Hotel promotion spectacularly backfires
A hotel group’s attempt to lure customers from a rival loyalty programme backfired when it was forced to cancel a 12-hour promotion just minutes after the launch.
Wyndham Hotel Group had invited Starwood SPG members to donate all of their rewards to charity and promised to give them four times the number of Wyndham Rewards in return.
It announced the promotion after being named by independent consumer researcher Idea Works as the most generous hotel loyalty programme while Starwood was named as the stingiest.
However the promotion, which was due to run for 12 hours from 5pm yesterday, was cancelled due to apparent fraud.
In a statement, Wyndham said: "Today’s Wyndham Rewards trade up was offered in the spirit of generosity. Before the offer even began, there were obvious and significant examples of fraud.
"Much to our dismay and disappointment, we have to cancel this promotion. We will, however, make a donation of five million Wyndham Rewards points to charity as the work they do on behalf of others is real magic."
Wyndham said it would be in contact with those customers who had already donated their points and submitted email evidence prior to the cancellation of the promotion.
It declined to give further details regarding the alleged fraud.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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