Category Archives for General.
Priority Club is offering 3000 bonus points or 1000 bonus miles for every third night you stay between January 16 and April 30, 2006. Members can earn the bonus 10 times. Registration is required.
There’s a decent article on getting the best prices for hotels up over at everything2.com. Don’t believe every claim 100%, but many of the general broad brushes are correct. Best Rate Guarantees notwithstanding, you often won’t get the best price possible for a room by booking on the internet or calling a chain’s 800 number. A hotel’s in-house reservations or revenue manager can certainly often provide a better deal. You usually won’t do better that way than on Priceline, contrary to what the article suggests, and the techniques involved are tedious and time-consuming… but there’s little downside, especially in just realizing that while some chains offer discounts to members of their loyalty programs, that’s not where to start when dealing directly with a hotel that sees the program as a tax rather than a benefit.…
The New York Times carried a piece on the problem hotels face in trying to satisfy both Gen X and baby boomer business travelers. GenX wants hip (W) while boomers want classic (Ritz). GenX’ers are becoming increasingly important, the classic brands know this and are trying to graft onto their preferences without losing their core demographic. The gap isn’t just manifesting itself at the higher ends of business travel, either — Starwood is introducing a less-expensive version of a W to compete with the Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyard product (something that their Four Points brand fails at miserably).
The New York Times carried a piece on the problem hotels face in trying to satisfy both Gen X and baby boomer business travelers. GenX wants hip (W) while boomers want classic (Ritz). GenX’ers are becoming increasingly important, the classic brands know this and are trying to graft onto their preferences without losing their core demographic. The gap isn’t just manifesting itself at the higher ends of business travel, either — Starwood is introducing a less-expensive version of a W to compete with the Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyard product (something that their Four Points brand fails at miserably).
A story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday has been much talked about on the web, the man who turned down 12 round-trip coach tickets for two from the U.S. to anywhere in the world American flies. (He won the ‘We Know Why You Fly’ contest, I’ll save mocking American’s ad campaign for another post.) The man turned down the prize because American reported that each ticket would be worth $2200, and so his tax liability was going to be $800 per ticket. The tickets expire within a year, and he quite reasonably didn’t think he’d get as much value out of them as he’d be liable for in tax. As the Journal piece notes, it is possible to dispute the reported value of a prize. Contest winners do have alternatives, according to tax experts.…
Had some pretty good dim sum for lunch today at Mark’s Duck House. If you find yourself in Northern Virginia, it’s worth going. Got out of there at $20 for two people. And if you’re in DC needing a hip place for dinner with good food and excellent service, recently I’ve been a big fan of IndeBleu. It’s Indian-French fusion, decor is straight out of a W Hotel, and the staff were brought in from European charm schools. Outstanding, though a bit pricey. The biggest driver of cost is that the menu is set up as four courses. I keep it affordable by ordering a couple of second courses, using one as my main. For what it’s worth people seem to like my restaurant recommendations. A large contingent of my office came back from Miami…
James Wysong’s newest column is on ways to get an upgrade. His advice: Become a member of that specific airline’s frequent flier mileage club. You can be a member of many different airlines’ clubs. Unlikely. Being an elite member of an airline’s frequent flyer program is the surest way to an upgrade, although each program’s terms and conditions are different — you may need to pay a certain fare or spend upgrade certificates, and the rules likely vary between domestic and international flights. But simply joining a frequent flyer program is unlikely to score an upgrade (except in one limited circumstance, overbooking of coach, discussed below). The flight is oversold in economy, but there are empty seats in business and or first class. Absolutely. Airlines oversell coach and instead of denying boarding (which is costly,…
This Seattle Times piece (hat tip Tripso Daily) discusses internet web sites that allow travelers to post reviews of the hotels they’ve stayed at. Sites like TripAdvisor.com are absolutely invaluable for getting a window into a hotel property. Reading what past travelers have had to say can be very useful. The piece observes, though, that reviews are posted anonymously. I haven’t found that to be a problem so much as the other observation in the article, that individual’s standards vary greatly. The best thing to do in reading internet reviews is to read through several of them and look for consistent themes and patterns. Those are most likely to provide a window of truth about a property. And then it’s important to read between the lines: one resort where I stayed last year had several…
The Bay Area’s ABC TV station ran a piece on getting hotel upgrades. The sum total of their advice: ask. That’s actually good advice as far as it goes. More than anything else, style and mojo matter. I’ll usually say something at checkin like, “I’ve heard really great things about this hotel, so I’m pretty excited. I was hoping you might have a room with one of your special views?” More often than not the person at the desk will try to comply. It really doesn’t cost them anything. It makes me happy. And it avoids putting them in the position of either disappointing me in person or getting an earful (I’m not rude, but many guests are). If I have a reason to explain that a particular stay is ‘special’ I might send a…
The Denver Post carries a piece in what seems like a neverending stream of stories on how difficult it is to use miles, and how miles are worth less today than ever before. (Hat tip to Today in the Sky.) The article makes the correct point that major airlines are on financially shaky ground. After two years in bankruptcy, United still lost over $300 million in January. But while the future of USAirways is up in the air, most flyers have little to fear in the immediate term over losing their miles. To name just one data point, American Express prepaid half a billion dollars for miles, they seem pretty confident about the future of the Skymiles program. Still, the article is correct that the number of miles required to redeem many awards has gone…
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 »
