I’m the kind of person who actually reads marketing emails on occasion from the companies I do business with. Who knows, they might have something interesting to say to me or there’s a deal being offered that I simply can’t turn down. So when I got my monthly email yesterday from Hilton Hotels, I opened it up and took a look.
Signed by Adam Burke, senior VP of customer loyalty for the chain (that’s him to the right), the email was designed as a call to action: buy something from us or we’re going to cancel your Hilton HHonors account. Here’s the first paragraph:
This is a special reminder that time is running out on your HHonors account. To keep your account active, you must earn HHonors points at least once every 12 months. Otherwise, your membership will be cancelled and all of your points forfeited.
Well, hello to you too, Adam. What kind of reminder? Oh, a special one.
Now, I don’t know the terms of use of all the customer loyalty programs I belong to. I doubt many people do. But I do know that I belong to a lot of them, thanks to the dozens of business trips I took around the country from 2005-2007. Like anyone else who travels a lot for business, I discovered my favorites and stuck to them whenever possible. Marriott and Hilton for hotels. Hertz for rental cars. Northwest, Continental and Southwest for airlines. And now that I no longer travel for business, I still choose them for personal travel.
When is the last time I stayed in a Hilton property? That would be April 12-14, 2008 when I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Kerrville, TX. My wife and I had gone down there so I could see my dad, who was dying of cancer, one last time before he really went into decline. The Hampton Inn stay was perfect, as nearly all my experiences with the Hilton properties have been. (However, I have to admit that when I went back in June I didn’t stay at the Hampton Inn. Instead, because I was going to be there until my father actually died, to save money I stayed at the Kerrville Motel 6. But I did fly Southwest down, Continental back and rented a car from Hertz.)
Looking back through my email, I find that I joined the Hilton program on 10/25/2004. Since then, I’ve stayed at Hampton Inns in Lincoln, NE, Bend, Or, Houston, TX, and Baltimore, MD, among other places. 
I guess that’s not a very long relationship, but I still have a lot of traveling to do in my life, so I’m sure there would have been other Hilton nights. According to Adam,though, the little break I’m on from traveling just doesn’t sit well with them. For Hilton, it’s not so much customer loyalty as customer slavery apparently.
Adam closes his email with the following:
We hope you’ll continue to enjoy all the privileges ofHHonors membership. … and enjoy [the] extra care and attention every time you stay with the Hilton Family when you’re a member.
Wow, and here I thought it was a privilege for THEM to do business with ME. All along it turns out that it was just the opposite.
So Adam, I think I’ll pass on your call to action. Did you really think this was the right kind of communication to spur loyalty? You did just the opposite for me, dude. With one email you cut me loose. Good luck to you, Hilton! It was great while it lasted.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
customer loyalty programs
Excellent post on customer loyalty, backend marketing, and recurring billing.
These are all the best ways to generate as solid business model.
Long term reccuring customers are where the money is at.
If you treat and market your loyal customers
with incentive programs,sales incentives,
and customer loyalty programs,
you will be setting yourself up for
long term success based on proven business principles.
Love the piece on Hilton. Imagine my surprise after I had accumulated over 400,000 points over a period of 11 years – just so my wife and I could enjoy a nice vacation overseas! I didn’t even get a letter – just a harsh realization/slap in the face when I called to arrange the travel…..”oh, Mr. Mercer, I am showing that your account has been deactivated and your points have been cancelled. ” No communciations, no letters, no Thank You, no reminder, no apology – just a F… Y.. Dude, your account is closed. Surprised they didn’t rub it in by saying “read the fine print idiot.” I went all the way to the top of Hilton with letters, e-mails, etc. and never received anything other than a form letter back – saying that “we are working on a resolution to your problem….” I think it is safe to say I will NEVER stay in a Hilton establishment again as long as I live and I will go out of my way to encourage friends, family, business collegues and anyone who will listen to use other chains. Case in point…my new Starwood Ownership in Maui, and I suspect I’ll be buying more and more weeks and promoting them as time goes on. Just last month, I encouraged my parents to dump their Hilton Timeshare – they too will be looking elsewhere.