Major hotel companies doubled their brand counts in a decade chasing Wall Street's favorite metric: net unit growth. The problem isn't that they built too many brands. It's that they built too many brands that don't mean anything.
A travel blogger just squeezed 1.3 cents per point out of Hilton Honors... more than double the standard valuation. That's great for the guest. Now let's talk about what Hilton's 2026 loyalty overhaul actually costs the person who owns the building.
One-point redemptions for Coachella VIP access sound like loyalty genius. The real question is who's paying for the experience the brand just promised.
