TopGuest check-ins: 3,550 points and counting…
TopGuest is a very unique program. I have blogged about it before.(Please read carefully my second post explaining how not to misuse TopGuest). For those who came in late, it gives you points of miles in some of your favorite programs for ‘checking-in’, even if you don’t actually check-in for a paid transaction. So, visiting a hotel for a meeting (which I do regularly) or even stopping by a hotel lobby to pick up a Starbucks, allows you to ‘Check-in’ and earn points.
I have been doing this for a while and I am fortunate that I attend a weekly meeting in a Holiday Inn, which participates in TopGuest. I also work near a Crowne Plaza which has a Starbucks in its lobby. I looked in my Priority Club account yesterday and noticed an additional 3,550 points this year. I have not stayed in a Holiday Inn or other Priority Club related hotel all year, so all these points are from check-ins! 71 check-ins at 50 points a pop. Not bad.
Check it out! You can participate by linking your Foursquare (which I use) or Facebook accounts and checking-in when you are on a participating property. I also earned a few Hilton points – DoubleTrees participate, but these are linked to actual stays. I have too many transactions in my Hilton Honors accounts to figure out how many points were from Topguest.
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I loved top guest, but they must not like giving points. I do sales management. I am in and out of hotels, sometimes 8 a day for meetings etc. about a month ago, TG emailed me feeling I was violating their TOS. I informed them of my occupation and offered to let them contact the managers of properties I was visiting. I never heard back. LO and behold, this week I received the email from celeste@topguest, I was banished from the program and they would not tell me what TOS I violated.
I have only ever checked into a property I was physically in
So was my comment deleted?
@greg, just behind in my approvals
My apologies, I did not realize comments were moderated!
@Greg, I have heard several people complain about Topguest deleting their account without giving them a chance to prove or explain that these were real check-ins. I believe that Topguest needs to fix this problem and fix it soon. I am sure they have ‘hackers’ who sit in their cubicle in a downtown area and methodically check-in to every hotel in a 6-block area without moving out of their cubicle. What Topguest needs to do is find a way to be able to differentiate between those folks and legit users like you. I must tell you, I too am always concerned that if I check-in too much I will get banned – I am at the DoubleTree almost everyday, but check-in only a few times a week. They are losing check-ins and good people which is the very essence of their program. If you have any suggestions, I am sure they will hear. I have exchanged emails with them in the past with regards to my earlier posts on their program.
My Topguest account was just suspended. I often eat lunch at the Hotel Indigo a couple of blocks from where I work, and I checked in every day I was there for the PC points. Alas, it seems Topguest doesn’t like regular visitors.
I left a negative review of Topguest on Yelp for their lack of customer service.
I think TopGuest’s policy about what is, and what is not, an acceptable check in is a bit wonky, to use a technical term! For instance, I use Top Guest regularly to check in to Virgin America, on both legs of the flight. I have noticed that in cases where the flights are close together, they ‘accept’ the departing flight check-in, but not the return flight check-in (e.g., Monday at SFO at 8am accepted, but the flight back on Tuesday at 11PM at LAX NOT accepted). I read (on their site?) that a check-in is allowed every 24 hours, so in reality a check-in that is or 24 hours from the last should be fine – but it appears not to be in many cases…