Quick follow up to last week’s blog post.  After blog posts by several people, Tweets (including one that included the @hiltonhhonors name), Facebook posting, etc., we were stunned that we hadn’t heard from Hilton.  My friend Barry who had his points revoked by Hilton finally sent an email to a PR guy at Hilton including a link to his blog post.  The result?  An email from a “Customer Resolution Manager” indicating that as a “One Time Exception” (yes, it was capitalized like that), they’d reinstate his points but he had better keep the account active. Funny thing is, he didn’t want the points back — he wanted an apology for how he was spoken to when he called originally to inquire and how the situation was handled.  Now he’s even more angry as they were rude to him again.

This is a perfect example of Seth Godin’s blog post on “Win the Fight, Lose the Customer“.  For whatever reason (cost-cutting move, perhaps?) Hilton wiped out points for customers basically ensuring those people would go to a competing hotel.  Even when they attempted to rectify the situation, it was handled poorly leaving a very bitter taste in my friend’s mouth.  They may think they have won the fight, but they have definitely lost Barry as a customer.