ckendall

Holy cow, best wishes for your future career at Hilton, William! https://viewfromthewing.com/2019/08/...-joins-hilton/

margarita girl

RafKa

Nothing different to what we've seen here at FT: a considerable number of SPG loyalists who have defected to Hilton (myself included). William is just the latest. Sure, you can't infer a trend from a handful of anecdotal evidence, but over the last 12 months we've seen plenty of FTers moving the bulk of their stays from MR to HH, and not many the other way around...

AJLondon

mhdena

"Between Marriott and Starwood, William has 22 years in. Marriott’s policy is that an employee retiring after 25 years receives 2 free nights at each and every hotel every year. I won’t speculate on the cause of William’s departure."

Kacee

Nothing that hasn't already been said

It sure reflects well on Hilton though. They clearly see opportunity in Marriott's ongoing clown show.

Sam P. Goodman

Any news on the HH "Friends of Starwood Lurker" Elite Status Match Program?

I'm sure we'll never know the backstory on this one, but wow, does it seem like bad show for Marriott...

Tanic

Can you launder bonvOY points into Honors points?

Keyser

great move by hilton....

hilton was my main program for many years before i shifted all my stays to spg in 2007....hilton remained my back up program for a few years before i shifted all those stays to ihg around 5 years ago....

now, with this move, hilton is once again going to become my back up....having william around to help makes a world of a difference....

RedSun

Nothing really. I care less about the old "Lurker". We still get Lurker II, III, IV and more....

Life goes on as usual for most of us.

RedSun

IMO, it is just a bad taste to create this thread to announce the "retirement" and "un-retirement" in a few days. What is the point of doing this?

I understand a lot of former SPG loyalists, the "Lurker" included, want to move on or away from Marriott. It is understandable and we are all free to come and go. It does not say much for the majority of the Marriott members. It seems most of the people who are saying they are leaving Marriott still enjoy pretty much what Marriott is offering.

I know I'm the minority here. But I just do not like the folks who keep bad mouth about the loyalty program they still continue to benefit from. I'll be happy to see some of the SPG loyalists move away to Hilton or whatever program they like. So more award opportunities would open for rest of us.....

howtofreetravel

This is another sign of marriot cost cutting...

Keyser

i completely agree with you....marriott should not have started this thread....

of course they are continuing to enjoy what marriott is offering....& why shouldn't they????they have earned the status & points & benefits so they should continue to enjoy them till the time they are still with marriott....when they leave then all those benefits go away....so i don't see what the problem is here....

yes, you probably are in the minority here....why should you not point out the things that are wrong with the program????you just pointed out that it was in bad taste for marriott to start this thread....pointing out what's wrong is a great way to let the company know what they need to fix....back in 2014 i complained here on ft about a particular aspect of the spg program & the same complaint was echoed by a few other members....later that week william reached out to me to say that he had reported the problem to management & the director of the spg program wanted to get on a call with me to ask a few questions....i spoke to the director the following day & spg went ahead & made the change that we were complaining about....it was a big thing for us spg folks to have william around here....we felt like we were being heard....

& this issue is not just with spg/marriott....i have top status with delta & i get great benefits from my status with them....but i hate their website....i hate the fact that their diamond desk is manned by a number of incompetent agents....i have top status with air india but i hate pretty much everything about the airline....unfortunately i don't have a choice & have to continue flying with them....there are a number of other things i don't like about either of them & i'm not afraid to point them out....not doing so is encouraging the company to carry on with things that are broken....

there will be a number of spg loyalists who will move to marriott or other programs....the move will be so little in the grand scheme of things that it will make no difference in award opportunities to you....but if it makes you feel happy to believe that then to each their own....

RedSun

Some people have 30-year or 20-year marriage to SPG. So they will never move on and keep stating how good the old SPG world WAS. We all know it. No point keep stating it again and again. We should treat loyalty program as a partner, not a marriage. Rise from the ashes of SPG, shed some tears and just move on, either Marriott, Hilton or IHG, whatever destiny you so choose.

The same with the "Lurker". I have respect to him even though I never had any connection with him. Most of the Marriott community members do not care....

Keyser

no one is treating it like a marriage....there were some aspects of the spg program that were great & there are aspects of the marriott program that are great....both also had/have their share of problems....its human nature to crib & cry so some people will do that....some for a shorter time & others for a longer time....if it bothers you then just ignore it....eventually it will stop....

the marriott community doesn't care because they never got to experience what an asset he was....the spg community knew that & benefited a great deal from him being here....you people don't know what you lost because you never had that thing to begin with....