With all the recent cutbacks within the airlines industry, other travel enterprises are catching on and implementing their own form of belt-tightening.
One such industry making it harder on their guests, in the name of money, is the hotel business and what they've decided on doing is raising their loyalty-program point limit to earn free-night stays.
This revamping has made some "loyal" guest, not be so committed, and actual switch hotel chains.
Frequent traveler and hotel guest William Humphrey is one of those changing allegiance.
Preferring to stay at Hotel, the disgruntled Humphrey, due to massive changes, has switched his business to Starwood and in the process, burned his 535,000 Hilton HHonors points.
He told USA Today that the program's changes make his points worth seven award nights, down from 15.
"In short, Hilton has clearly stated that my past loyalty is worth less and less to them each time they make these radical program changes, and my purchase behavior changes are the only logical response," he said.
In addition, he has also stopped using his co-branded American Express Hilton charge card. He may also shift some business to Kimpton and Omni hotels, "where recognition, not points, are the true rewards of loyalty," he said, according to USA Today..
"In a lot of instances people will shift loyalty," says Seth Miller, a former consultant who traveled frequently and who now blogs about travel and loyalty points, reported by USA Today.
However, changing chains and partner credit cards may not solve all the issues because other hotels are modifying their own rules as well.
For example, Marriott, according to USA Today, will push 36% of the hotel giant's 3,900 hotels into higher-tier categories. Just 1% of Marriott International's hotels are being moved into lower-tier categories, which would make the hotels cheaper for members. The remaining 63% of hotels will remain in their existing categories.
They will also be adding a new, ninth category for its most expensive hotels, such as the JW Marriott Essex House in Manhattan. "Category 9" will contain 12 of Marriott's most sought-after properties, almost all of which are located in the world's priciest vacation cities - New York, Paris and London. A night in these hotels will cost 45,000 points per night, up from the 40,000 currently required for the highest-tier hotel.
Marriott spokeswoman Laurie Goldstein told USA Today that nearly three-quarters of all hotels (73%) fall in the less-expensive categories (one through four).
On the Hilton side of things, their spokesman Scott Carman, as reported by USA Today, notes that the changes that his hotel is implementing gives members new benefits, such as a fifth night free when they book four nights using loyalty points. The additional benefits, he says, "help us to stay competitive" with rival programs.
"Even after the program changes, Hilton HHonors members spend less for a free night than any of the major competitors," Carman says, citing frequent traveler Gary Leff's "View from the Wing" blog.
Writer, Brian Kelly, who writes thepointsguy.com blog said "The real takeaway here...no matter which hotel brand you give your loyalty to, you're going to have to spend a lot more money - whether it's in terms of the outlay just to rack up the points or the cash copay on a cash & points redemption - to earn enough points to stay at a hotel you want," according to USA Today.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
