Monthly Archives for December 2024.
Maybe the most Marriott thing ever is allowing a hotel using their brand to get away with failing to meet brand standards and treat customers well – with a sign about how they aren’t going to do housekeeping, and proving it with a used band-aid in front of it that hasn’t been cleaned up by housekeeping.
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.
The hotel’s operating income fell by around three quarters compared to 2017. Travel to San Francisco declined, especially business travel, and meetings revenue fell off.
An intoxicated woman refused to pay her bill at a Nashville Airport restaurant. Described as a dine and dash, police were called, and body cam footage of the March 15th arrest is just now available.
In January, eight black men were removed from an American Airlines Phoenix – New York flight ostensibly due to their odor. The men did not know each other and were not traveling together.
The airline has now settled a lawsuit filed by three of the men – and changed their rules for kicking passengers off of flights.
Former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker co-hosted this week’s Airlines Confidential podcast and was asked for his best travel tip. He offered don’t ever check a bag. Parker though goes on to offer something much more important.
Parker offered that when he was acquiring US Airways as CEO of America West, David Bonderman no longer had a financial interest in the Arizona-based airline. However he called Parker three or four times, and urged him to name the combined airline America West rather than US Airways. And Parker concedes Bonderman was right.
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.
American Airlines has long partnered with Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian has now been acquired by American’s ‘West Coast Alliance’ and oneworld partner Alaska Airlines. And so a change has been made to using American AAdvantage miles on Hawaiian Airlines: you can now redeem AAdvantage miles to fly to Hawaii!.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a broadside against credit card rewards programs. I spoke with CFPB’s Director, Rohit Chopra about the effort.
The agency warns that several aspects of credit card rewards programs – like devaluations – may violate the law, that retail (store) cards are often poor value, and that consumers can be misled by tools that purport to suggest the best product for them.
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 »
