Category Archives for Hotels.
Hilton has quietly devalued Honors points yet again. Standard “free night” awards at top properties can now reach 250,000 points — the third hike since December. With no award chart and no notice to members, Hilton continues to erode trust while gutting the value of its loyalty program.
Free breakfast is a common feature of many hotel brands, especially in the limited service category. You’ll find it at Hampton Inn, Best Western and Holiday Inn Express among numerous others.
Here’s the thing: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hotel actually check that you’re a guest before giving you access. If you look like you belong there, you can park in the lot, walk in, and eat.
Many airlines, hotels, and rental car companies all ‘overbook’ meaning they sell more seats, rooms, and cars than they have. That usually works out just fine. They know some people will cancel or no show, and they want to use up all of their inventory.
Here’s what to expect if your hotel is overbooked, and how to avoid getting ‘walked’ in the first place.
Trivago, the Expedia-controlled hotel metasearch site, has a new side hustle: panhandling for tips.
The San Francisco Housing Authority is offering people $5,000 Airbnb gift cards to leave public housing and squat in private homes instead.
$26 buys you four months of both Marriott Platinum and Hilton Gold if you’re in China – and challenges to keep the status for at least another year.
It’s particularly galling to see a tip solicitation in this guest room at the Rapid City, South Dakota Hyatt Place – they’re suggesting a minimum tip of $5, but angling towards $10 or $15, when the property… isn’t doing daily housekeeping!
Champagne, a skyline… and a bucket brigade. A couple of hotel guests floord a spa suite in China. The skyline tub was is the star attraction at the Iseya hotel in Chongqing. It comes with its own pool-sized bath and storm-spa theatrics.
One thing we know about the ‘ultimate’ benefit guarantee from Marriott is that it’s only guaranteed if the hotel agrees to pay it. If the hotel says no, guarantee notwithstanding, you’re out of luck.
Hyatt’s China joint venture was selling phantom stays so that guests could earn Globalist status, confirm upgrades to suites, get free breakfsat and guarantee late checkout. Hyatt blamed the customers and nuked their accounts. Now Chinese courts have gotten involved.
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 »
