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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Sportscaster Erin Andrews Shares the Safety Routine She Goes Throgh Each Time She Checks into a Hotel

by Gary Leff

marriott hotel
Mar 02 2016

Erin Andrews is in the midst of her lawsuit against the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University where she was taped through the peephole in her door. Apparently this video of her was viewed 17 million times.

Andrews contends that the man – who was convicted of felony stalking and who was sentenced to 30 months in prison — alleges that employees at the hotel property revealed she was a registered guest at their hotel, gave the stalker her room number, and at his request assigned him the room next to hers.

Hotels really shouldn’t tell strangers what room you’re in, of course, though ultimately one of the biggest threats to security is social engineering, and that’s a tough problem to crack.

In testimony during her lawsuit seeking $75 million in damages she detailed her new hotel security routine.

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Ranking the World’s Busiest Long Haul Airline Routes

by Gary Leff

Feb 29 2016

The busiest airline routes are short haul routes. In the US that’s Chicago – New York and Los Angeles – San Francisco, though neither of those break into the world’s top 10.

Worldwide the most passengers each year travel between Seoul and Jeju, Tokyo and Fukuoka, and Sydney and Melbourne. By seat capacity Japanese domestic route Sapporo – Tokyo slides into the number two slot.

For long distance routes, based on capacity, these are the 10 biggest routes:

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Who Wants a Free $2500 Stay in Bali?

by Gary Leff

Feb 29 2016

Bali is one of my favorite relaxing places in the world. I go to the Maldives often, but it can be tough to get to and tough to get awards to. When folks come to me looking for French Polynesia and can’t find awards I’ll often suggest Bali.

It’s an interesting place with good food, cultural activities, and some of the world’s friendliest people. And there’s fantastic luxury accommodations available at reasonable prices for those spending US dollars.

Viceroy Bali is a family-owned resort with just 25 private pool villas. It’s in the artistic region of Ubud, so a nice departure from the more sterile Nusa Dua area of Westernized resorts. It’s a TripAdvisor 5-star and 2016 Travelers Choice award winner. I’ve seen very few properties with reviews this good. In fact, It’s TripAdvisor’s #11 of top 25 luxury hotels in the world.

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