In 1991, Robert Annenberg paid $150 for life membership in Senior HHonors Gold VIP program. Last year, Hilton terminated his membership without warning. Is Annenberg’s elite status gone?
My initial response — and one I’ve repeated to several Hilton guests with the identical problem — is that he’s probably lost his HHonors status for good. The lawyerly terms and conditions for Hilton’s loyalty program is crystal clear that it can basically change its contract any time, for any reason.
But the more I thought about it, the more I thought how wrong that was. The terms are irrelevant — lifetime means for the rest of my life.
Right?
Annenberg picks up the story:
All was fine until Hilton Hotels was purchased by new owners sometime in 2007 or 2008. In any case, I suddenly found myself the recipient of a mailing from Hilton in 2008 that said they were terminating the Senior HHonors program. We would be relegated to the lowest level of HHonors status (at no charge) after one year unless we had enough stays to earn the Gold VIP level.
Note: Most of Hilton’s Senior HHonors Gold VIP members don’t have enough room nights to maintain elite status under the regular rules, since they’re retired, so this conciliatory gesture was largely meaningless.
Since I had paid for the Senior HHonors Gold VIP status for a lifetime, I felt this was highly unfair. Therefore, I contacted Adam Burke (Adam_Burke@Hilton.com), the head of the HHonors program to complain. Mr. Burke had assisted me in the past with matters pertaining to my HHonors points status since I had earned almost 1 1/2 million HHonors points through transferring miles from an airline promotion.
Mr. Burke responded by saying that (small print apparently) provisions of the Senior HHonors program allowed Hilton to cancel the program at any time, but they were kind enough to extend the Gold VIP privileges for one year.
When unable to get anywhere with Mr. Burke, I wrote a letter to the CEO of Hilton. In turn, Mr. Burke contacted me in reply. After discussions back and forth, he finally agreed to extend my Gold VIP level until April of 2011. I found myself without any choice, but to accept this offer. I even suggested that the fact that I had had well over one million points accumulated in their HHonors program at one given time, that alone should see me through life benefits for Gold VIP level. No such luck!
To this day, the more I think about it, the more frustrated and angry I get at the poor traveler who invested money for a program that said “lifetime” to again be handed the short end of the stick without any recourse.
Chris, if you feel that this is a legitimate gripe and can do anything to assist me in getting back my Lifetime Gold VIP status, I would be most grateful, thinking of you every time I used my benefits for what can’t be to much longer since I am now close to 80 years of age.
Apart from the fact that canceling a life membership is wrong, I have to wonder why Hilton wouldn’t keep its word for the senior citizens who had paid to belong to this program. What harm could possibly come from treating a few seniors well during their hotel visit? How much money could Hilton possibly lose by maintaining these guest’s elite status?
I asked Hilton. A few weeks later, I heard directly from Annenberg:
Christopher – you’ve done it again! In today’s mail I just received a new HHonors Gold VIP card from Hilton Hotels showing a tier expiration date of “Lifetime.”
Thank you for your efforts. Obviously, the efforts proved worthwhile and I certainly do appreciate your help!
I’m happy that Hilton changed its mind about its Senior HHonors Gold VIP program, and I hope this sets a precedent for other seniors who have lost their status.
(Photo: FrankZoe/Flickr Creative Commons)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You know, I think that if they PAID for Lifetime Status, Hilton should have at least honored to refund that payment, but it seems that was never mentioned.
I know that’s not what Mr. Annenburg wanted, but I am still surprised that was not automatically offered.
I’m not normally sympathetic with people who let miles expire because of inattention to program rules, however, that is clearly not the case here. I could understand Hilton wanting to terminate the Senior VIP program if that is their business case, however, it is just plain dumb not to grandfather in those who’ve already paid to join the program. But then the travel industry is littered with companies who make dumb, shortsighted decisions because they can’t manage their companies properly. I hope that other companies take note, don’t terminate the lifetime benefits of existing members, change the rules for new members by all means, but don’t play with existing members.
Gold status on Hilton Honors doesn’t confer that many privileges after all – automatic upgrade to the executive floor and a bottle of wine in your room as far as I recall – not that expensive to a hotel.
Smart promoters know better than to accept that short term payment for a lifetime status. The odds are not in their favor. I have a “lifetime” National Geographic subscription that my grandfather gave me for my birthday. My 10th birthday. Every month since then, I remember him, even though he passed before I turned 13. I think I’ve more than gotten back the $1000 that cost him.
@Matthew in NYC: You are way too generous. It’s a bottle of water, not wine!
I also have a life time gold membership card from HILTON. Have they gone back on their decision to cancel our cards.or was the priviledge given only to this particular member?
Thanks,
Christina
I recently CLICKED THE WRONG PROMO CHOICE on their site and then was told when I called in that I couldn’t have it changed. They are very, very inflexible on their programs and options, so this article doesn’t surprise me in the least. Even after being transferred to a supervisor, I was told that nothing could be done. Great customer service. Obviously, they have lots to learn when it comes to keeping happy customers. Thankfully, my company only uses them occasionally. I’ll be requesting that my company eliminate them altogether. Ridiculous. Glad that Mr Annenberg got his membership back. Perhaps the only thing I can do is write to the CEO. Sad that I even have to take the time to do this when it’s unlikely to help. My issue is much smaller.