Category Archives for Hotels.
Marriott has quietly removed the freeform “special requests” text box from its website bookings, leaving only a handful of preset checkboxes. Hotels may have ignored many notes anyway, but eliminating the field doesn’t eliminate guest needs—it just pushes everything into last-minute phone calls and check-in friction, with no easy way to message the property in advance.
A rumor is spreading that Marriott is buying Rosewood—an enormous deal if true, and one that would immediately raise questions about how Rosewood could fit inside Bonvoy.
But the story rests on a screenshot of an alleged internal Marriott legal email that reads wrong, while credible reporting points instead to Rosewood exploring a partial sale or specific assets—not the brand itself.
Guests at a Marriott in Newport Beach say the hotel shut off the water for repairs—leaving rooms with no working toilets or showers and sending people to an outhouse in the parking lot. A reader says there was no advance warning before arrival, and when they complained they were offered 10,000 Marriott points, even as the hotel continued charging full price for a stay without a functioning bathroom.
Hilton has brought back status matches—and the fast track is easier than the last time around. You get Gold for 90 days upon approval, then only 6 paid nights keeps Gold through March 2028 (12 nights earns Diamond through March 2028).
Hilton says it is removing a Minneapolis-area hotel from the brand after a follow-up video suggested the property was still refusing to honor Department of Homeland Security bookings even after an apology and assurances that agents would be welcome.
A guest says a spa massage at the Conrad Maldives left him needing neck surgery, costing more than $50,000 out of pocket, and that after submitting medical records and bills Hilton has gone silent for months—even as he describes the injury as life-altering and raises questions about what went wrong in the treatment.
DHS is accusing Hilton-branded hotels in the Minneapolis area of canceling government-rate reservations and refusing to house immigration personnel, citing a “no ICE” email from a Hampton Inn franchise while activist pressure like “No Sleep for ICE” protests provides a motive for the cnacels.
I hate tipping because of the frictions. You don’t know what you’re supposed to tip, it’s ambiguous. You’re supposed to have cash? It’s so much better when employees are compensated by their employers and listed prices are the amounts you actually pay.
If tipping is supposed to ensure better service, why is it such a bad customer experience?
One of baseball’s greatest hitters of all time was Wee Willie Keeler, who introduced the ‘hit and run’ play to the game when he was a member of the Baltimore Orioles. It was his 44-game hitting streak that Joe DiMaggio broke. It was his record of 8 consecutive seasons with 200 hits or more than Ichiro Suzuki broke.
And his batting advice is exactly how you maximize your chances of an upgrade for both airlines and hotels.
A Marriott general manager responded to an Ambassador member by sneering, “You are just a number, not royalty,” and the comment is revealing for reasons bigger than one employee’s attitude. Marriott’s only real asset is the Bonvoy loyalty program, and when franchise owners treat top elites as a nuisance instead of a profit center, they quietly erode the very thing that delivers customers to their hotels.
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 »
