Monthly Archives for April 2023.
I don’t usually write formal trip reports, over and over each time, for hotels I’ve been to. Many travel bloggers will choose new places just for the content, while my writing tends to be about the things I see and learn organically.
However I was giving some thought to the Park Hyatt Vendome after my recent stay – why do I keep returning here?
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.
In airport lounges people shovel food and drink into their bags, and stick their feet up on the furniture, going to sleep on couches, and generally acting as though these ‘nicer’ spaces are U.N.-administered refugee camps.
One airline passenger saw another’s behavior, and decided to take reform into their own hands.
Sudan is facing a coup, with the Rapid Support Forces seizing Khartoum International airport along with the presidential palace and army head’s residence. The group also says they’ve taken over airports in Merowe and El-Obeid. The country’s army says it’s fighting back, and footage shows commercial aircraft on fire in the capital city of Khartoum.
What qualifies as the ‘first stay’ during the promotion period matters since earning starts only with the second stay. If you had a long stay planned, indeed at one of the properties being extra-bonused, you might even want to mattress run a stay in advance of it to make that your second stay rather than your first.
But Hyatt quietly changed the date that first stays count…
Most frequently visited isn’t the same as best, and this list in order wouldn’t be close to my own estimation of best, but for those curious about a best estimate of which frequent flyer and travel websites see the most traffic here’s a list that ranks 14 popular websites.
A frequent flyer on Reddit asks whether they’re a jerk for reclining their seat. As background, they’re 6’3″ and in first class, and they try to be polite – making sure the person in the seat behind them “doesn’t have a laptop out… then slowly recline[s their] seat back.” And they still wound up in a hostile encounter with a passenger when they did it. They gave in the first time, and kept their seat straight, until after the meal when a flight attendant gave them ‘permission’ to try again.
It’s the return of 5 Marriott nights worth up to 250,000 points in total after $5,000 spend within the first three months of account opening for the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.
That’s the best offer we’ve seen for this card, and it’s been around a couple of times. It’s much better than normal ‘elevated’ offers of 100,000 points or 3 reward nights.
According to Delta President Glen Hauenstein, cancellation rates vary far more than they did before the pandemic so Delta plans to increase overbooking and ‘see what happens’ – because without change fees on most fares, people are changing plans more at the last minute. This could result in more passengers denied boarding.
Atlas Air subsidiary Polar Air Cargo, 49% owned by DHL, has apparently been requiring kickbacks for shipments for over a decade. Several of their executives – including the Chief Operating Officer, VP of Operations and VP of Marketing, are now under indictment.
According to the government, if you wanted to ship with Polar you’d have to pay shipping rates plus a bribe.
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 »
