BearX220

Thank you, Anthony, I'll keep that in mind! Appreciate your willingness to help.

wharvey

Anthony, thank you for the diligent follow through!

arlflyer

Would you be able to articulate Hilton's official position as to why "Hilton Hhonors Promotions" (the quarterly promos - phrasing verbatim from the website) are not considered features of the "Hilton Hhonors Program" and thus are not subject to the statement above? What other aspects of the Hhonors program are hotels allowed to selectively decline?

controller1

Let's all remember what Anthony's position is with the company and the value he has already brought to this forum. With that in mind, let's not treat him as if he is a hostile witness in a criminal proceeding!

arlflyer

My apologies that it did come across that way. I didn't mean to conflate the person that is Anthony - he's been great (and has helped me out personally) - with the company that he represents. But i don't think many people are pleased with the opt out list. Hilton should be either committed to having a cohesive companywide strategy or not. I just wanted to get that across as food for thought and maybe something to pass up the chain. Sorry that it came across negatively.

BearX220

+1 ^ We've got a person here who seems genuinely willing to hold authentic dialogue with the customer base. Please let's stow the prosecutorial tone.

I'm not happy with the outrageous promo opt-out rate domestically either, as I've made clear elsewhere, but I am quite sure it's not Anthony's to control or fix. We can be unhappy with the corporate machinery that kicks out these misnamed "systemwide promotions" while still being civil to our guy and appreciative of his time.

arlflyer

Ok, got it. Let me build on my prior post more constructively:

Anthony, thanks for the response confirming the fact that hotels are not allowed to individually deny benefits to hhonors elite members at their own discretion. It is great to hear this from corporate, and I think that a lot of people would appreciate seeing this position reinforced across the program. Almost all of the complaints we see on here about hhonors boil down to one general theme - inconsistency. Properties implementing the loyalty program differently, discrepancies in pricing, opt-outs from companywide promotions, different interpretations of "high" and "low" season award rates, etc.

One of the strongest reasons many of us have for choosing a global hotel brand is consistency - honestly a better hard and soft product can many times be found for less money through local independent operators or private rentals. Consistency means knowing what we're going to get even when other things (the city we're in, the time zone) may be new and unfamiliar. If Hilton can focus on reinforcing and regimenting its brand standards universally, I think many of us would applaud and be grateful for that action.

If you can communicate this customer sentiment upward to any extent, I think it would be very welcome.

Sez_Who

For some things, we will never have consistency. Ever notice that when McDonald’s or whatever runs a promo, it always says in small print at the bottom something like “not available at all locations”? Well, the same is true with hotels.

Hotel owners make decisions to participate (or not) in each promo. Some don’t want to deal with it, some may be resorts, some have 90%+ occupancy and really don’t need it, etc. Whatever the reason, they opt out and Hilton says that’s okay. IOW, that kills the consistency that all of us would rather see but this is why we don’t and won’t have it.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t have more consistency with rules regarding Gold/Diamond benefits that are companywide. IMO this is one area where Anthony could be particularly helpful because frankly, I don’t feel any particular love from Hilton corporate about this. The recent comments about Golds being upgraded before Diamonds is a good example.

PS – I thought what you said originally was fine. Never took it the way others seem to have read it.

sjpmurph01

Marriott seems to have figured out the secret to not being like McDonalds.

MSPeconomist

Could the contract for your group have been signed when the property was a Sheraton, before it was reflagged in about 2012 as a DoubleTree?

VA1379

Marriott has a few properties that do not fully participate in the rewards program. These properties are listed in the fine print of the program and can be counted on two hands. Everyone else participates fully in all systemwide promotions. There are some targeted promos that are limited to some customers for smaller groups of properties, and there are some smaller systemwide promotions like the recent United-Marriott promo that apply at only some properties. Still, Marriott has promotions that do not have a huge opt out list. The cost of promotions is bundled into the overhead of the rewards program at Marriott. If you have to pay for it, you might as well offer it. I imagine the same type of thing occurs at Hyatt for their systemwide promos as well.

sethb

The hotel became a Doubletree on July 8, 2011. (I was hoping it would switch a week earlier, so I'd be able to get points in both programs.)

The contract probably did predate that (it's an annual convention that's been there since 2001), but this issue didn't arise in 2012. (I wasn't there in 2013.)

sethb

I remember, many years ago, seeing full-page NY Times ads for Marriott's "Two For Breakfast" weekend rates that said they applied to all hotels except the Times Square Marriott.

BearX220

The McDonald's outlets that do not participate in promotions are almost always special-case locations such as airports, where the price points and sometimes menus are different. There's never been a McDonald's national promo that 30 to 35 percent of stores opt out of. It'd make a mockery of the brand and the promo.

MSPeconomist

New manager, old contract. Maybe the guy saw that the contract was with Sheraton and assumed that Hilton benefits didn't apply.

However, the "we're not doing..." flippant phrasing was unfortunate.