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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Hotel Loyalty Program Calls It Quits

by Gary Leff

loews hotel
Jun 06 2018

Loews hotels is shutting down their loyalty program December 6. The Loews chain is comprised of 24 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. They say that “YouFirst isn’t enticing or relevant” and that set benefits don’t meet guest needs and they’ll continue to recognize their best guests without a formal program.

This is hardly the first hotel chain to shut down its loyalty program. Holiday Inn launched the first hotel loyalty program at the start of 1983 and called it Priority Club.

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Doctor Says Lavatory Waste Fell From the Sky and Gave His Patient Pink Eye

by Gary Leff

poop man
Jun 06 2018

Airlines do not intentionally dump lavatory waste inflight. I do not know of any commercial aircraft that gives pilots a control mechanism to do so.

On average once a year there’s a documented instance of ‘blue ice’ — airplane lavatory waste material that leaks from the aircraft. It’s named from the blue disinfectant often used in lavatory waste systems.

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Dear Travel PR, Don’t Lie

by Gary Leff

hyatt hotel
Jun 06 2018

I was asked to participate in a panel for travel PR professionals later this week, along with a traditional newspaper and magazine editor, talking about best practices in pitching stories. How do you get attention and coverage? What do PR professionals do wrong, from our perspective?

And something set me off Monday morning with one pitch, so I thought I’d share it. The worst thing a brand can do is lie. But disingenuous framing can be almost as damaging.

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$500 Million to Fix Lagging Sheratons

by Gary Leff

hotel bed
Jun 06 2018

Three years ago Starwood announced a $100 million effort to revitalize the Sheraton brand. This was mostly about marketing investment, but they made some tweaks using the Sheraton ‘Grand’ moniker and a carrot and stick approach with fees and incentives, to try to get hotel owners to invest in their properties.

They promised to improve the offerings in club lounges, improve hotel design, and bring on new properties. This was back when the chain was still trying to grow on its own even though the board had largely decided to sell.

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Qatar Airways CEO Says His Job Is Too Demanding for a Woman

by Gary Leff

Akbar al Baker meeting Trumps
Jun 05 2018

Last year Qatar’s CEO said that on “crap American carriers” you’ll “always be served by grandmothers.”

He’s the new Chairman of IATA, the International Air Transport Association which represents over 275 airlines in more than 110 countries. And he didn’t waste much time causing controversy with his (offensive) remarks — immediately after vowing not to.

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American Airlines Gold Members Losing Discount on Extra Legroom Seats Midway Through Benefit Year

by Gary Leff

airplane seats
Jun 05 2018

Customers flew throughout 2017 for their elite benefits this year. They’ve been flying all this year on the promise of benefits they’d have for the remainder of the year (if a higher status) and next year. That’s why it’s terrible when a program takes away elite benefits during the program year.

American Airlines even sells elite status renewals. AAdvantage Gold, for instance, can sell for $699.

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