Promotions doomed/failed/retracted because of us?
Mar 19, 2003 | 10:11 am
#31
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Reno, NV (RNO)
Programs: AA LT Platinum, AS, UA Premier Silver, DL, HHonors Gold, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,723
I have no issue with Hilton opening the promo to anyone or everyone. It was probably a good move on their part, as you state.
What I do take exception to is Hilton or others coming back and saying it's our (the customer's fault) that Hilton (or whoever) can't offer such promotions anymore because too many people signed up for such promotions in the past and money was lost. The "blame the customer" attitude is what has to stop, but it appears that the airlines/hotels are succeeding in making at least some FlyerTalkers believe it really is our fault. IT ISN'T!
What I do take exception to is Hilton or others coming back and saying it's our (the customer's fault) that Hilton (or whoever) can't offer such promotions anymore because too many people signed up for such promotions in the past and money was lost. The "blame the customer" attitude is what has to stop, but it appears that the airlines/hotels are succeeding in making at least some FlyerTalkers believe it really is our fault. IT ISN'T!
Mar 19, 2003 | 10:30 am
#32
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 873
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MileKing:
What I do take exception to is Hilton or others coming back and saying it's our (the customer's fault) that Hilton (or whoever) can't offer such promotions anymore because too many people signed up for such promotions in the past and money was lost. The "blame the customer" attitude is what has to stop, but it appears that the airlines/hotels are succeeding in making at least some FlyerTalkers believe it really is our fault. IT ISN'T!</font>
What I do take exception to is Hilton or others coming back and saying it's our (the customer's fault) that Hilton (or whoever) can't offer such promotions anymore because too many people signed up for such promotions in the past and money was lost. The "blame the customer" attitude is what has to stop, but it appears that the airlines/hotels are succeeding in making at least some FlyerTalkers believe it really is our fault. IT ISN'T!</font>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I fail to see how anyone "abused" any of these promos if they acted within the rules established in the promotions themselves. The fact that some people decided to load up on magazines thru the ValueMags promotion (or pudding thru Healthy Choice) is not abuse in my view, regardless of how many magazines they may have bought. I don't recall there being any limit and GoldPoints was certainly within their rights to pull the plug early on the promo. For every promo that's offered, are we supposed to run a profit analysis for the company before deciding whether we should take advantage of it? I hardly think so.</font>
It is very simple for Hilton (or any other company for that matter) to keep non-targetted people from signing up for a targetted promotion, either by updating their computer system to do an automatic check or manually (hire an intern who checks all who enroll versus a list of those targetted, or something like that).
Apparently they thought it was a better decision to open it for everybody. In my case i gave them lots of $$$ extra revenue.
BTW I signed up for CNTU after it was supposed to have been stopped (Nov 2002): a couple of tries (the so called CSR roulette) got me in the promotion and all points posted
. Another example of an easily preventable practice, that is if they really wanted to.[edited to correct several typos
][This message has been edited by ql2112 (edited 03-19-2003).]
Mar 20, 2003 | 11:49 am
#33
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 98
I think HHonors scammed us, not the other way around. They ran a promotion, getting myself and many others to pay for nights we would not have otherwise paid for. As soon as the promotion ended they promptly devalued the points leaving us holding the bag.
Mar 20, 2003 | 12:18 pm
#34
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 8,955
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CPRich:
Racking up 40-50K for each round trip sure raised some eyebrows at USAirways last year.
Quite an uproar on the US boards, with threats of account cancellations, mile revocation, etc.
At least it drove them to fix their broken IT systems. </font>
Racking up 40-50K for each round trip sure raised some eyebrows at USAirways last year.
Quite an uproar on the US boards, with threats of account cancellations, mile revocation, etc.
At least it drove them to fix their broken IT systems. </font>
Mar 20, 2003 | 12:48 pm
#35
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Tampa, Florida, U.S.A.
Posts: 7,664
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nindobe:
I think HHonors scammed us, not the other way around. They ran a promotion, getting myself and many others to pay for nights we would not have otherwise paid for. As soon as the promotion ended they promptly devalued the points leaving us holding the bag.</font>
I think HHonors scammed us, not the other way around. They ran a promotion, getting myself and many others to pay for nights we would not have otherwise paid for. As soon as the promotion ended they promptly devalued the points leaving us holding the bag.</font>
You stayed at Hilton hotels you did want to stay at just because of a promo.
Why would you do something like that?
It couldnt be because you thought you were getting something for little or nothing was it?
4 nights in Hampton Inn @ $39/night, do this twice and off we all go to Hawaii for 6 days at the HHV or HWV (which charges about $150 to $200/ night) so they upped the points required by 75% (still a good deal IMHO) and you feel like you are ripped off?
Did the continuation of the first scenario make a lot of economic sense?
As far as I can remember HHonors is a hotel
loyalty program ( = stays, a fair number of them ) not the state lottery.
Mike
[This message has been edited by MIKESILV (edited 03-20-2003).]