Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

New Hotel Status Match Offer, Your Premium Rewards Credit Card Is Enough For Top Tier

by Gary Leff on September 20, 2024

Sep 20 2024

GHA Discovery is the loyalty program across 40 hotel brands and over 800 properties such as Viceroy, Pan Pacific, Outrigger, Kempinski, NH Hotels, Marco Polo, Anantara and Capella.

They’re just wrapping up one of the boldest earning promotions I’ve ever seen offering up to a 94% rebate on stays (excluding taxes and fees). They’ve been adding elite benefits like breakfast at several brands since the program’s relaunch three years ago. And they now have an exceptionally broad status match campaign.

Florida Hyatt’s New $25/Night Scam: Hidden ‘Valet Fee’ Charged Even if You Don’t Park!

by Gary Leff on September 18, 2024

Sep 18 2024

One of the more egregious examples of hidden, undisclosed fees I’ve seen has to be the Hyatt Place St. Augustine / Vilano Beach which reportedly adds a “Mandatory Valet Parking Fee” of $25 per night.

Hyatt Place’s Ongoing Breakfast Test: Will $14 Charges Replace Free Morning Meals?

by Gary Leff on September 15, 2024

Sep 15 2024

Hyatt ended free, full breakfast at Hyatt Place properties as a brand standard guarantee during the pandemic.

They dropped the requirement that you book direct to get breakfast, but also started charging non-elite guests for breakfast at some properties as a test. I hadn’t realized until recently that – four years later – this test continues, with the future of free Hyatt Place breakfast still uncertain.

How A One Night Hyatt Stay Netted Me 20,000 Points – And I Used My Simplest Travel Tip

by Gary Leff on September 14, 2024

Sep 14 2024

I checked into the Grand Hyatt in DC earlier this week. Or, should I say, I tried to check in. There was a long line at the desk, but no line for elite check-in. Of course, there was nobody working elite check-in, either.

Elite Member Meltdown After Hotel Forgets ‘Thank You For Your Loyalty’—Is This What Really Matters?

by Gary Leff on September 9, 2024

Sep 09 2024

I don’t care about being thanked. The interaction is usually perfunctory and awkward. I care about a hotel honoring elite benefits. I care about receiving an upgrade if possible, and having the way the hotel’s status benefits explained – such as what is the breakfast offering?

Missing a thank you might even be preferred.

Iconic Brown Palace Marriott Plunges Into Chaos: Fentanyl, Homeless, And Disruptive Drunks Overrun Denver Landmark

by Gary Leff on September 9, 2024

Sep 09 2024

Management dropped rates below $100 on some nights – but that attracted a different clientele, “a rise in drunken and disruptive guests.” With reduced revenue, the management company HEI pushed out long-time employees who delivered the high quality service the property was known for. Then “[m]ore homeless people entered the hotel and fentanyl contamination showed up in lobby bathrooms.”

The property blames the pandemic for reduced staffing in 2024. Remaining employees have been told they “no longer work for a hospitality company” but “for a real estate company” instead.

Still Requiring Vaccination in 2024—Is This Hotel Really ‘Following the Science’?

by Gary Leff on September 8, 2024

Sep 08 2024

This isn’t just an old note, like the stickers you still see in some hotels saying that vaccinated guests don’t have to mask or occupancy limits on elevators, with markings on the ground showing where you should stand distanced from other guests. This is marked as “2024-5.”

Hotel Manager Reveals How To Get That Pesky Resort Fee Taken Off Your Bill

by Gary Leff on September 7, 2024

Sep 07 2024

Resort fees are infuriating. The price of a hotel room isn’t the price. You book a room advertised at one price, but the hotel charges you that plus an additional fee. And since that ‘resort’ or ‘destination fee’ is mandatory, the room rate is deceptive because it doesn’t tell you how much it costs to stay at the hotel. But what if it turned out htat paying it was optional, after all?

Marriott Calls Security To Shut Out Platinum Members: ‘We Won’t Help You. Find Another Place And Leave Now’

by Gary Leff on September 4, 2024

Sep 04 2024

A reader shares his experience checking in at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg. He presented his ID and credit card. The associated thanked him for being a Bonvoy Platinum member. And then “summoned security over” and told him he was being walked.

Marriott G.M. Confesses Why He Refuses To Upgrade Guests When Better Rooms Are Available

by Gary Leff on September 1, 2024

Sep 01 2024

When a guest at Marriott’s Courtyard Crystal City/Washington National airport complained about the property’s upgrade policies, the hotel general manager responded – and laid out why he prefers not to make upgrades available to elite members.