April 19, 2006
Don't let your membership lapse!
I received an urgent note this morning from the fine people at Hilton. It appears that my membership in their free points program will be canceled unless I take action now! If I do nothing, my accumulated points will just disappear into the ether. And if that isn't cheesy enough, here are some of the actions I'm offered:
1. Spend $154.00 on a hotel room
2. Sign up for Earthlink for a year
3. Buy more of their fake point currency outright.
4. Sign up for their Hilton Visa
5. Be a surrogate mom for Paris.
Okay, maybe not #5, but the basic deal is, "spend money on our (purportedly free) points program, or we'll boot you." But most of the things on the list are high-commitment items. I'm not going to sign up for a Visa card just to stay in the free points program. I'm not going to get rid of my ISP and go to Earthlink just to stay in the free points program. I don't need a Hilton hotel room immediately. I might in three months, but that's not what Hilton has in mind.
Now I'm annoyed with Hilton and likely to not stay in a Hilton property on my next trip.