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Hotel Loyalty Programs Getting Stingier

December 27, 2007 at 10:28 AM | 0 Comments

An article this week in the Wall Street Journal was all about hotels expanding their rewards programs to offer dinner from a star chef, a space flight, or a night with Travolta and the Hairspray cast at a Broadway premiere. It's the secondary theme that got our interest though:

Hyatt, Hilton and Starwood recently changed their programs, requiring more points for higher-end hotels and irking travelers who complained the changes caused a devaluation of their points. Staying at one of Starwood's most-luxurious properties now requires 35,000 points per night for a standard room during peak season, up from from 25,000 points before the change.

Last year, Hilton reclassified hundreds of its hotels into higher categories -- meaning more points are required for stays there. For example, the Las Vegas Hilton, which used to be a Category 3 hotel, was reclassified to a Category 5. That means the cost of a night at that hotel increased to 35,000 points from 25,000 points.

In other words, your points in these programs got wholloped with a 40 percent decline in value, just like that. Maybe being a pro-wrestling ring-side manager for a night will take your mind off your loss of value in the Hilton HHonors program. Hey, it's only 520,000 points.

For a full rundown on hotel chain programs, see The HotelChatter Loyalty Program Guide.