Category Archives for Commentary.
The U.S. now requires a negative Covid-19 test in order to enter the country by air – even if you’re a citizen returning home. We’re hardly alone, many countries require a Covid-19 test to enter. Since testing can be an expensive hassle even people without the virus are faking negative tests. On one flight 95% of passengers presented fake negative results. But it’s not just negative Covid-19 test results that are being faked.
Hyatt cut its elite status earning requirements in half and is offering double elite nights for the first two months of 2021. Hilton cut its elite status earning requirements in half. But from Marriott we’ve heard nothing. Major airlines have announced their plans too… but not Delta or Southwest.
There’s an evergreen story at the end of each year, we hear over and over that Americans don’t use all their vacation days at work. We get fewer paid vacations than employees in other countries, too.
Now that we’re seeing these stories about 2020, can we at least say, sure, this year I get it?
Gem Tours & Travels, which is planning New York vaccine trips, claims to have coined the term ‘vaccine tourism’ and Zenith Holidays has promoted a London stay long enough for both vaccine doses at $8211 per person single occupancy ($6158 per person based on double occupancy) and expects that “by mid-January next year, the vaccine will be available for foreigners in the UK.”
We’re going to be excited to see people. With greater distancing and less time spent with others outside our household, other people will just seem more interesting. And we’ll see the people we’ve been stuck at home with for a year with fresh eyes when we’re on vacation.
An American citizen presenting themselves at the border is entitled to enter the country. They can be questioned, searched, and required to quarantine as a public health measure. But as a general matter citizens cannot be denied entry into the country.
Here the government places a requirement on airlines to prevent citizens from presenting themselves at the border. You can’t even get tested in much of the world. And there are few places where you’re allowed to go enroute in order to stop for a test.
If you’re going to travel, wear a good mask that fits and learn how to use it. N95 masks are available, and increasingly so, I do not believe you should be wearing a cloth mask in the airport or in other crowded settings.
With Four Seasons Hotels even about to launch new elite rewards, it’s become clear: loyalty holdouts lose out. The principles of loyalty marketing apply to all travel businesses, and to other industries too.
How much it makes sense to invest in a customer depends on a product’s margins, and the extent to which elite benefits versus rebates matter to a customer depend on their profile and subjective preferences – but the basic principles are the same across customer groups and even industries. What form the program takes can vary, but recognizing and rewarding customers matters.
Back in August I wrote that cheap $5, 15 minute Covid-19 tests could really open up travel and other activities.
The good news is that the Abbott Labs BinaxNOW test I wrote about four months ago has finally received an Emergency Use Authorization. The bad news is that this $5 test is now a $30 test because in order to approve it the government required people taking the test to be monitored. And it requires a prescription.
If you’re reasonable, nice, and persistent – in other words, if you’re easy to help and easier to help than not help – you’re going to do well complaining in almost any circumstance whether it’s the cable company, an airline, or the DMV.
A bureaucrat may go out of their way because they sympathize with you or at least because you’re nice, nicer than most of the people they deal with. A hotel may offer you compensation because they genuinely feel they’ve shortchanged you in some way, or because it’s cheap to make you feel better about your experience. An airline’s rules are so complex you might get what you want just by finding someone who doesn’t search the rulebook for a reason not to give it to you (call center roulette).
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 »
