well good then. glad it helped...
but you and we need to do more--constantly. that is how things will improve on both sides. so if you wanna let me write your boss, I will!
It will help us all, trust me.
MM

People will cherish their miles only when the miles get them something worthwhile in return. Knowing that there is a human presence behind all those miles is nice, but it ain't no good to me if those miles can't get me anywhere.

That said, I am always puzzled by how inefficient this whole operation is being conducted. Why can't the hotel chains issue membership cards with magentic stripes on them? It will help make data tracking so much easier and faster.

I appreciate the efforts that you have made.

Some chains like "Choice Hotels" and "Best Western" must have the similar systems like yours where hotel employees must hand feed the data in. The past 3 months I have stayed at Marriotts, Hiltons, Holiday Inns, Choice Hotels and others. All posted the points or mileages earned with a week. However, all three stays at Choice required emails, faxes, telephone calls, receipts, etc. to get them have the points posted.

(Apologies in advance if I sounds like a buzzkill here. Pappa is just blowing off a little steam, and I've initiated many an OMNI thread for the same purpose! )

But I don't get the "cherish" part. I have frequent flier miles because I'm forced to play the game by the airlines in the country where I live (USA). That is, for most of my travels, I must purchase a bundle that includes travel plus a portion of a promise for future travel. (By "forced to play" I mean I have to pay for the portion of a promise of future travel. Of course I can decline the miles by not providing an FF number.) I do not have a choice, on most airlines for most of my routes, of selecting between a non-mileage-earning and a mileage-earning fare. (From reading these boards, it sounds like Europeans and others might have more of such choices, which is a good thing.)

So here I am, with a million or so FF miles sitting in a bunch of different accounts.

Fortunately, when I need a hotel room these days, I usually do have a choice whether or not to purchase loyalty points or miles along with my hotel room. Props to the lodging industry for making that happen. ^ I have a continuum of options ranging from Priceline to Hotwire to non-opaque 3rd party to prepaid direct-booked to fully-refundable direct-booked. I love all of those choices and have used each one of them as some point in recent travels (except Hotwire), depending on my needs and the costs associated with each choice.

So, when I do choose to purchase hotel points or FF miles from a hotel, I appreciate it when they post to my account. Thank you, Pappa, for making that happen. I know hotels like it when my payment "posts" to their account, so we guests like it when our payment (in the form of a loyalty currency) posts to our account.

I wish your chain had better systems to allow the customer-facing employees to spend more time on other things. It sounds like you do too.

Thank you so much for for doing your job! Some people think that just showing up to work is enough, but you are obviously cut from a different cloth.

I suggest you limit yourself to only processing points for three guests a day. A person with your dedication would be terribly missed if they developed carpal tunnel syndrome and was forced to take a medical leave.

Again congratulations. I'm sure that promotion is just around the corner ^ ^ ^

You should cherish your customers.

This generated a different discussion than I had expected, and so I've edited the original post. Please read it for clarification.

Don't worry about those giving you a hard time. I took your original post as little more than an indication that getting points from hotel stays is a labor-intensive process -- when it should not be -- and provided a bit more insight on why points don't post in a timely or always correct manner.

I was a hotel front desk clerk back in the 1970's when EVERYTHING was done manually. I had to imprint each credit card charge manually on a carbonized voucher form, call in each credit card number manually for an authorization number, and manually dial the phone number for each guest that wanted to make an outside call! I was constantly busy.

The only thing I did NOT have to do was enter a frequent flyer/guest number, because those programs did not even exist until 1981! Hotel employees today have it so easy by comparison!! Just be glad you still have a job as kiosks will someday replace nearly all front desk clerks.

You're right. And instead of people serving people, it will be people serving .... uh, I mean servicing .... machines.

Yep...just like the airlines. And in their case, the machines make the whole check-in process soooo seamless and smooth. Instead of an agent checking my bags and handing me a boarding pass, I spend 3-4 minutes fiddling with the machine until I get the "Please see a counter agent" message...and then the agent checks my bags and hands me a boarding pass.