Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hilton Honors - amendment to Honors program



AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HILTON WORLDWIDE, MR CHRISTOPHER NASETTA (christopher.nasetta@hilton.com)

Dear Mr Nasetta,

Amendment to the Hilton Honors Program – cancellation of membership (Charles ARNESTAD – membership number 227113054)

I was recently informed, through an e-mail I received from ‘Priority Club’, that Hilton has amended its Honors loyalty program to make my 38,502 accumulated points (Silver VIP level) less valuable by around 20%. I do not remember having received communication directly from Hilton in connection with this matter. In addition, I followed two links from the e-mail from ‘Priority Club’ to articles on the Internet in connection with details of the changes to the Hilton Honors program. The articles are HERE and HERE if you are interested. I have added comments to both websites saying how disappointed I am at this move by Hilton, and expressing my specific intention to move my business to Marriott.

I have been a loyal member of the Hilton Honors program.  Whenever I plan my travels, I make sure to stay at a Hilton hotel. During our trip to China last year, we stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Beijing (two visits), the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong and the Hilton Hotel in Shanghai.  These choices were made with the specific intention of building up my points so that we can plan a trip to the Conrad Rangali Island in the Maldives, somewhere we have always wanted to stay.

However, given that Hilton has unilaterally decided to amend its Honors program, and in doing so devalue my accumulated points, please note that I will no longer be choosing a Hilton / Conrad as my hotel of choice going forward. I will be switching my allegiance to Marriott and its suite of hotels. You will note that just a few days ago I had rooms reserved at the Conrad Hotel in Dublin, Ireland (confirmation number 3375106791) and at the Hilton Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland (confirmation number 3378231363), again with the intention of adding to my Hilton points for future use against the Maldives booking.

I have just canceled my bookings at the hotels in Ireland (cancellation number 182499712) and Scotland (cancellation number 1826175311). I will no longer be staying at a Hilton hotel. I now have confirmed bookings at the Shelbourne Hotel (run by Marriott) in Dublin, and at the Edinburgh Marriott.

I trust that the Executive Management of Hilton will give serious thought to the move made to devalue the Hilton Honors program, much to the dissatisfaction of your many loyal customers. I will no longer be loyal to the Hilton brand.

Yours faithfully,

Charles ARNESTAD.

This letter was sent as an e-mail to the Hilton Honors e-mail address (hhonors@hilton.com) on 18 February 2010, with a copy to Christoper Nasetta - christoper.nasetta@hilton.com - and other executives at Hilton Worldwide.

8 comments:

Nouman said...

It is interesting that a reward and loyalty program can turn upside down due to self-implosion.

Anonymous said...

Every morning I during the morning news program I watch there are commercials for a hotel rewards program stating, "Spend two nights and the 3rd night is free". I don't know how accurate that is and I'm not that interested in that chain of hotels anyway. What I do know is that with Hilton Honors, I have to stay about 20 - 30 nights to accumulate enough points for a free stay. Hardly worth bothering with.

Anonymous said...

My biggest problem with the program is that they try to "get out of upgrading you." The last two times I stayed there as a gold HHonors member, I was told that they were "all sold out" with no upgrades available tonight but they could upgrade me tommorrow if I wanted to move. I really feel it is their way of avoiding an upgrade. Who wants to change rooms after getting all settled in. It was easy to tell that the hotel was not sold out let alone of their preminum rooms.

Anonymous said...

I noticed that as well, they aren't giving the upgrades like they used to and even not putting water or snacks in the room to members. I've been a diamond member for years and it seems to be going down hill.

Anonymous said...

I am also a diamond member and agree that the water and snacks come very rarely and up grades almost never. This has been very disapointing because there are alot of hotel chains to chosse from and I am thinking about changing to Marriot.

Frustrated Loyal Customer
Joe Ribecky

Anonymous said...

I, too, am very disenchanted with Hilton Honors/Hilton Reservations. Will not stay there ever again. I tried for four months to cancel a reservation; to no avail. the WORST part was not that they would not cancel the reservation, but that NO ONE would respond to my e-mails, phone calls or snail-mail letters. I guess this chain has just gotten so big and successful that they don't need my business.

Anonymous said...

Just gald to know i am not the only dissatified prior customer

Anonymous said...

I have been a Diamond level HHonors member for years and needed a room at a Hilton property that was sold out. I thought through the Diamond level reservation guarantee, I could still get a room. I could, but it was at a price over twice the normal rate. What a scam! Why am I being loyal to a company that takes advantage of those who stay loyal to them.