Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

One Hyatt Now Charges Extra For Use of an In-Room Desk

by Gary Leff

Nov 16 2019

First we had deceptive resort fees – part of the room rate is hidden, called a fee, and you don’t see it included in the total cost of a room when you’re comparing hotel rates on a website. Resort fees spread to hotels that aren’t resorts. In cities they started to call resort fees urban destination fees.

I thought we had reached peak absurdity with the spread in Las Vegas of ‘venue fees’.

When I covered this new type of fee back in September I asked, ‘Karl Marx said history repeats itself first as tragedy then as farce. If venue fees is hotels repeating the resort fee as tragedy, can the farce be far behind?” Apparently we’ve already reached farce.

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Hyatt In Advanced Talks To Buy Several Kimpton Hotels

by Gary Leff

Nov 11 2019

They’ve tried to grow through strategic partnerships with MGM and SLH hotels, and through acquisitions such as Two Roads Hospitality which has given them Alila, Destination Hotels, Joie de Vivre and Thompson Hotels (as well as the nascent tommie brand).

Hyatt has actually tried and failed at other acquisitions. They were in the running for Starwood, probably even offering more money than Marriott, but their complicated stock structure (the Pritzker family retains outsized control) got in the way. Hyatt tried at the last minute to acquire NH Hotels but that door was already shut. They were also a bidder for Kimpton, but IHG beat them out by $100 million. (Hyatt was right not to overpay the way IHG did.)

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Marriott CEO: People Prefer Bonvoy Over Starwood 8-to-1

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Nov 08 2019

We’re all familiar with lies, damn lies, and statistics. The new program has higher redemption prices than Marriott Rewards. It has weaker elite recognition than Starwood Preferred Guest. There is virtually no enforcement of elite benefits at the property level, at best paying our rewards to hotels for elite satisfaction scores.

Do you like Marriott Bonvoy more than both Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest? I’d love to see if we’ve got an 8-to-1 margin here… or if this is just Sorenson being Sorenson.

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Hyatt Airport Hotel Has Boeing 787 Simulator You Can Use For $173

by Gary Leff

american airlines machine
Nov 06 2019

Spending less than $300 for simulator time with an instructor is a great deal – a reason that some people may force an overnight for themselves at Haneda airport even. For an aviation geek there’s nothing like flight simulator time.

But what if I told you there’s an airport hotel where you can spend points to stay the night, that has a Boeing 787 simulator and where sim time is even cheaper?

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How Much Hyatt Pays Hotels When You Redeem Points for Free Nights

by Gary Leff

Nov 05 2019

A hotel program books your room on points. They take the liability on their books for your point balance, and use it to pay the hotel.

Since hotels are mostly independently owned, they need to get real cash from the chain for your stay. Hotels actually benefit by filling unsold rooms with reward night guests, getting revenue from the loyalty program for a room that would have sat empty.

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That Didn’t Last Long: Hyatt Adding New Category 8 Hotels, and Many Limited-Participation Properties

by Gary Leff

Nov 05 2019

I don’t have an issue with limited-participation hotels, and it makes sense for timeshare hotels not to offer complimentary breakfast as an elite benefit. However it’s not really fair to say that Hyatt is growing and delivering more value to members by adding hotels where redemption is not possible.

And I think we can assume that moving five Destination Hotels into category 8 is just the beginning. We’ll eventually see more at the inflated 40,000 points per night level.

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