New Feature: My Badges
Aug 16, 2014, 3:02 am
#1
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New Feature: My Badges
There is are a couple of new features on the website today, including the new possibility of earning badges, some of which apparently also include a token amount of bonus points.
Another nice feature is to be able to look at all of your previous stays on a map.
Another nice feature is to be able to look at all of your previous stays on a map.
Aug 16, 2014, 7:16 am
#2
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VftW reports on some of the point possibilities, and is underwhelmed.
For example, "25 points for 100 nights (that’s a whopping quarter point per night bonus), 125 points for 500 nights (another quarter point per night), and 250 points after 1000... "
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....inking-badges/
For example, "25 points for 100 nights (that’s a whopping quarter point per night bonus), 125 points for 500 nights (another quarter point per night), and 250 points after 1000... "
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....inking-badges/
Aug 16, 2014, 8:35 am
#3
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VftW reports on some of the point possibilities, and is underwhelmed.
For example, "25 points for 100 nights (that’s a whopping quarter point per night bonus), 125 points for 500 nights (another quarter point per night), and 250 points after 1000... "
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....inking-badges/
For example, "25 points for 100 nights (that’s a whopping quarter point per night bonus), 125 points for 500 nights (another quarter point per night), and 250 points after 1000... "
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....inking-badges/
Aug 16, 2014, 9:44 am
#4
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 344
Does anyone understand the purpose of these "badges". You earn more than 25 points from just ordering a water at the lobby bar so it certainly has no benefit to rewards members. I can imagine young children getting gold stars or scouts collecting badges as some type of rewarding achievement, but a badge (with no other benefit than 25 reward points) because you stayed twice at a RC??? Could this be the foolish ever to be thought up by the travel industry 
??
??
Aug 16, 2014, 9:54 am
#5
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In the comments section of VFTW, Wandering Aramean said:
"The mistake here is believing that the points are supposed to be the motivation for the behavior. They are not.
People chase badges all the time without any points to earn for their efforts. JetBlue’s similar badges program has similar small earning potential (though the points are worth a bit more) but it is getting great traction and their return on it has been better than expected. The word-of-mouth/viral marketing nature of the badges is such that the investment to operate the program is minimal but the gains to the company are great.
Sure, you’ll earn more points signing up for a 70k point CC, but that’s a different game to play. And plenty of people play the badges games instead."
I'm w/ VFTW on this one - totally underwhelmed by points offered, but then I haven't been into chasing badges since Camp Fire Girl days
. Also didn't realize that Marriott had devalued its Points Plus social media promo until I read the link above.
"Incidentally, though it’s been only two months since Marriott’s new social beta was launched, they’ve already devalued the program!
They stopped giving points for liking properties on Facebook
They reduced the reward for following a property on twitter from 250 points down to 25
They now cap earning at 4 transactions per day
At the same time though they’ve increased the number of participating properties.
As programs figure all of this stuff out (and mostly fail) you can earn a few points along the way. These efforts won’t be sending members off on major free trips. They aren’t a huge payoff for the time invested."
Cheers.
"The mistake here is believing that the points are supposed to be the motivation for the behavior. They are not.
People chase badges all the time without any points to earn for their efforts. JetBlue’s similar badges program has similar small earning potential (though the points are worth a bit more) but it is getting great traction and their return on it has been better than expected. The word-of-mouth/viral marketing nature of the badges is such that the investment to operate the program is minimal but the gains to the company are great.
Sure, you’ll earn more points signing up for a 70k point CC, but that’s a different game to play. And plenty of people play the badges games instead."
I'm w/ VFTW on this one - totally underwhelmed by points offered, but then I haven't been into chasing badges since Camp Fire Girl days
. Also didn't realize that Marriott had devalued its Points Plus social media promo until I read the link above."Incidentally, though it’s been only two months since Marriott’s new social beta was launched, they’ve already devalued the program!
They stopped giving points for liking properties on Facebook
They reduced the reward for following a property on twitter from 250 points down to 25
They now cap earning at 4 transactions per day
At the same time though they’ve increased the number of participating properties.
As programs figure all of this stuff out (and mostly fail) you can earn a few points along the way. These efforts won’t be sending members off on major free trips. They aren’t a huge payoff for the time invested."
Cheers.
Last edited by SkiAdcock; Aug 16, 2014 at 9:59 am
Aug 16, 2014, 3:46 pm
#7
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And I thought status stars on Lufthansa were a waste of time....
Aug 16, 2014, 7:52 pm
#8
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Maybe if I check in a lot and garner many badges, I can be the mayor of Mariottville.
Aug 16, 2014, 8:15 pm
#9
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But the misguided hate is fun to read, I suppose.
Aug 16, 2014, 8:18 pm
#10
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They way I look at it, any time I earn points for something I was going to do anyway, I'm happy. Sure, it's not much, but it's more than I could have earned before they made this feature.
Aug 16, 2014, 10:24 pm
#11
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That's one way to look at it. The other way is do you really want to sell your Facebook page out for a meager amount of points. I don't.
Last edited by escapefromphl; Aug 16, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Aug 17, 2014, 4:08 am
#12
Join Date: May 2014
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On a side note, disparaging a foolish idea that was targeted to you is considered "hate"? I guess we've kicked racism and homophobia and all that so the word hate can take on a new meaning
Aug 17, 2014, 2:28 pm
#13
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Cheers.
Aug 17, 2014, 2:57 pm
#14
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Maybe it's all the same folks who poured in after SPG starting awarding points for Foursquare check-ins. I hear that's doing cray-cray business.
Aug 17, 2014, 6:44 pm
#15
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I wonder if these schemes will provide almost free ways to keep points or miles alive in frequent guest accounts.