hilton may not be the only one but given the fact that a lot of people are upset with hilton at the moment it may not be the best time to offer targeted promos....just my 2 cents....

very true....

Well, they appear to random to us.. but who knows. Maybe it really is random, maybe there's some sort of algorithm, I don't know. But I'm not going to jump ship because I was not targeted. Especially since IMO, it isn't a very good promo to begin with.

I believe in another thread, Saad suggested that perhaps Hilton is testing promos and how people react to them. That sounds plausible to me.

Hilton is not testing promos at all.They are well aware after this many years in business what will work.
Targeted marketing has one purpose saving the company as much money as they can on their marketing budget and getting a return/uptick in business from a group that might be the least likely to respond otherwise.
It is about getting a rise in spend from that target group of customers

No company wants to give gifts to a group that is already satisfied and going to earn status doing the same business they would have performed with or without a promotion.The problem with this overused strategy for some years now is that many members feel taken for granted and under appreciated in this era of shared information.In some cases loyal customers rebel by taking their business elsewhere sometimes for good.The art of managing this practice becomes a balancing act of promotions that are targeted and those that can enagage all members globally.

IMO by observation Hyatt Gold Passport remains perhaps the best program with the most generous promotions year round with the very least amount of targeted offers that most members can benefit from in my decades of experience in participation.It also offers the richest of all Diamond/top tier rewards/amenities/benefits as of today trumping Hilton and many other programs.As always opinions and experiences will vary

*wood - 33 nights
IHG - 14 nights
Hyatt - 4 nights
Hilton - 0 and it'll stay this way

quite a pity as I really like the conrad HK but I'm off to greener pastures

have my first stay at the conrad hk coming up next week....looking forward to it....

Got matched to IHC Platinum today. Goodbye Hilton!

I appreciate your passion for waving goodbye to HH
They have made serious mistakes in this economy with the program and customer service is hitting new lows sadly due to to the complicated workings and procedures of HH
However IHG Priority Club who I assume you refer to is probably not that much better then HH
In fact I would say recognition may be worse.You might consider Hyatt Gold Passport which is outstanding or the tried an true classic SPG program
All experiences will vary in all programs but these two programs are in my personal Hall of Fame
It is my hope one day to come back to HH if they get the house in order.
Cheers and congratulations for moving on

after several years of diamond, and thinking of dropping it, for a couple of years, i finally didnt renew my diamond status last year.
would have been a couple of stays, but i figured, that gold with hilton is still good enough.

so its hello starwood (i clock my average 50 stays there per year)
+ hyatt is the new winner. (and ffn sound sweet.)

cheers dp

I think they are all pretty much the same. For now, IHG has treated me very well and HH has only treated me pretty well.

OK, after 120+ nts last yr, most my stays were split between MR and PC -

Marriott 27 nts
Priority Club 22 nts
Hyatt 15 nts
SPG 11 nts
Hilton 4 nts

Allow me to respectfully disagree.

Last year our notoriously tight travel restrictions were eased and I was able to try many different brands in both the IHG and HH families, as Plat and Gold, respectively.

HH is the favorite program for most folks in our group but I am slowly converting them away. The impression I had last year is that HH properties try very hard to fulfill the minimum level of recognition, like a checklist. At IHG properties, especially on the lower end, it seems as though the attitude is to genuinely value the revenue and give more recognition, via better upgrades, point bonuses, food vouchers, etc., than required.

But what really clinched it for me was the latest personal trip I made. For 30k points total, I redeemed THREE nights I needed for the trip. Each one of those, I attempted to redeem at Hilton first. Either no availability or 2-3x as many points.

In my experience, I've been just as likely to get a "bad" property in either program. Quite a few of my nights are in fairly rural locations. I've consistently found the Holiday Inn Express sleep and bathing infrastructure to be better than that at Hampton.

Rationally, it's not clear to me why I would choose a Hilton property given all of that. So I don't plan to. If my colleagues or clients strongly object, I won't fight it (hard), but I'd rather earn points faster - that I can actually use - and enjoy a better stay experience.

I guess that's my commitment to take business elsewhere. In fact, next week HIX will gain 4 room nights that probably would have been Hampton nights.

I've only stayed twice at Hilton this year, only because I had no other option given that I'm SPG and Hyatt. I mostly stay in the major cities and have been more than happy with Hyatt in 2010 (14 stays so far in 2010) and SPG (9 stays). I was already growing weary with HH but they sealed the deal with this move.

I am just a lowly gold member with Hilton, but I have halted my stays as of January at Hilton and switched almost exclusively to SPG (where I am also gold).

very well vs pretty well let me run some measurements to see which program would be the more betterer of the two
Sounds like IHG is the winner presently for you

Thanks and well said you bring up a great point and I can clearly see where you are 100% correct.
My assessments are made on other criteria like more upscale hotels typically.Full Service Hiltons,Doubletrees Conrads Garden Inns on the lower end
If one is comparing Holiday Inn Express especially the newer ones vs older Hamptons your point is well taken.
Upgrades could be better and the product might be consistently better
You have opened my eyes and I clearly see your point because of your particular travel pattern and locations