Fragment #18: Loyalty
Why I’m No Longer Loyal to Marriott Hotels
Because the points have started to feel like a bribe.
And I don’t like the way my status—my value—hinges on how often I stay at one of their locations. If somebody told me, “Congratulations on your fifteenth visit to my house this year, you’ve now moved into my platinum circle of friends,” I’d revoke our friendship on the spot.
And these points that they bribe us with—did you know they record them as a liability on their balance sheet? That they view our loyalty as a quantifiable burden?
This is not a pleasant revelation.
Because loyalty to a brand is a degradation of virtue. Like putting faith in a chair or making love to a mannequin. We shouldn’t give our faith, love, or loyalty to inanimate objects, because we, not the objects, are the ones who are degraded in the process.
****
On a recent work trip to Portland, I stayed at a Hilton—which made me sad, I’ll admit, when I thought of all the points I could have been earning at a Marriott—and there I met a man working behind the coffee bar. He had a long, corniced beard and a quiet presence, but we fell into easy conversation when he noticed the Eliot I had beside me. He shared a few drips of his life measured out in coffee spoons and I confessed that I was no prophet, just someone who reads at the hotel bar. We laughed at our little nods to Prufrock. He told me about the hotel patrons who only stay once a quarter and yet consider themselves “regulars” at his bar, and how they’re surprised when he doesn’t remember them.
I wonder if he’ll remember me when I return.
****
Next time I visit Portland I think I’ll stay at the Hilton because I’d rather be loyal to a person.
****