agree. If someone like that worked for me, they would be looking for another job. This is the kind greed and selfishness that contributed to the crappy economy we now enjoy.

i am extremely upset about the points devaluation as well, & i would be fuming if hilton were to have raised their rates across the board....but they have not done that....it hurts to have my reasonably big pile of points reduce by some 20% & god know what the hilton folks were thinking when they did this but its just something we have to deal with if we decide to continue our loyalty to the program....

OP, I'm not sure I follow your logic. Do I understand you correctly, that since Hilton has devalued points, your staff will be even more pleasant to guests? Therefore, devaluing points is, in a sense, a good thing?

If I have missed something, please explain.

My question is related entirely to the logic of the argument. I am usually still a very appreciative Hilton customer. I do not stay at Hiltons as often as I did in the past, but that has to do partly with simply wanting to branch out (and Priceline is fun!), so please take my question not as a criticism of Hilton but only as a question concerning the logic.

I would think, in reference to your reasoning, that a motivated staff would be already in place. There are a few clear exceptions regarding some (few?) Hilton properties in which clerks evidently give or deny upgrades based on their whims. Apparently Hilton has had no monitoring system in place to ensure that all properties comply with the upgrade promises of the Gold and Diamond programs. With the exceptions of this problem, which I assume does not impact most Hiltons, in general, I can't see that devaluing points could be seen as an opportunity in the way that you suggest, to compensate for the loss of point value. If the staff is already doing well, how can it improve that much?

Even if a staff became more diligent, wouldn't this change be unquantifiable? And how much change could it make, anyway, to a guest's appreciation of the hotel? Beyond a certain level of courtesy, any more smiling or commendable service would surely go unnoticed? Travelers generally just want to get a key and get to their room. They are tired and don't care how smiling a clerk is. The room is already unchangeable, so I don't see your point.

(I mean this courteously,as I do still like Hiltons, and I hope it doesn't sound otherwise. I am questioning only the logic of the post.)

I really admire your customer service focus HiltonGguard. I wish you worked for my company.

How do I see your Prague trip report?

A lot of skeptics out there, eh?

The way I see it, if an employee doesn't want to give top-notch service all the time then I don't want them on my staff, points devaluation or no.

Look, Hilton is screwing us just as much as they're screwing you guys. This means less occupancy/ revenue for individual properties as well as unhappy guests. I'm just trying to find a way to spin it into a positive. If there are cynics out there who think I'm just a corporate shill then so be it. I'm still going to come here to learn and contribute.

That being said, if any of you find yourself in the Hudson Valley shoot me a PM because I would love to meet!

To be blunt, Hilton devalued the program, hasn't had promotions anywhere near as good as its competition, and thinks nobody will notice. We have, however, noticed. We have noticed the far greater benefits that we get from other chains. Count me among the newly converted. Last year I spent ~60 nights at Hiltons. I've had zero Hilton stays so far this year.

Just because someone works in the hotel, doesn't make them a corporate shill. The big brands are mostly run by corporate, most of the smaller are independent franchises. So as an independent hotel, we work for ourselves, not the corporation. In fact, my hotel's biggest competitor is another Hampton down the road. We don't get paid by corporate. We don't get bonuses if the chain or Hilton family makes money. The price to attend the brand conference this year actually increased.

Yes, the devaluation sucks. But we employees do work harder to make customers happy. Many of are customers focus on price and since we're not going crazy lowering prices like our neighbors we have to give better service. And better service does matter, I've seen the online reviews, surveys, letters and even a letter in the newspaper that a guest sent in.

I can also say that most guests don't just get a key and go to their room. I have guests who will stand at the guest for 30 min or more talking to the clerks. I have guests who go out to eat and then come back to tell us about it. We have guests bring us food from their dinner. Guests who bring candy each time they stay. At my place, that is the rule, not the exception.

Only one poster felt that way. The other 99.9% reading the OP do not feel that way and most of them appreciated the post, even if some of them are frustrated with the recent points devaluation.

All frequent guest programs are personal kickbacks. Having worked for three global professional services firms, I have never heard of any employee being asked to use Priceline. It is my experience that businesses value the professional services people like me deliver, are grateful we are willing to travel & be away from our lives, and would think it pound foolish to ask us to use Priceline for hotels, use SuperShuttle for airport transfers, not fly our preferred airline to save 50 bucks. Even in this economy, the unemployment for financial, technical, and those with advanced degrees is only 5%. That tends to focus the mind of business managers on retaining talent.

I know, I wasn't trying to imply everyone thought that way. I was just too lazy to quote

In many / most professional services fields I think that's far from customary these days. Even years ago I was assigned to clients that commanded us to find and fly the lowest possible airfare (which meant ATA redeyes connecting through Midway -- aargh) and stay in the hotel where they had a special lowball rate for their vendors (which meant no Hiltons). More recently I've had consults in India for while I've been told business class is out of the question, end of story... and accommodation is, again, under some sweetheart deal. And with car rental tariffs out of control, we have certainly been asked not to rent cars.

Just two weeks ago I was installed at the Fairmont in San Jose, instead of the Hilton right across the street, not because I wanted to be but because my tech-company client had negotiated a great bulk rate for people like me... and what am I going to say? Naah, I prefer to stay at the less-nice place across the street, and bill you nearly twice as much, because I want my Hilton points? Any guesses as to how that would go over... even with this client, which is making billions in quarterly profits? I just don't have the leverage, and even if I did I don't think I'd use it for diplomatic reasons.

(Even traveling on my own dime nowadays I price both Hilton and Marriott properties, and if the differential is more than $30 or $40 I go Marriott. The HHonors points aren't worth it. So there's a fundamental failure of HHonors to do the one thing it's built to do, which is to blunt my proclivity to choose a lower price.)

Arguing that I'm flying J or not taking the job, or demanding my preferred hotel chain, is unthinkable from a client-relations standpoint. My field is extremely competitive, so dollars count, but more importantly you look like a twit who's focused on personal comfort ahead of client needs. Factor this realpolitik consideration into the discussion.