I received the double base points email today.

This is precisely why I am no longer SPG Plat.

I do not want to begin a new thread. Just received e-mail
with the following offer. 80,000 points for eight stays thru July 31. Looks like everyone will get something...some time.

Not necessarily.

The last time that Hilton HHonors offered a plethora of varying offers to members, I received absolutely nothing.

I just got an email for triple points or miles, but it's for stays in Central America..."Earn Triple Hilton HHonors� Points or Triple Airline Miles in Central America from $109!"

Just cancelled my up-coming reservations totaling 35 nights. Will switch them to MR to take advantage of their Megabonus offer.

For the people who got the bonus emails, were you offered the bonuses last time?

I just got my email. It's the first targetted promo I've ever gotten from Hilton.

I won't be able to take full advantage of it, because I'm already doing the Marriott Megabonus and racking up some Choice points.

However, I found out my Diamond expires next month, so, because we're going to be hitting the Hiltons in Europe this Fall, this is a good excuse to put enough stays together to see if I can get that back.

I just got the double miles email, I'm diamond. I didn't get the 5/10/15 earlier promo, but I emailed and whined and begged and they gave it to me.

No promo this time, but I got the 1000 point online booking bonus last time that hasn't expired yet.

Properties Guy

Traveller, I never pictured you as a whiner...except for AMEX

So, basically you're either now retired, or your income doesn't depend on staying in hotels (or flying around in sardine cans). You lucky thing.

Somewhat off topic, but I find it ironic that the big story surrounding Russell Crowe's arrest last year was that he threw a phone at the hotel clerk.. and not that the hotel clerk apparently refused to help him when he asked for help after he wasn't able to make an international call to his wife, when staying in a room that probably was costing him upwards of $1000/night (he was at the Mercer, one of the most expensive hotels in NYC). Maybe they didn't like his movies? Yes, many hotels are better than this, but the trend is there, and seems to be pretty common (in this Starwood Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold (almost Plat), Priority Club Plat's opinion - do I stay in alot of hotel rooms? )

1) how did you find out about the increase in awards? Was this posted publically somewhere? If so, I missed that, so thanks for the info!! ^

2) If you want to stay somewhere based on something other than point accrual ( gasp), I highly reccommend Kimpton Hotels www.kimptonhotels.com No, contrary to some opinions, I don't work for Kimpton (see comment above re: my hotel status), but frankly (in this road warrior's opinion) I think this hotel really "gets it" in terms of treating guests with great to excellent customer service and recognizing the fact that if they do so, the guest might stay there again.. (Ya think?)

Russell Crowe (post arrest): "I won't be staying at that hotel again!"

Diamond here, a whole lotta nothing so far

What?

No, I am not retired. In fact, I am far from it.

The point I was attempting to make was that, regardless of elite status, money spent, or how often I stayed, I was rarely � if ever � targetted for any hotel frequent guest program offer.

However, I have taken advantage of special offers by hotel frequent guest programs, but they were not targetted.Effective June 1, 2006: Hilton HHonors Reward Category Changes � 900+ Properties

Good, good for you, but if you don't have to travel for a living, consider yourself lucky! ^ I'm considering changing occupations because "the game just isn't as much fun as it used to be." Is retirement a bad thing?

Which is why I like staying with chains that give good promos - to everyone. Starwood used to do this, Hilton used to do this, but Marriott (with the MegaBonus promo) seems to be the only chain that is still doing this (IMHO). Does that mean that the people at Marriott central are smarter than Hilton or Starwood central? Well, checking on Yahoo finance, Marriott is a clear $7 billion in revenue ahead of Hilton. http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/ll/710tor.html

Not sure where Starwood (HOT) falls in here, but it would be interesting to compare the % changes in revenue for the hotels on a quarterly basis after the Marriott MegaBonus promo vs. Hilton's "targetted" promos..

No, retirement is definitely not a bad thing � and yes, I do have to travel for a living. My business requires that.

Please accept my apologies, but I suppose I am still confused by what you are trying to say and why you thought I was retired or did not have to travel for a living based on what I posted.

Although I still belong to all of the frequent guest programs offered by hotel chains, there have been times in my life when I was an elite member of each of them. Marriott may do a great job with offers that are not targetted to specific members of their frequent guest program, but I did not like the way I was treated by them when I was an Elite member.

Currently, Hilton HHonors treats me well as a long-time Diamond member. However, I do not get targetted for special offers, for whatever reason. The rate increase expected in June pertaining to the redemption of Hilton HHonors points for award stays at greater than 900 properties provides less of an incentive to remain loyal because it will require redeeming more points for the same award. This is not so bad if one gets an offer targetted to them giving the opportunity to earn extra Hilton HHonors points, but with no significant offers of any kind offered to me, targetted or not, it renders concentrating on one particular hotel frequent guest program somewhat more difficult � thus, the statement of me considering disregarding hotel frequent guest programs in the future, blasphemous as it may sound on FlyerTalk, is the result.

Promotions are only part of the equation for me, not the complete equation, in terms of choosing a hotel frequent guest program on which to concentrate. Of course, many FlyerTalk members concentrate on greater than one hotel frequent guest program. However, if promotions are the sole reason why one would concentrate on a certain hotel frequent guest program, then Marriott is currently an excellent choice.