I just quit the Holiday Inn loyalty program, and I've never had a bad stay at one of their hotels.Instead, they decided to make another part of my life too difficult.
Like any other busy, traveling numbnut, I've lost some tidbit of my account sign-in information. I don't know how it happened; I've taken to writing all of the names, codewords, hints, and related nonsense in a little book I keep in my desk. It's a violation of Internet Security 101, but I didn't just tell you which drawer it's in.
Anyway, I visited the Holiday Inn site yesterday to make a reservation, and I couldn't sign-in as the Priority Club Member that I am. I don't know if I've got my username or my PIN wrong, and I don't know how I could be mistaken, since I've written both down. But it didn't work.
When I sent what I believe should be my sign-in and password info to club central, I got an email telling me that I needed to provide some information before they'd help me: My telephone numberMy address as it appears on my accountThe email address on file, and the date and location of the last stay posted to my account.
Are they serious?I don't remember if I gave them my office or mobile phone number. I have no idea if the address that "appears on my account" is my office, or the P.O. box I sometimes use. I thought my email address was my sign-in, though I guess it isn't the address "on file," but they already know that I don't know the answer to that one. And the details of my last stay?
Jeez. Forget it. I can't remember what I had for breakfast an hour ago.Surely, there are good reasons why they need to put me through such a wringer. There are evil-doers out in cyberspace just waiting to abscond with my free hotel room nights, andI know that I should have kept my records accurately, and that lots of club members might not only not have this problem, but probably keep details of wind direction and speed in their diaries should they ever need such info But the cost/benefit of the loyalty equation just isn't there for me.
Staying at a Holiday Inn is fine, but it's not meaningfully different than the experience of their similarly-priced competitors. Its loyalty program rewards don't appear movingly valuable to me, as the thresholds and levels are generically incomprehensible. I pretty much participate in the deal -- and in most loyalty programs -- because maybe someday, somehow, sometime, there will be some payoff, and I'll be able to congratulate myself for having been so foresighted.
So I'm not really loyal. I'm lazy. And if one of my pretty much unconscious routines gets even mildly interrupted, I discard it. I think this says a lot about the nature of loyalty, as well the efficacy of branding communications. If the hotels and policies were truly and beneficially unique and/or different, maybe I'd care more. Maybe Holiday Inn should take some of the money from its branding budget and commit to finding a way to help its customers stay in its incentive program?It might be a better investment in the brand than a funny TV commercial, or coming up with ever-never iterations of its corporate logo. The sign isn't my problem.
I don't know the answer...a biometric thumbprint reader, three yes/no questions that only I could fill in? Maybe a funny game? It doesn't really matter. The creatives should get creative on it, maybe instead of trying to be funny. Less sexy could equal more return reservations. Don't worry about me, though. I've already booked with a competitor whose secret sign-in codes I seem to remember. For now.
Link to original post