Tag Archives for hilton.
Amex appears to be testing a Hilton Business card refresh that could bring back a free night award after spend, but likely with a higher annual fee and more statement-credit coupons. Surveyed options include fees up to $395, richer Hilton credits, business-category credits, Hilton for Business incentives, and possible changes to earning rates.
Hilton Honors will start selling upgrades to elite members of the Honors program through their mobile app.
Hilton wants Diamond breakfast guests to feel recognized, but some properties are doing it with table signs that publicly mark who is getting the elite benefit. Some guests love the VIP treatment; others feel like they’ve been labeled as coupon users before the eggs even arrive.
Hilton says it is removing a Minneapolis-area hotel from the brand after a follow-up video suggested the property was still refusing to honor Department of Homeland Security bookings even after an apology and assurances that agents would be welcome.
DHS is accusing Hilton-branded hotels in the Minneapolis area of canceling government-rate reservations and refusing to house immigration personnel, citing a “no ICE” email from a Hampton Inn franchise while activist pressure like “No Sleep for ICE” protests provides a motive for the cnacels.
A reader was upgraded to the Presidential Suite at the Hilton Branson Convention Center — and found a 13-year old mattress that’s well outside the brand’s own standards. Photos he shared also showed maintenance issues and worn furnishings, raising basic questions about quality control at a full-service Hilton.
Recently, Hilton set standard fees for late checkout. The goal is to upsell guests – including elite guests – for something that used to be offered to all Honors members for free. Increasingly, the free benefit for elites is disappearing from Hilton’s promotional materials, too.
Hilton has a new property system coming onboard to merchandise various aspects of your stay. One of the things they’re standardizing is how hotels upsell late check-out. The price for a confirmed late checkout will be set by brand.
The ‘number of members’ is really just ‘records in the database.’ The more rooms you have, the more people are booking them, the more sign up for a program usually just to avoid paying extra. A large marketing file is valuable! But it says little about the value of the program. Far more interesting is which programs outperform the size of the chain.
Long check-in lines are de rigueur in Las Vegas. People go to Vegas for a break, and the start of their trip is a queue – probably first for the ride from the airport to their hotel, and then to get into their room. What could be more of a mass experience, and what could make an upscale hotel feel more like Circus Circus than this?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
