Monthly Archives for April 2021.
Last summer OpenTable reminded members that they planned to expire points for members who weren’t using the restaurant booking service. In many places restaurants have been closed, and even where they’re open customers have been reticent to go out to eat because of the pandemic.
They made clear to expect points expiration to come March 31. So I emailed a complaint to OpenTable, at the suggestion of a reader. They got back to me saying they’d give me my points back.
The Executive Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs offers this classic: “I want to emphasize that supply and demand is not the be all and end all. “
Just last week Delta Air Lines said they would stop blocking middle seats May 1, but they’re filling up planes including middle seats early – temporarily this weekend – as the once most-reliable airline in the country tries to recover from another holiday operational meltdown.
Delta proactively cancelled 72 flights as of this writing on Sunday, compared to just 1 for United and 5 at American, before the flying day even started.
Brian Cohen writes The Gate travel blog and has declared that he will not get vaccinated against Covid-19. I want to take his arguments seriously, because vaccine hesitancy – while continuing to decline – remains one of the major barriers to ending the pandemic.
American Airlines has drawn the wrath of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick who reports that American’s head of government relations admitted neither he nor CEO Doug Parker had actually read the bill they oppose.
Part of the Thai Airways turnaround plan, prior to the pandemic and bankruptcy, was to sell branded frozen food. It’s taken two years, but that’s finally about to start.
Marriott’s late CEO Arne Sorenson worried all the cuts would make recovery harder. Hilton’s CEO says hold my beer.
Sadly they’re just driving guests to outside venues and delivery services, while diminishing the difference between what a hotel has to offer and what you can get from Airbnb.
There’s a partially-built out resort community in Branson, Missouri, sitting abandoned for years, with well over a billion dollars left behind to decay since the Great Recession. It’s called Indian Ridge and it was supposed to “have one of the country’s largest water parks, golf courses, hotels conference centers and shopping.”
Developers went to prison over fraudulent financing for the project and it was never completed. A visitor to the ghost resort has gone viral on TikTok showing her visit.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Marriott has just introduced the first hotel co-brand credit card in the South Korean market, Marriott Bonvoy® The BEST Shinhan Card.
It lets cardmembers earn Platinum status with less spend and at a lower fee than U.S. customers have access to, and comes with a hotel breakfast credit benefit.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
