Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

Rapper Says Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Keeps a List of Banned African American Recording Artists

by Gary Leff on May 27, 2019

May 27 2019

If this is true it’s monumentally stupid on the hotel’s part. If the rapper believes it’s true then he shouldn’t settle for an apology, he should sue the hotel for no other reason than to be able to subpoena documents and emails and depose witnesses. And assuming the subpoenas aren’t quashed the hotel would be in a position of having to pay out in a significant way to avoid embarrassment (and then presumably make copies of emails and documents disappear so to avoid a rinse, repeat scenario).

New York EDITION Hotel Using Marriott Points

by Gary Leff on May 24, 2019

May 24 2019

Last month I needed a hotel not far from Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood for a date night with my wife. It’s largely devoid of decent properties, but it turns out The Robey in Wicker Park is really quite nice. It was my first stay at a Design Hotel.

This past week I needed a night in Manhattan and I almost always choose my hotel based on location. I had an evening where I needed to be in Chelsea followed by a morning meeting by the Empire State Building. Prices in Manhattan were sky high, so I opted for a reward stay at the New York EDITION. It was my first EDITION property.

In both cases Marriott Bonvoy had me covered. Goodness knows I’ve had my frustrations with the program but they do have nice hotels in the places I’ve needed to be that are more convenient than what competitors are offering.

Does Marriott Have Too Many Ambassador Elites?

by Gary Leff on May 22, 2019

picture with stairs around it in a hotel

May 22 2019

A reader writes in that he’s staying “at a no-name, forgettable Sheraton in a medium-sized city” where there are “3 full-service Marriott properties nearby.” A housekeeper “left her manifest.. out on her cart” and there are “3 ambassador elites on a single floor.” He thinks that says there’s something wrong.

There are rumors that some Ambassadors working for Marriott may be assigned as many as 300 top tier elite members, and there are reports of some Ambassador elites not hearing anything at all from their personal agent for months at a time.

Resort Fees May Be About to Crack as Online Travel Agency Starts Taxing Them

by Gary Leff on May 21, 2019

May 21 2019

Priceline’s Booking.com, the major competitor to the Expedia group’s behemoth of online travel booking sites, will start charging hotels commission on resort fees.

They believe the shift away from selling consumers a total rate, and moving money into the resort or destination fee bucket, cheats them of revenue. And of course it has reduced commissions that hotels pay.

Marriott Bonvoy Has One Big Problem. There’s a Simple Solution.

by Gary Leff on May 18, 2019

May 18 2019

When things go wrong, either because a hotel doesn’t deliver promised benefits or because something doesn’t work right on the back end with an account, it’s almost impossible to get ~~swift~~ any resolution from Marriott Bonvoy. Customer service is a problem.

When things go smoothly – as they do the majority of the time – Marriott has, in my opinion, a better program than Hilton or IHG. But when they fail the issues are magnified because these failures are primarily happening to their highest volume most loyal members and because there’s no mechanism to fix the issue. That’s a problem, but it’s one that can be fixed.

Taco Bell is Opening a Resort in Palm Springs

by Gary Leff on May 17, 2019

May 17 2019

Taco Bell is opening a resort hotel in Palm Springs August 9th. It’s “meant for 18+ superfans” and will have “exclusive Taco Bell menu items and plenty of surprises” and the resort will only last a short time.

Reservations will open in June. The fast food chain claims this “isn’t a stunt, but instead part of Taco Bell’s wider strategy of moving the brand beyond the traditional fast-food experience.”

Marriott’s CEO Was Surprised to Beat the Chinese to Buy Starwood

by Gary Leff on May 16, 2019

May 16 2019

When Marriott acquired Starwood hotels they beat out Hyatt, which may have offered a more financially attractive package but whose complicated stock structure (the Pritzker family has outsized voting rights) created complications, and Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance.

Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott, says he was surprised that they won the bidding and were able to make the deal.

Stack Several Promotions as Hyatt Adds a New Brand to Its Portfolio and 16 New Hotels

by Gary Leff on May 14, 2019

May 14 2019

It was only just October that I broke the news that Hyatt would acquire Two Roads Hospitality and the Thompson, Destination, Joie de Vivre, Alila and tommie hotel brands.

Already Hyatt has been integrating properties. Most of Thompson Hotels joined World of Hyatt March 28th. Hyatt has just announced that the previously excluded Thompson Playa del Carmen and Thompson Beach House in Mexico will join effective May 15, 2019.

Today Hyatt integrates a second of the acquired brands — Joie de Vivre — into the World of Hyatt portfolio.

Marriott Got Bonvoyed By Hilton and New British Airways First Class Review

by Gary Leff on May 12, 2019

May 12 2019

A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.

Hyatt Added a Tranche of Small Luxury Hotels to Its Earning and Redemption Portfolio

by Gary Leff on May 9, 2019

May 09 2019

Hyatt launched their earning and redemption partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World at the end of 2018. Initially they only brought about 10% of SLH’s 500+ properties into their portfolio.

They followed two months later with another 56 properties or 10% and then 57 more a month after that. Now they’ve added another tranche of hotels where you can earn and redeem Hyatt points, bringing them to over 200 (or roughly 40% of) SLH properties in the portfolio.