About Gary Leff

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 »

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Marriott Paid Actual Money For This New Logo When They Should Have Just Invested in Fixing Their IT

Jan 03 2019

Unfortunately they’re investing in bad marketing when they need to be investing in fixing their IT — merged accounts that still aren’t right, elite status trackers that say members need only 75 nights for Ambassador status, and missing 75 night elite benefit options.

And if they are really that short of ideas for where to invest these dollars, to deliver strong branding, they might try putting the money into training customer service agents to give out accurate information.

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New IHG Rewards Club Promotion for First Quarter: Free Nights Faster

ihg free nights faster promo
Jan 02 2019

Registration (required by March 15) isn’t yet open however the promotion page URL suggests that internally this is called “Multibrand 2019” so I imagine earning will be based on staying at different brands within the IHG Rewards Club portfolio.

And since the offer is to earn “at least 40,000 bonus points” I imagine that the actual bonus and requirements will be targeted, as most IHG promotions have been in recent years.

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Marriott Says They Won’t Let Hotels Ignore Suite Upgrade Rules (Crack Down on JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort)

guanacaste
Jan 02 2019

The JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort published a policy that they would not upgrade Marriott Platinum members to suites despite terms and conditions of the program saying Platinums are entitled to suite upgrades if available.

There are always going to be hotels that are more generous than others with respect to elite benefits. However this wasn’t just a non-compliant hotel, their policy not to comply was explicitly outlined on the Marriott website and in the Marriott app.

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Chase Not Planning to Stop Cardholders From Pooling Points From Multiple Cards

credit cards
Jan 01 2019

This doesn’t mean Chase will never implement such a rule. And in the meantime I continue to ‘sweep’ points from my no annual fee cards into my premium card accounts each month — just in case — I don’t want to be left with big points balances in less valuable places if the music ever does stop. However it appears this is not something to be concerned about in the immediate term.

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