elbidercni

I see the HGVC's offer of Silver VIP for life with any ownership as a further dilution of the HHonors program.

Of course when I called and complained about it to the HHonors Customer Service Center they had a prepared speech something to the effect :"The HHonors program is property of Hilton Hotels and we have the right to do whatever we want with it." It sounded pretty snappy to me.

Oh well, at least they are not giving away Gold or Diamond status.

Vino

Can you say CNTU?

geckoflyer

With the promotions like CNTU, who cares about lifetime Silver?

rubbernyc

All this talk about dilution of status sounds like a bunch of whining. Why can't the majority of people enjoy status? It is really selfish to try and keep the rolls down at other peoples' expense.

rubbernyc

All this talk about dilution of status sounds like a bunch of whining. Why can't the majority of people enjoy status? It is really selfish to try and keep the rolls down at other peoples' expense.

pdhenry

[rant]Where do I begin....

1. Because then it wouldn't be STATUS.

2. Because someone who spends between 30 and 60+ nights a year away from the wife and kids and homecooked food, and who manages to push a majority of these nights away from home toward a particular hotel chain, deserves (no, HAS EARNED) better treatment from the hotel than a carload of people who might give the hotel 5 or 10 nights a year but who happen to have picked up a special code somewhere giving them instant "status."

3. Despite what they told you in 2nd grade, we're not all nor should we all be "special."

[/rant] OK, I'm better now. Sorry about that.

hhonorman

I don't beleive that it is a matter of whining, but rather an observation that the program has become diluted with so many people receiving elite status. Elite status is presumed to provide benefits that are above and beyond what an ordinary customer would expect. If everybody is elite, the treatment is less special. Since there are a finite amount of suites and/or exec. level rooms, by creating a larger pool of elite members, it makes it less likely that any elite member receives an upgrade. It appears from anecdotal evidence from other FT posts/threads that many hotels are now only providing upgrades and/or lounge access to Diamonds. It would appear that they have decided to limit the benefits to only Diamonds because they have become inundated with Golds and cannot possibly accomodate all of the Golds and Diamonds. If elite status if given to everybody, it becmoes meaningless for everyone. For elite status to have any benefit for anyone, it necessarily has to be limited.

dgordon

But it is a way of hooking us with trial status, just like the challenges with the airlines. I had only stayed at a Hilton in London a couple of years ag but the CNTU bonus got me stay 5 times even though I only needed 4. So, even when I could have found a cheaper hotel on the road, I booked a Hampton (which would be the 5th stay, 1 more than needed). Frankly, I don't care about the upgrade on the rooms - it's the free breakfast that matters more.

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Ms.DtG

[This message has been edited by dgordon (edited 11-22-2002).]

Sweet Willie

Silver is hardly a dilution of HHonors.

Gold is dime a dozen w/the past few years worth of promotions.

Diamond perhaps.

Pakse

Howdy,

Currently I'm at 100 nights, 37 stays. That's with Hilton.

I've got 30 some nights at Marriott, 10 at Starwood, 10 at Holiday Inn, and a few at Radisson.

Now, the way I see it - it's a bribe. The loyalty programs are constructed in such as way as to encourage the actual traveler - not the bill payer.

It works. I stay at Hilton's most of the time. By choice, I specify Hilton brand properties.

However...while I'm traveling heavy for the next few years - the benefit of lifetime status appeals to me.

I expect to earn Lifetime PLT status on AmericanAirlines, which is nice - as it will allow me to board first and pay for upgrades rather cheaply ($40/per 500 miles, and I can do this from many discounted tickets, not only full fare).

Anyway - back to my main point.

Lifetime Status - it's just another way to bribe me.

Given the high requirement to make it - I throw as much business as possible to AA.

With Hilton - all I'm looking to do is earn around 400k points per year - that covers my vacation travel.

If Hilton had a lifetime program, I would throw another 20+ nights at least their way each year, if it was feasable to obtain in a few years (say 1000 nights, minimum 5 years qualifing as a diamond gets you gold lifetime).

Just a thought.

How many of you would book additional nights at Hilton if there was an obtainable lifetime GLD (say 4 million HH points or something like that).

Just curious.

Keep the faith,

Pakse

p.s. The way I see it, Hilton would comp. my cat to Gold. The real benefit is at the Diamond level - but...I'd still throw them some extra business for GLD.

Bourne

Dilution ....(edited by moderator)

It's become fashionable on this board to bash HH on elite status dilution.

You want dilution. Call SPG at 888-625-4990 and mention Enrollment Code RY. Free Mid Tier Status. Atleast HH tries to make you stay four times for it.

If you don't like HH, move over to other programs.



[This message has been edited by Bourne (edited 11-22-2002).]

furhter edited by moderator - to remove symbols standing in for expletives ...

singlemalt

Not for lifetime gold, but for PLT...? Four million (or whatever number) from hotel stays only, or 4M from all sources (like AA's lifetime elites)?

If they had a lifetime PLT based on AA's model, I would never use a Delta FF mile for flying. I'd convert all my DL miles over and use my DL Amex for a lot more than just double miles opportunities. Starwood is my preferred Amex (outside of DL Amex promos) just because of the no-blackout-date feature. But for lifetime PLT on Hilton - that would change a lot of things.

hfly

Dilution??? subjective idiocy I say. Yes a lot of FT people on FT got status, not necessarily in the real world. I happen to have had access to the amount of people who signed up for a "well known" FT promotion (not Hilton), it was less than 1500 people worldwide.

BTW Hilton got me "in" with the Gold comp 2 years ago, I earned it again the next year and am now Diamond. Not to bad as my stays previous to this were 5 days a year. Also I should mention that in the last six months I have received UNSOLICITED mid tier status in Marriott, Priority Club and Starwood, HH is NOT alone.

welookgood.com

Ever think we'll see lifetime status

ozstamps

Well seeing everyone and their Grandmother gets Gold each year via a phone call to Hilton - stay there or not - they are nuts if they do not offer a 'Lifetime Gold' card. Maybe base it on several 100 stays etc or something reasonably able to be acheived.



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~ Glen ~

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