I mean, it was obviously intended for the Background Feature to matter in games, but it often is vestigial with no real benefit, especially in public play. I remember my noble getting zero benefit for being a noble, and then one time when we needed shelter, I announced I'd ask the local lord to put us up in his keep, using my feature, and the DM actually said "I mean, I guess, but I don't understand how that works, the guy has never heard of you."
When I get pushback on simply finding my party a place to sleep for the night, it's obvious (to me) that a component of backgrounds has failed to work as advertised.