Hilton vs. Lydy, the Twitter update

[lydy]

 So, I posted a link to my previous post to  Twitter, and tagged Hilton Hotels.  They asked me to DM them the details.  This is what I sent them:

Please imagine my most exasperated tone of voice: the details were at the link in the tweet to which you responded.


My legal name is my handle, Lydia Nickerson. I have a reservation at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park, Minnesota for June 14th and 15th, which is the reservation which I originally called about. The very nice woman to whom I spoke surprised me by telling me I had a Hiltons Honor Program account, which is very possibly true, but I don't travel a lot, and so may have signed up for it some time ago and forgotten it.


She said that she would send me email with a confirmation of my reservation and my Hiltons number. What I got was an email inviting me to log into my Hiltons Honor account, a login screen which asked for the number which I do not have. Which is no big deal, but seriously, people, le sigh.


However, my actual serious issue is with the second woman I talked to, who very nearly gave me a panic attack. It was an incredibly distressing interaction, such that I will be avoiding Hilton properties in the future where I have an option. I do understand that for some people, points and discounts are a competitive game, and fun to play. These are also people, I assume, for whom, as the saleslady said, "Ninety-nine dollars isn't really a deal breaker."



If that is your preferred clientele, well, go you. But for me, a hundred dollars is, indeed, a possible deal breaker. Four days and a hundred dollars are a significant investment. I have wanted to go to Las Vegas to see Cirque du Soliel's "O" for many years now. The reason I have not is because I have not been able to afford it.

This offer made it seem like, with a little work and some effort, I might actually get to do such a thing.

Finally, do not call me. Any communication should be either via DM, or my email address, which is lydy@demesne.com. Under no circumstances do I wish to have another phone conversation with your company.


Oh, and, for the record, I have worked in customer service. I'm quite sure that the woman I had trouble with a) did not have her manager on the other line b) was following the script, and c) is the victim of a predatory incentive policy. You guys must be abusing your employees, to have them treat me in the fashion that she did.

We'll see what they say.  I feel a little bad for the employees.  Working for a predatory company sucks.

Comments

[lcohen]

i hope that they do give you some sort of response. even if the second woman to whom you spoke is working in a predatory environment, at a certain point you have to remember that you are interacting with human beings and that the person on the other end who is telling you to please stop isn't going to buy anything--and it might create just the scenario that it did create where it makes you actively hostile towards the company.

[lydy]

I agree that she should have noticed that I was upset. But one of the things that happens when you work for a predatory company is that it damages your ability to have empathy for your targets. Shorter me: capitalism sucks.

[calimac]

That's written with sufficient sophistication that they will probably completely miss your point. Here's hoping they don't.

[lydy]

Honestly, they will completely miss the point. People don't see things would interfere with them making money.

[calimac]

Part of your point is that they'd make more money, at least from you, if they didn't behave this way. That's what they're incapable of getting. It's not greed, or not just greed, but a Trump-like mental incapacity to grasp anything.

My favorite example of this is of when a classical radio station started running glaringly inappropriate ads, with pop jingles and such. I wrote them a letter suggesting that they prevail on the advertisers to consider the audience. They wrote back patiently explaining to me why they need to run ads.

[thewayne]

I would most certainly object to a sudden $100 increase in my hotel bill, that's ridiculous! Last night we were at a dinner celebrating the 25th anniversary of First Light on my wife's telescope, and three of us at our table were bitching about prescription drug prices: one drug that I was on late last year I was getting at Walgreens for $6/month, my prescription drug extortionermanager took it off their formulary and replaced it with one that was $140 a month. One person commented that it's like if suddenly breakfast were to cost an additional $100 overnight.

I've seen "O", granted it was probably 20 years ago - fantastic show, amazing theater. You'll have a wonderful time! If you can swing it, also go see Mystere.

[lydy]

My girlfriend and I are exchanging emails. You know, a couple day trip, with cheap airfare, is probably really doable. I will take Mystere into consideration. I basically love Cirque du Soliel, but man, the tickets are pricey.

Also, that "$99 isn't a make or break thing" was appalling, given that some years ago, the price for "O" was $100, and that was one of the reasons why I couldn't afford to do it. Just the price of the show tipped the whole thing into fantasy land.

[thewayne]

I saw both O and Mystere the same year when I was working a big chess tournament in Vegas, and was making $70k a year back in the '90s.  I could afford to do things because my trip and lodging was paid for and I was getting a small stipend: it was a bit of a busman's holiday.  But yeah, those shows have REALLY gone up in price!  I love me some Cirque, but I wonder if I'll ever see them again aside from video, and that just ain't the same.

[pameladean]

UGH, how horrible, those creepy bastards.

P.

[lydy]

I am informed that they were trying to sell me a timeshare. Which is even more creepy and horrible. Weird defense mechanism I've got, but at least it worked.

[dreamshark]

For the record, Hilton as is respectable as any other company in the hospitality and travel business, so it probably wasn't precisely a scam. However, it is highly unlikely that it was a good deal. IMHO, high pressure tactics are rarely used with genuinely good deals (because why would they be?) The only way to come out ahead on "deals" with big companies is to do the opposite of what they want you to. Sign up for that credit card with the great intro offer and usurious interest rates but never run a balance. Take the gift for listening to the sales pitch but never consider buying anything, etc. I think I did take that same deal of "listen to a sales pitch in return for Hilton points" once and decided it was way too aggravating to be worth even 5 minutes of my time, so never again. I had absolutely no interest in a trip to Las Vegas, so it wasn't difficult to resist, just incredibly annoying.

Complaining loudly and publicly to Hilton about what you consider grossly unprofessional sales tactics is a perfectly fine response, but consider what you expect in return. They probably aren't going to stop doing this (at least until it stops making them money), or pay your therapy bills, or even give you a free room night. However, they may keep offering you more and more Honors points to shut up and stop haranguing them. Don't be too proud to take the points. Yes, it may mean you have to call their customer service line to get help logging into your account, but those people are usually helpful enough if you can get through the damn phone tree and won't try to sell you anything.

Hilton points expire in 12 or 18 months, so you probably don't have a lot of them saved up. But the good news is that you do not have to save up the 33,000 points needed to get a full award night. Hilton lets you book with "points and cash," so you can use whatever points you have to get a discount off your next Hilton night. I'm not sure exactly how they value the points when you use them that way, but most travel hackers consider Hilton points to be worth about a half-cent each. So 5,000 points is worth about $25. And they may well offer you more before you're done.

[lydy]

The only reason I want to go to Las Vegas is to see "O". But I really do very much want to see it, and it only plays there.

I don't actually expect anything. And the information about the points expiring is really useful, and the fact that it takes 33,000 (!) points for a single night is just... well, that 5,000 points wasn't ever going to be of much use to me, now was it?

I am fascinated by the way one falls into answering questions. There were three types of questions: questions for information, such as my name; rhetorical questions, such as "who doesn't like a good deal?"; and questions requiring assent, such as "so shall I set this up for you?" The tactic appears to be to get you into the call-and-response mode of answering questions, and then to mix the rhetorical and consent questions together in a bewildering fashion, so that you don't really notice when you've agreed to a generality and when you've agreed to a specific. It's disorienting and upsetting, at least, if you're me. I suspect that this is also a technique used by cops, which is why one is advised to never answer even innocuous questions from cops.

[dreamshark]

It's true that 5,000 points is not actually worth very much. But the thing about Hilton's cash+points system is that any number of points can be useful, just not terribly lucrative.

Incidentally, Hilton points don't INDIVIDUALLY expire. If you have any "earning or redeeming activity" on your account every year all your points stay active. But if 12 months goes by with no "earning or redeeming," all your points disappear. So if you stay at a Doubletree once a year and make sure to get credit for your Honors points, that will keep them active and accumulating until you get around to using them. So it probably is worth the trouble of getting access to your Honors account and recording the member number, even if you now hate Hilton with a white-hot fury. Not using points that they are giving you anyway is just putting more money in their corporate pockets.

And if you really would like to get to Vegas for that show and can qualify for a credit card, you can earn 75,000 Hilton points by applying for their lowest level no-fee credit card (which again, gives you an idea just how little 5,000 points is worth).