Category Archives for Hotels.
According to a laughable AOL article you should call a hotel directly to secure the best price and use a three word incantation to save 20% off of the lowest price online.
However there’s a nugget of wisdom here that’s worth unpacking.
I’m often tired when I travel. Doing some exercises before bed helps, but between flights, time zone changes, and extremely long work days I find when I’m back home Friday morning that I’m dragging. In fact I can get up dragging while I’m on the road too. Coffee is part of my morning ritual.
But I won’t make coffee in my room.
If breakfast matters to you remember that IHG doesn’t promise it; Hilton offers just a continental breakfast but doesn’t exclude brands; Marriott’s breakfast benefit is improved but understanding it is like something out of a Fellini film; while Hyatt’s offerings are both more robust and more clear.
What Hyatt 40 night benefit is best? Hyatt offers additional benefits for every 10 elite nights you earn. And now that award stays count (so Chase Sapphire Preferred Card points transfers can be used for stays, which help earn additional benefits), and that you get 5 elite nights each year just for having the The World Of Hyatt Credit Card and spending on the card continues to earn more elite nights, it’s easier than ever to reach additional benefit milestones. # Nights Or Benefit 10 25k base points or 3 meetings Discoverist 20 35k base points 2 club lounge access awards 30 50k base points or 10 meetings Explorist, 2 club access awards, cat 1-4 free night 40 65k base points 5k points or $100 Hyatt gift card or 10k points off FIND experience 50…
Back in the fall when Marriott was facing housekeeping strikes, guests were getting flyers under their doors protesting the Make a Green Choice program.
Marriott encourages you to fly out and visit their hotels, eat beef in the restaurant, extend your stay by flying your family out too, but what you’re really doing that’s harming the environment is having your room tidied. I’ve always found it odd that a hotel chain promotes the idea that their housekeepers are bad for the environment.
Two and a half years ago Hilton reported 60 million members. Then at the beginning of 2018 they reported 70 million. Now they say they are up to 94 million Honors members.
Hilton was the first to aggressively advertise ‘member rates’ which are small room discounts that require you to join the loyalty program. Unsurprisingly that’s just what guests do. And since the number of members has gone up recently, driven by this savings, these are ‘engaged’ members with recent Hilton activity.
When you ‘make a green choice’ to let hotels save money on housekeeping, at least they’ll usually give you points so you can share in the savings (but not at the Hyatt Regency Seattle).
Marriott revealed that wall mounted toiletries save a couple thousand dollars per hotel each year. That’s a big savings across all of their managed North American properties who are making the switch from individual bottles.
As hotels look to cut costs, some cut back on daily housekeeping while others eschew room service carts and trays for brown paper sacks.
It turns out though that room service for dogs and cats is on the upswing.
A video going viral on social media shows a family caught by their hotel in Bali with items in their luggage stolen from the hotel. The family got into an argument with hotel staff, and the property demanded they open their bags for inspection. They were caught with stolen items from their room. One stolen piece after another gets revealed.
A former Starwood GM reports the theft of a grand piano from his lobby. Some guests walk out with the TV from their room. Another GM reports a guest unscrewing the room number off their door for a souvenir.
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 »
