Category Archives for Hotels.
First they came for the straws, but I don’t drink from plastic straws so I said nothing. Now they’re coming for miniature shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel as California considers outlawing single use toiletries.
That means hotels would install wall dispensers in the shower but wall dispensers are awful and must be stopped. And it turns out this is a gift to corporate hotel interests under the fig leaf of the environment.
The unwillingness of Marriott to actually fund or require their planned elevated amenity means that delivery will often fall short of what the program hopes. And top elites with award stays during the promotion period who aren’t targeted may feel left out. Nonetheless, this is more generous than not doing anything.
Marriott’s new loyalty program doesn’t offer a lifetime status level higher than 50 nights. The old Starwood program didn’t either. However the old Marriott Rewards program offered lifetime 75 night elite status, and those who achieved that status in the legacy Marriott program, got to keep it.
Marriott carved out an exception that let some Starwood members earn it too — but said it could never be earned after 2018. That turns out not to be quite correct.
The gym is always a go-to source for me. And when a hotel does provide free bottled water in the room I’ll usually hide any bottles I haven’t consumed in my luggage in case the hotel brings more. I wouldn’t want them to think I was already stocked.
In much of the world you can drink the tap water though whenever I’m uncertain I avoid it. I’d rather drink filtered water (hopefully they change the filters) and I want to use my own or a hotel-gifted bottle, not the hotel’s glasses in the bathroom which may or may not be clean.
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.
In addition to expanding their footprint via partnerships (such as earning and redemption at so far about a third of Small Luxury Hotels of the World) they’ve also acquired Two Roads Hospitality which manages 5 brands.
Hyatt has now announced that Thompson Hotels joins March 28 and Joie de Vivre Hotels joins May 15. They have two bonus offers to celebrate, they stack, and also help towards an existing bonus as well.
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.
ou simply cannot believe anything Marriott tells you, if they answer you at all. Much frustration would be avoided if you’d just research answers to questions yourself, on blogs, instead of asking Marriott and assuming what they tell you is accurate.
Case in point: Marriott says Platinum member upgrades don’t include suites.
Maybe you’ve emailed Marriott, like I have, and gotten no response for months. Or perhaps you’ve called customer service, waited on hold, and gotten absolutely nowhere (or, in the case of one reader, been called a liar).
Now Marriott has you covered because their Le Meridien brand has launched a new campaign called “Dial 0 for Lip Service”.
Ultimately a consumer-focused website simply cannot claim that devaluations benefit program members. Marriott ‘enhanced‘ the program, perhaps, with ‘changes you’re going to like‘.
But charging members more for reward nights doesn’t improve the program.
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 »
