Apr 19 2016

I get nervous standing in line for immigration in many countries, even though I’ve never gotten a second look anywhere I’ve gone. I always wonder whether I’ll get denied entry, either for no real reason at all or perhaps for something I’ve written about the country I’m visiting.

And I’ve actually done things … like taking photos on the tarmac in countries where that’s frowned upon, or used my cell phone (in airplane mode) on a Chinese airline. Or because I posted about an immigration form..

Apparently Selena Gomez isn’t quite as lucky as I am.

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Apr 19 2016

When Marriott announced they were buying Starwood, the news was met with great consternation among Starwood’s frequent guests. That’s because Marriott – the larger program – isn’t known for treating elites especially well despite having the toughest top tier to earn among the major programs (Platinum requires 75 nights).

So it was pretty exciting when Marriott announced this morning that they were rolling out new benefits similar to Starwood offerings. The biggest new benefit was guaranteed late check-out for Golds and Platinums, but it looks like they’re really just playing marketing games.

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Apr 19 2016

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.

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Apr 19 2016

American Express Membership Rewards announced the addition of a new points transfer partner today: Etihad Guest. Transfers to Etihad are already live.

In fact, Membership Rewards is now a transfer partner of Etihad across many international markets such as Australia, Canada, and the UK.

American Express joins Citi ThankYou Rewards in offering transfers to Etihad, and Etihad is already one of my favorite Citi partners.

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Apr 19 2016

The worst airline bathroom experience had to be whatever happened in the lavatory that caused a British Airways flight to Dubai to turn around and go back to Heathrow.

But I had encountered a pretty uncomfortable one yesterday myself, albeit without any diversions.

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Apr 19 2016

Back in the fall Marriott Rewards introduced 4 new features to their program. I broke the news on their plan for cash and points, points sharing, points advance, and reward nights counting towards status.

These were modest changes, they’re things offered by other programs, and hardly revolutionary. They’re the kind of marginal improvements we’re used to seeing from Marriott Rewards to go along with periodic devaluations.

But with Marriott acquiring Starwood hotels they were pretty shell shocked to see the customer reaction among Starwood’s elite members. It became clear they were going to need to offer Starwood’s customers the kind of treatment they’ve been used to in order to retain them.

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Apr 18 2016

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.

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Apr 18 2016

Last week I wrote about checking your credit card statement for unauthorized hotel charges. A pet peeve of mine is hotels charging you for things not on your final folio.

Oddly enough then I actually had a hotel email me last week about failing to charge me for a stay five months earlier.

And it got me thinking: how long is too long? How many months is too long after a stay for a hotel to say they forgot to charge you for part of your bill?

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Apr 18 2016

Hotel chains want you to book directly through them because it costs them less to make a reservation themselves than it does to pay a commission to Expedia or other online travel sites (or travel agents).

Hilton tested a small discount in a handful of cities restricted to Hilton HHonors members. The discount wasn’t great, about 5% (and so generally more expensive than AAA rates), but it was more about the model than the amount.

Today Hyatt introduced member-only discount rates and in some cases they’re bigger discounts than what Hilton and Marriott are offering, but still not better than AAA rates. And they’re not available worldwide.

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Apr 18 2016

Hyatt’s CEO Mark Hoplamazian says loyalty shouldn’t focus on points. Points are a rebate, and they’re necessary to compete, but loyalty is about an overall value proposition that goes beyond the economic calculation for a given stay.

And they’re rethinking loyalty. When a CEO says that I think we expect some changes, but in my experience Hyatt usually moves slowly so I wouldn’t expect them right away.

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