Category Archives for Hotels.
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.
A lot of members are frustrated with Marriott — for botching the Starwood integration, for failing to deliver on the benefits they promised, and for generally unhelpful customer service. I argued that doesn’t make Hilton better, that Marriott disappoints but shouldn’t surprise — they are the largest and still offer better elite benefits, why would you think they’d be better?
I learned several things making the argument and listening to reader comments and commentary from other blogs.
Yesterday Mark Ostermann wrote that Marriott travel packages can no longer be cancelled for a partial points refund.
I wanted to find out whether that was an(other) unannounced negative change or a(nother) case of wrong information from Marriott customer service. It turns out it was bad information from a customer service representative.
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.
Good marketing is something that all of us welcome: useful information that connects us with something we actually need or want, and even better information that comes to us right when we want it, to help us make a decision.
When someone says they don’t like marketing what they mean is they don’t like bad marketing. They don’t like receiving information that isn’t relevant to them, that doesn’t speak to them in their language, that isn’t what they’re interested in.
The world is full of bad marketing.
Hotel chain Best Price Guarantees are for the most part Best Price Gimmicks, there are so many holes and exclusions that it serves to say that the chain has the best price without having to have the best price.
However you don’t earn points, stay credits, and you’re not supposed to receive elite recognition if you don’t “book direct.” Still if the price is good enough you can buy your won breakfast or even just book the room you’d like to stay in straight away, and still pocket a savings.
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.
Here are four dining lessons from the air and from the ground that I learned over the past week: a recommendable restaurant, a good meal on a plane, and a former hotel favorite disappoints.
I’m as disappointed as anyone with the way Marriott has delivered on their new loyalty program. The technical side of combining Starwood and Marriott accounts has been frustrating — my account still isn’t right. Customer service has been poor — I’m waiting for a reply to an email from September. And most of all the delivery of benefits and redemptions hasn’t matched what was promised.
However that doesn’t mean you should abandon Marriott. In fact you shouldn’t. Here’s why.
Limited service hotels are a fast growing lodging segment. There’s no room service, for instance. Don’t expect a bellman or valet. Some ostensibly full service hotels are moving to become limited service, too.
The brand new Hyatt Regency Seattle opened December 10th. It’s across the street from the Hyatt Olive 8 and near the Grand Hyatt, and is the largest hotel in the Pacific Northwest with over 1200 rooms. And it does not provide daily housekeeping.
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 »
