Category Archives for Hotels.
Back in the fall I wrote about the Holiday Inn Express in Elko, Nevada charging $12.95 extra per night in addition to the room rate for electricity. They were also charging an extra 3% for guests who wanted to pay with a Chase IHG One Rewards credit card. This hotel apparently keeps changing what the $12.95 is for.
Last summer Hyatt acquired Standard International, including Standard Hotels, StandardX and Bunkhouse Group.
They’ve already gotten integration of Standard properties lined up.
A guest at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner (generally considered one of, if not the worst Ritz) was accused of stealing a bamboo plant from their room, and billed for it.
That’s 21.5 Hyatt points per dollar which I value as a little more than a 30% rebate. Additionally, you can earn 1 American AAdvantage mile per dollar spent on top. Let’s call it a 32% or one-third rebate thanks to these stackable offers.
1,000 bonus points are worth about $4. And that’s all you earn regardless of how much you spend or how long you stay. It’s not even 1,000 points per night!
Marriott is acquiring CitizenM hotels, which I think of as a better Moxy, for a cost of $355 million. CitizenM has a free status match program.
Reportedly at Hampton Inn Dallas-Arlington Entertainment District they do not offer soap. And it isn’t just bar soap, there’s no body wash either.
A woman arrived at the Holiday Inn Bangkok Silom two days ahead of the rest of her group. She asked the hotel to place a 14,626-baht (≈ US $400) authorization hold on her card to cover all four rooms for a five-night stay.
But she also told staff to collect payment from a relative when he arrived.
Some businesses are jumping on the tariff narrative to nickel and dime customers for nonsense. The Hampton Inn Dublin in Virginia appeared to impose a $2 fee to print receipts.
The mid‑level manager wheels his carry‑on down the identical beige hallway, swipes a keycard, and steps into the cool sterility of a Hilton Garden Inn perched off the interstate, a full twenty‑five minutes from anything resembling downtown.
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 »
