Category Archives for Hotels.
Hyatt is keeping an award chart, and they’re not changing the points prices of that chart. That’s the good news, I suppose. But their annual category changes are out – going into effect in one month on March 25 – and they’re heavily biased towards price increases.
Long check-in lines are de rigueur in Las Vegas. People go to Vegas for a break, and the start of their trip is a queue – probably first for the ride from the airport to their hotel, and then to get into their room. What could be more of a mass experience, and what could make an upscale hotel feel more like Circus Circus than this?
Marriott responds that it is not a brand-wide change, but it is a change at this hotel, “This test is being run by the St. Regis Macao and not as part of a broader program change.”
This suggests that (1) Marriott is ok with the change, (2) Despite it violating the program’s terms and conditions. And it’s unclear what the result of this test will be – a permanent change at one property, or a test of a broader St. Regis change (aligning the brand closer to Ritz-Carlton)?
A hotel guest built a makeshift tent in her hotel room to guard against hidden cameras while she slept. She tied a long piece of rope to high points in the hotel room (e.g. cabinet handles, curtain tracks, or wall hooks) and draped a large furniture-covering sheet over the rope to form the tent.
A Marriott Courtyard has a sign posted on every floor that ‘outside food and drink’ is not allowed. Like a movie theater, if you want to eat at the hotel you have to buy your food from them. You can’t carry in food (or leftovers from where you went to dinner), and you can’t order DoorDash either.
Is the most valuable award offered to Hyatt’s most loyal guests actually completely useless? Hyatt introduced the Ultimate Free Night Award and the Miraval Extra Award a year ago, and if you want to use them at Miraval Arizona before your certificates expire — you can’t.
They’re seeing surging leisure rates, a move to last-minute bookings, and are managing a major tech overhaul for the business. Swelling Bonvoy membership is driving revenue – from both hotel owners and banks. How that will pair with growth from lower-end chains, and in light of still-sluggish business travel, remains unclear.
When you tip at a hotel, where’s the money actually going? Often, this varies by location. In some places around the world, it’s common for service charges to be considered tips and pooled to be distributed to staff. In other places you can be pretty confident that tips are going to the person intended.
But not everywhere!
Hyatt will acquire all outstanding shares of Playa Hotels at $13.50 per share, valuing it at $2.6 billion inclusive of $900 million debt. That’s a 40% premium over the company’s market cap prior to revealing talks over the sale. Hyatt plans to sell the physical hotel properties, and they anticipate this will generate approximately $2 billion by the end of 2027. The non-Hyatt branded properties seem likely to convert to Hyatt brands over time.
There’s a great video of the owner of the Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale, Ben Mallah, complaining about what Marriott required him to spend on his Sheraton property. He talks about how Marriott was telling him to bring back food and beverage after the pandemic and he threatened to pull the Sheraton flag over it. It’s a clear articulation of how owners believe Marriott will cave to them, and that they don’t need to deliver to customers.
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 »
