VIP Gift Certificate Change

[kyshel]

Has anyone seen the new VIP Contributor policy? I wonder if it will be retroactive?

[cruisinred]

Was there an "official" announcement about changes to the VIP contributor policies?

If so, can you post a link or provide some details? Thanks

[Mountie]

I just read the new terms in the VIP information box and it clearly states $250.

[lhbrown]

Hi Mountie,
You are correct, the info in the VIP information box was officially changed to $250, but there was no announcement to the LL Community.

The e-mail VIP Contributors received for this last quarter stated that this will be the last $500 VIP Certificate, but for 2008 the VIP Certificates will be dropped to $250. I wonder whether or not LL is having financial difficulties or what the rational was behind this cut? From a business point of view 10 VIP Contributors at $500 a piece is $5000. This is not a terribly high amount of advertising for 3 months...

In any case, this is not a good sign for LL VIP Contributors. I can see a lot of VIP Contributors will work less hard to keep up their standards and it will attract fewer new ones. We are already down to just 10 active VIP Contributors, although about 20 are listed as VIP Contributors. Furthermore, I see very few Regular Contributors coming up at this point.... I think to drop the VIP Contributor Certificte from $500 to $250 as and incentive was a bad decision on LL's part. It is always better to give than to take away to attract good will....

I wonder whether the next thing LL will do is to drop the bi-annual VIP Contributor Contest drawing since it should have been held already, or whether there too, they will slash the amount??? In any case, LL has never followed through on their LL VIP Event at the Pierre in NYC which they anounced over a year ago....

I am wondering where we are going with this LL Community?????

[Mountie]

LL-Travelfan, even though I was not selected to receive one of the last $500 VIP certificates for the 4th Quarter from LL, I really don't sharethe pessimistic tone of your posting.



I am thankful for the previous $500 VIP certificate I was awarded and I look forward to using it in the near future on one of the upcoming auctions.Receiving a $500 VIP certificate was never the sole motivation for my participation in this community. The fact that future VIP certificates will be $250 will not cause me to reduce my participation. I can easily see the time when the certificates may be reduced to $50 or totally eliminated. Many successful business venturesinitially use incentives to attract participation and then eventually eliminate the incentives.



I enjoyed reading many ofyour travel related postings and those of the other seasoned participants as well.



I must say, frankly, I believe you are being hyper-critical of a purely voluntary participatory community. You and I, nor any of the remaining participants in this community are "entitled" to anything from LL other than an opportunity to potentially purchased deeply discounted luxury travel. LL may choose to change the rules at any time. We are free to leave or stay and participate. Just my opinion!

[claassenam]

I have to agree with Mountie. I enjoy participating in the community for the sharing of information. It really helps me in my research of future trips. The $500 have been a wonderful, generous bonus, one you won't find on any other message board. It is a bit disappointing that the amount has been lowered, but I've never operated in a way that counts on that bonus (or the contest, or the VIP event) and I never will.

LL Travelfan, that said, I have not received an email stating the drop in amount for the last quarter. Have you already been alerted as to your continued VIP status? I have no doubt that you will/did get the status, I was a little less available for posting this quarter so it's possible that I did not qualify, in which case my point is moot anyway!

[claassenam]

Thank you - one of the new VIP Contributors just let me know that an email was in fact sent out to the most recent group. I am a bit disappointed to learn that I am not one of them - but congratulations to those who made it, you of course deserve it! As I said, I don't post here just for the certificate...I truly enjoy it. I look forward to many more exchanges of information as we all are sharing and researching travel information.

[travel2fun]

mountie and claassenam, I, too, have joined the ranks of the non-$500 certificateVIPs for the 4th Qtr. Of course, I would have rather received the certificate, but that not being the case, my enthusiasm for participation in the community has not been diminished. I'm a little taken back by your response and general posture toward luxury link, LL-Travlefan, especially considering you are among those having received another $500 certificate. My understanding is this community is an experiment in learning and sharing about travel experiences. The fact luxury link elected to voluntarily offer certificates, is a show of generosity on their part, certainly not an obligation to continue to do so nor to do so at a fixed sum. The implied threat that participation will drop off as a result of these changes is shallow andlaughable.



I look forward to participating in 2008!

[claassenam]

The good news, travel2fun, is that we still get to keep our fun red color, our ability to post in the VIP blog (one area where I've been noticeably deficient) and our handy little VIP insignia under our username. I'm not horribly disappointed. There's always next quarter!

May I address here the response by Curtiejoe to the drop in amount of the gift certificates? I just don't want my sentiment to get lost in the wrong spot. Sorry Curt for my paraphrasing but under the "affordable luxury" thread under General Discussions you posted your understandable disappointment toward the drop in amount of the gift certificates and a suggestion that the number of VIPS be reduced to three with a reward of $1000 given in order to save Luxury Link the money that they are obviously trying to save.

I'm sorry Curtiejoe but I disagree with your statement entirely. By increasing the incentive drastically in the hopes of enticing a "lucky few" I think there would be a change in attitude towards posting on the boards. I think we would have an increase in meaningless posts (i.e. cutting and pasting copied articles, posting meaningless or repetitive comments on others' posts, posting copied information regarding places one has never visited, etc. merely in order to up the numbers of posts) It could turn much more into a game, a competition, rather than a helpful and insightful forum. We would likely lose a number of the quite insightful posters who have traveled extensively but perhaps have a little less time on their hands to post incessantly. I think we've been lucky to receive the $500 and should feel honored to have a chance to receive the $250. I keep repeating this but I've found nowhere else on the web where prolific and insightful posters are rewarded in such a way.








Message Edited by claassenam on 01-05-2008 02:16 PM

[obrienkf]

classeman -- (forgive me for posting to 'agree' with your comments... but you have expressed my own sentiments so well) .



.. i have been engaged on and off with the community as time permits, and normally only when i have something that "i think" is meaningful to contribute, based on my own travel experiences, not necessarily something that i 'found'..I have been discouraged at times inhow postings unfold and develop, asoften the threads get entirely off topic, and constitute messaging between participants that may be more suited to exchanges of email / private messages (that LL kindly provides, and I have used).I may have been guilty ofheading off topicmyself, but have tried very hard to stick to topic of the thread,out of courtesy to those who started the thread, and to post in the 'destinations' section, so that this is useful for others.



Unfortunately, when there is something like a 'travel certificate' at stake (and 500 is not small change), the motivation for some may be to 'log many entries',other thanuseful exchange .... or tomake postings which are completely disconnected to the thread --- making the 'conversation' incoherent. And that will spoil this community.



LL has now given me the opportunity to 'blog'. That is something that I will pursue, on the basis of travel experience,(which is what this is about, i think), not copying photos from another web, or pasting copied articles from other websites. (My blogs will belimited by the limits of time, as is the case with most of us.) The absence of VIP status has not prevented me from engaging in the past, and the absence or reduction of a certificate likely will not preclude me. It is a generousgesture fromLuxury Link, and as I was recently anointed a VIP, Iam grateful for the certificate.If the fact that it has been 'reduced' serves to deters some from participating, I don't believe that it will deter those who have enjoyed this community and who have engaged in travel conversation for extended periods.



kind regards