News and notes from around the interweb:
- Excellent introduction to what airport lounges are all about by Stephanie Rosenbloom in the New York Times
- Intercontinental Hotels updated its terms and conditions to make it super clear that their top tier Royal Ambassador members aren’t going to be entitled to club lounge access when using points.
Royal Ambassador is great on paid bookings but they genuinely make you feel punished if you ever redeem for a stay.
- JetBlue increased the fee for adding a checked bag to your reservation online or via kiosk
- 35% bonus transferring points from hotel programs into British Airways through March 8.
- 30 years ago PEOPLExpress merged into Continental
- Groundlink and Limos Anywhere have been acquired by Marcou Transportation Group
No biggy for me, Gary.
Although I enjoy staying a many Intercontinental properties, I have never felt their lounges were all that great.
So, I’ll pick up those IHG points at Holidays Inns and burn them at Intercontinental properties all day long!
“Intercontinental Hotels Royal Ambassador members aren’t going to be entitled to club lounge access when using points”
Ideally, IHG would honor elite status during points-bookings (and some properties do), but at a minimum, they should offer the ability to book higher-level rooms for additional points. Most Intercontinentals offer cash upsells on points-bookings, but that somewhat defeats the purpose of a points-booking.
Hilarious elites don’t get bennies for IHG award stays. How chintzy could you possibly be? Welcome Top Tier Elite! Thank you for pissing away your hard-earned cash on our brand!. Please enjoy zero point zero Elite Benefits during your award stay! Oh my.
I agree with Pat on this. Heck IHG won’t even let you book better rooms with more points at run of the mill Candlewood or HIXs. Sad.
What else can we expect from IHG — they don’t even offer complimentary breakfast to ANY level of elite members.
And they “may” not let you use your Ambassador guaranteed upgrade benefits on OWB’s at the Intercon Bora Bora Thalasso unless you buy your hotel stay directly them and not some third party.
Interesting that you can exchange both Starwood and Marriott points at par to Avios to get the 35% bonus. I think I would transfer Starwood points to Marriott points first at 1.8:1, then exchange them for BA’s Avios.
The picture for JetBlue needs to be updated – JetBlue moved out of Terminal A at DCA quite a while ago.
My favorite thing from JetBlue on the B concourse at DCA was: