From hotel housekeeping to loyalty points, heres where the cuts are hiding
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Companies arent just shrinking products, theyre shrinking service too less housekeeping, weaker rewards, and more chatbots for the same (or higher) price
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Hotels, customer support, and loyalty programs are big offenders: fewer cleanings, harder-to-reach humans, and points that suddenly buy a lot less
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Your move: check policies before you buy, screenshot promises, and dont hesitate to ask for credits, bonus points, or to downgrade/cancel when service is cut
Everyones been yelling about shrinkflation for the last few years. The cereal box is smaller. The chips bag is mostly air. The ice cream pint is mysteriously 14 ounces now.
But companies arent just shrinking the product, theyre now also shrinking the service that used to come with it.
In other words, youre paying the same price (or more), but:
- Your hotel room doesnt get cleaned every day.
- Your loyalty points suddenly dont go as far.
- Trying to getsupport now means dealing with a chatbot in an attempt to talk to a human, followed by a 30-minute hold.
Lets call it service shrinkflation, some might call it skimpflation, and its becoming a big part of why you feel like youre getting less for your money, even when the price technically hasnt changed.
Lets walk through where its happening, how to spot it, and what you can realistically do when a company gives you less than what you thought you paid for.
Hotels: same nightly rate, less housekeeping
If youve stayed in a hotel recently and wondered, Wait, do they not clean rooms every day anymore? or Why are there only twoclean towels in the bathroom?, youre not imagining it.
This phenomenon seemed to really kickin gear after the pandemic when hotels started shifting away from the automatic daily housekeeping service. Forbes reported that Hilton was one of the first to institute on request housekeeping, meaning your room was only cleaned daily if you specifically asked for it.
Hotels often call the reduced housekeeping bit more sustainable or gives guests more flexibility. Those may be partially true, but there's noarguing the major cost savings for hotels. Savings theytake advantage of without any discounts or reduced nightly rates for you.
How this hits you:
- When youre only staying for a night or two, and you dont get an automatic refresh of towels, your trash is not removed, and toiletries are not checked or refilled.
- You now need to call the front desk to request stuff that used to be standard.
- And the big one, you pay a higher nightly rate (especially in popular cities) while getting less service than pre-2020.
What you can do:
- Look for their housekeeping policy before you book so you know what youre getting. They often bury the policy in their amenities or FAQ section.
- If daily housekeeping is important to you, clearly request it when youre checking in. Theyll either offer it for free, or for a small fee, at which point you can decide if you want it.
- If the hotel advertised daily cleaning when you booked your room, but didnt follow through on it, youre on very solid ground to ask for a partial credit when you check out. Dont be afraid to hold their feet to the fire since they didnt hold up their end of the bargain.
Customer support: more bots, fewer humans
Companies are pouring more money into AI and automated customer service, and not always in a way that feels helpful.
Consulting firms like McKinsey have pointed out that AI-enabled customer service can reduce cost and improve satisfaction when its done well. Newer stats suggest that by the middle of this decade, roughly half of all customer service cases will be handled by AI tools.
Theseall might sound like positives, until youre stuck dealing with an AI bot who has no idea what youre talking about or how to help you.
The service shrinkflation version is where support is redesigned almost entirely around cost-cutting, often at the expenseof the customers overall experience.
- Phone numbers tend to disappear or are hidden several clicks deep.
- Chatbots keep you in an endless loop and make it hard to reach a person.
- Live agents are handling more contacts per hour, which can mean rushed or superficial support when you actually reach a human.
From the consumer's standpoint, this definitely feels like: Im paying for the same product or membership, but its way harder to get help when something goes wrong.
What you can do:
- Document the promise. If a company advertises 24/7 live support or priority access, screenshot that when you sign up.
- Use the magic words: Can you escalate me to a supervisor? or Can I please speak with a live agent? Be sure to get the agents name and case number.
- If the support level is dramatically below what was promised, its reasonable to ask for a fee credit, a free month, or to cancel without penalty.
Loyalty programs: your points quietly buy less
Service shrinkflation is really obvious with many loyalty programs. Youll often see scenarios where the annual fee stays the same, your spending stays the same, but the reward changes, almost always for the worst.
Airlines
Just this year, Qantas announced changes to its Frequent Flyer program that required passengers to have more points needed to take advantage of certain rewards. For example, on some international routes, business and first-class seats would require about 20% more points than before, with even higher fees on top of that.
Qantas argued that the changes would let them release more reward seats overall. But from the consumers point of view, the math is simple, you now need way more points for the same trip.
Coffee and fast food rewards
In the U.S., Dunkin is in the middle of another overhaul to its rewards program. Starting this past October, the reward points they required for some of their more popular items jumped significantly.
And theyre hoping you dont notice. But the increase is so significant its hard not to. For example, a regular coffee jumped from 500 points needed to 600, and some specialty drinks now require nearly twice as many points as before.
Loyal Dunkin fans are already venting on social media and message boards about needing to spend significantly more before they can redeem a free drink.
What this looks like in practice:
- Nothing has changed, same app, same brand, and the same spending habits.
- The rewards program now requires more visits from you to earn the same free item.
- New expiration rules that wipe out points sooner if youre not constantly active. Starbucks is famous for this with their monthly expiring stars.
Youre not imagining it and the program didnt go away, but the value sure did.
What you can do:
- Take screenshots of reward charts or How it works pages when you sign up so you know where youre starting from.
- When you notice a program has gotten worse, try asking customer service for a one-time courtesy exception (bonus points, fee waiver, or if they can honor the old system just once more).
- If you have to pay annual fee, or if a paid membership is tied to a loyalty program that just got slashed, I think you can fairly argue that its no longer what you signed up for and ask to downgrade or cancel without penalty.
Posted: 2025-11-14 15:29:16
