Here's What A Hotel Front Desk Associate Knows About Your Elite Status

Hyatt seems to include whether or not you've stayed before. I either get a "welcome back!" or an explanation of the hotel.

3 weeks ago I checked into a Hyatt Regency where I've stayed about 7 or 8 times, including twice during the past year. So this was my third stay at the same property in a 12 month period. Nobody at the front desk mentioned that I was a repeat guest when I checked in even though I used the same Gold Passport number on all of my previous stays. As Lucky mentioned in his "pet peeve" piece, hotels have powerful dbases and this information should be available to a check in clerk. So, this ignorance is either deliberate, or just completely obtuse. Maybe they're afraid that mentioning a repeat visit would prompt the guest to ask for an upgrade? Still scratching my head on this one...

I stay at the Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur frequently and before each visit, I get an email welcoming me back to the hotel and describing the club lounge benefits for platinum members. This is the only hotel I remember being welcomed back, particularly, though I do find this hotel to be extremely well run. Starwood might be run differently though.

As others have mentioned, it is indeed a huge pet peeve of mine to return to a hotel that I've stayed at many, many times in the past to be greeted with a "Welcome. Is this your first time staying here?"

Meanwhile, I just stayed at the Intercontinental SF. I've only stayed there once ever, seven years ago; yet I was greeted with a "Welcome back"

Checked into Hyatt place Chicago yesterday and they welcomed me to my first stay at this location

I work part time at a hotel within the Marriott family. I can confirm that when a guest checks in, Front Desk Associate has the following information up on the screen.
Current status.
Points balance.
Stay history at the hotel.
Number of nights stayed and number of nights remaining for the next status level.

The Hyatt check-in screen gives the date of a person's last stay at the hotel, so there is no good reason for not being welcomed as a new or returning visitor with them.

I work for C Pacific and we have profiles on our ipads as well showing if the PAX in J or F is a
"redemption" pax or a paid pax. There are flags for repeat redemption pax and usually less attention is paid to them.

Hotel chains have their own internal tracking system for their members. It's usually embedded into the property management system. The system I am familiar with would link all your details with the email address you used to enroll. Once a guest makes a reservation, the email address is automatically run through the members database. If there is a match, the information that comes up is very extensive. Personal details, family details, preferences, restrictions, loyalty value, guest history (repeat guest), and SO much more. Notes are also kept in this system. Like previous behavior. The hotel normally will know in advance if a member is coming. This system plays a big part in room assignments and guest treatment. That printout that the careless agent let you see is just the tip of the iceberg. Most hotel chains have a member database that is always linked to a main server, so all of your data is in sync at any property.

I like to confuse them when they welcome me back at hotels I say I've never been here before and they all look o.O? blink a few times to give the acknowledge the awkward silence , then I go oh wait I have (I get bored easily so I fck with everyone I meet all day not just hotel front desk people)

I know Hyatt keeps some type of "personal preferences" data.
One of my biggest hotel gripes is that the entire industry insists on putting a Scandinavian down comforter on beds. It makes no difference if I'm in Fargo in the winter or Phoenix in the summer. I sweat like crazy under those things and can't compensate with Air Conditioning as my sinuses can't tolerate the cold air.. So my arrival routine includes ripping the comforter off the bed and taking the light blanket off the 2nd bed/pull out set. The 2 light blankets or multiple sheets work great for me.

Some Hyatt somewhere noticed this and noted that I like "extra sheets".
The first time this happened was at the brand new Hyatt Place DFW on my 1st stay there. At first I thought it was something the new manager was doing to be different though there was a personalized note on the sheets. Since then I'd say about 20% of my stays someone has "extra sheets" ready for me. Once at the LAX Concourse the FD Agent gleefully announced that my extra sheets were in the room.

I've seldom been to the same Hilton hotel twice in the US or in Europe so I can't comment there, but I have often returned to Hilton properties in many major Asian cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong), and it is always "Welcome back!". In fact, I have stayed so often at Conrad Hong Kong, even the hotel lobby bar staff, which seems to turnover less frequently than in US, already knows me, and it is like I can practically select my own suite upgrade there! 🙂

Two points from a Marriott PFL...

1. It's usually mentioned if I have a previous stay at the property, not evident from the example.

2. They need to know your status to offer you arrival gift or points option.

Starwood has a similar system. I've had hotels, especially in Asia, offer me services for points based on the balance I have. "Would you like a massage or tour guide for 10000 points?" Things like that.

I've had Marriotts mention my ranking in the top 10 list of the individual property (my co-workers and I were always one-upping eachother as a matter of competition after a 3 year run at that property). If only that hotel had a decent room to stay in, upgrades at that hotel were to rooms that had "the trinity", at least 3 bars of wifi, a working AC and hot water in the shower.

I don't know how they track it, but the Embassy Suites always seems to know where I stayed with them last.
The one on Phoenix. AZ even knows I like an extra towel. The clerk mentioned that it was already stocked for me.

It's the little things like that which really make you want to stay at a place over and over.

I have often gotten welcome amenities at properties for my first visit as a top tier elite that normally don't have them, then never get them again. E.g. a Hilton Garden Inn and
At my local Fairmont I got "Presidents Club Member of the Day" on my first visit.
Hyatt also has additional top tier sub levels that mean different things.

As many of you probably also, I often get asked by "not-so-frequent-travellers" which hotel is my favorite in the world. Still today I mention this episode at the "Drei Könige" (now called "Trois Rois") in Basel Switzerand. Back in 2000 I stayed there 2-4 nights a week for 9 months, keeping super low profile, no fuss, no big demands, just a brief smile for the FD staff. 2 years later I book another 1-night stay there and the moment I walk in through the revolving door at about 9pm the FD chap greets me across the lobby (desk to door maybe 10meters) with "Good evening Mr. Matthews". He must have waited for me or seen me on some outdoor camera as I had barely set the foot out of the revolving door. shocked and enthusiastic!

Re the Jane Poon comment" I have no reason to doubt your credibility, but I would be absolutely staggered if this ( less attention ) were to be true. I simply don't believe it. You are talking Cathay Pacific. One of the worlds best. I am stunned if this is the case.... anyone know the real truth? The fact that you refer to the airline as "C Pacific" makes me doubt your credentials. Sorry.

Jane Poon says: November 11, 2016 at 10:21 am - I work for C Pacific and we have profiles on our ipads as well showing if the PAX in J or F is a “redemption” pax or a paid pax. There are flags for repeat redemption pax and usually less attention is paid to them.

@Robbo maybe Jane Poon was referring to Cebu Pacific 😉

My peeve is that Marriott Residence Inns ask me each time I check in "What brings you to our city". When you respond pleasure or business they input it into the system. I don't feel it is any of their business, so now I reply "Just messing around".