jamesteroh

What they should do, is to provide discounted redemption rates to people that stay in their hotels. Offer somethign like a 25 to 30 percent off in points on redemptions to people that have 30+ nights a year in paid stays.

lkar

Don't you think they love the credit card money though. I am sure they are charging Amex and Citi more per point than they are paying the properties that take reward bookings.

underpressure

and that may be exactly where the push back is coming from. I would guess most of the properties I stay at are not Hilton owned. If I were an operator getting a subparreimbursement rate I would be screaming when I looked and saw the "gold" member has two hotel stays last year.

underpressure

Seems like that is what they have been doing.... until Q4, 2012. Q1 2013 is OK though.

Dovster

Keep in mind that all "loyalty" programs are really marketing programs. Nobody really cares how many nights you spent at a particular hotel chain last year or how many miles you flew on a particular airline.

They are only interested in your future stays/flights.

Now take a look at me -- I am probably the ultimate example of a credit card "elite". I signed up for the Surpass card in 2011 and was immediately made Gold through March 2014. I spent $40,000 on the card in 2012 and was made Diamond through March 2015.

Yes, I got high status without staying but I didn't really get that many HHonors points. The only way I could do that was by staying at Hilton hotels -- which is exactly what both HHonors and franchisees were hoping that I would do.

I did not have a ton of stays between 2011 but I did have several -- in Atlanta, New York, Seattle, Dusseldorf, and Frankfurt. Normally, I would not have stayed in these hotels (except Atlanta) -- I would have looked for less expensive ones. The status I got, however, lured me into staying in Hilton properties.

In short, the Surpass card did what a marketing tool is supposed to do. It got me to buy. On top of that, HHonors managed to make some money from Amex even when I was not staying there.

Nobody connected with Hilton is unhappy about that.

underpressure

Now think about the operator funding the "bonus points" (like the Q1 2X bonus) If I was looking at having to pay for those bonus points and I saw guests staying a the property who have only sayed a dozen nights or so, I would do what many of them have done, opt out. I really think they are trying to clean up their act after some disasterous marketing decisions in the past.

The Quarterly Bonuses for Hotel Stays for the balance of this year will be the tale of the tape.

underpressure

Like you, I have a ton of AIB points but they pale in comparison to my total points. Without looking, I entered the year at somewhere close to 1000 points. I am over 218,000 right now with a base point load of 18,000 points or so....


It really has gotten to be just plain goofy.

ncgator

Citi Visa hotel certs

Just received the hotel cert for my citi visa so called HH to see about how it can be redeemed. I specifically asked because it was issued as valid for Hilton properties in category 1-7 and Hitlon only has categories 1-7 would it be valid at higher category properties after the March 28th change. The agent was taken back by the question and did not know the answer. She put me on hold and went to ask for clarification. Bottom line is they came back and said that the certifiacte is only good for a category 1-7 hotel now and after March 28th.

Had a feeling they would pull this. Does greatly reduce the value of the HH Citi Visa now. I wil have to take a hard look and see if there are any properties left under a category 7 where I would want to stay to offset the annual fee. I always viewed the card as an inexpensive prepay for a room I would use anyway in the course of a year. Unfortunaltey in the past that room was the Roosevelt in NOLA ($300 and up) which is now a cat 8.

NJUPINTHEAIR

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mommyp...-up-bonus-now/

ncgator

Thank you for the link. Now if she only included who these people are she reached out to it mght help. evidently the Supervisor when i called was not in her loop. When HH sends me a new certificate showing it valid for cat 1-10 and tells me the certificate I have now is invalid I will believe it.

Thank you NJupintheair for the link though.

Dovster

No, because you, as the operator, would not care at all about how many stays they had. The question in your mind would be whether the Q1 2X bonus is going to bring in enough business to you to make it worth your cost.

If Q1 usually sees your hotel close to full without any promos, you will opt out. If it is a dead period for you, you will participate in the hope of renting some rooms which would otherwise be empty.

InkUnderNails

I thought the reimbursement rate was on a sliding scale. It started out low, and as the hotel filled up, the reimbursement approached rack rate or some maximum. It actually rewarded hotels that were full or nearly so.

If it is one flat low rate, the properties that opted out would be those that had less of a chance of filling.

underpressure

That would be a good assumption, expect every time there is a promo; it seems like more and more properties are "opting out" and with the economy the way it has been the last three/four years, that does not make sense.

jamesteroh

SPG does reward you based on how many nights you stay at a hotel. They have a strong marketing/credit card program but those that stay in the hotels as a Platinum actually get rewarded better. I wish SPG would give platinum just on $40K in credit card spending and I would get an SPG credit card and charge $40K and stay there more seeing the partnership that kicks in on Saturday with Delta.

Unless you charge $25K a year on a Delta credit card, they are also changing their program to be like Southwest's where you have to spend money with them for status. That is one change I am looking forward to on March 1, 2015. I'm hoping my upgrades will go up and I won't be competing with as many that don't fly that much. I hated the change with Southwest though. I used to get 1 to 2 free tickets a month on southwest and companion status without even giving the airline $1,000 a year in revenue flights.

chauming

I remember 70K got me 6 nights at the Conrad HK. Gee, how much will it cost under the new HH plan?