Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

Here’s How Marriott Travel Packages Will Work in the New Program

by Gary Leff on August 11, 2018

Aug 11 2018

Existing travel packages have been an outstanding questions. Members who redeem for a travel package, transfer points to miles, and hold onto the hotel stay certificate to use later have wondered ‘since Marriott’s award charts are changing, and my certificates are for a specific redemption category, what’s going to happen? what hotels will I be able to use them for?’

Marriott is sharing that travel packages are going to be adjusted so that they will be used on ‘similarly valued’ hotel categories.

Existing Marriott Travel Package Awards: Unavailable for a Month, Uncertain After That

by Gary Leff on August 10, 2018

Aug 10 2018

Marriott is launching a new program August 18th which will be the same for all of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.

Accessing frequent guest accounts, and even making reservations, is expected to be offline most of that day. In addition Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards accounts may be unavailable during overnight hours between now and the 18th. These overnight outages shouldn’t affect Starwood accounts.

Starting August 18th though you won’t be able to use previous travel package redemptions for a month.

W Las Vegas: Won’t Guarantee Elite Benefits Because Everyone May Lose Their Jobs

by Gary Leff on August 5, 2018

Aug 05 2018

When hotels change brands, it often happens suddenly. Paid reservations are generally honored. Award reservations are sometimes honored. In either case, though, elite members of a loyalty program should not expect new management from a new brand to honor the benefits guests were entitled to in that other program.

Sometimes hotel chains do a good job re-accommodating guests with points bookings that are displaced. Sometimes they don’t do a very good job. However even when they do it can be stressful for the guest. And for employees.

Hyatt Introducing Alliance With Over 500 Boutique Hotel Properties in 80 Countries

by Gary Leff on August 1, 2018

Aug 01 2018

Elite earn at 500 more hotels is potentially very useful for a chain that today has only 700 of its own hotels compared to Marriott’s 6500.

Hilton Resurrecting ‘LXR Collection’ and Picking Up 1/3 Of Starwood’s Dubai Portfolio

by Gary Leff on July 30, 2018

Jul 30 2018

Earlier in the month it was reported that Marriott-Starwood would be losing the St. Regis, Westin and W hotels in Dubai all at once. The same owner of these hotels — Al Habtoor Group — also pulled the St Regis Habtoor Polo Resort and Spa out of the chain.

Dubai was one of Starwood’s most important markets, they had a legacy Emirates partnership similar to their Delta partnership in the US and a UAE co-brand credit card. Marriott’s loss, though, appears to be Hilton’s gain.

Hyatt May Increase its Footprint 50% in One Shot

by Gary Leff on July 26, 2018

Jul 26 2018

Hyatt’s major problems are that their footprint is so much smaller than major players IHG, Hilton, and Marriott (they’re about 10% the size of Marriott), and that they’re building a high-end strategy while their growth has come largely in the limited-service sector.

But they may be about to grow their number of properties by 50%, centered in Europe and Latin America.

Free Signup for Membership Site With the Cheapest Luxury Hotel Rates on the Web

by Gary Leff on July 26, 2018

Jul 26 2018

Club1 Hotels has a new booking engine and an app and booking through them seems easier and cleaner than before. There are also tons more top hotels than before, too, when I’m searching their site I’m generally finding the inventory I want. There are cruises and car rental deals, too.

Since joining for a year with this offer is free – something they usually charge for – I don’t see a downside to signing up just in case you have a use for their deals in the coming year. And search the site because any good deals are 5% better with my promo code. They appear to take their best rate guarantee seriously, too.

Breaking: New Marriott Program Launches August 18th, Here’s What You Need to Know

by Gary Leff on July 25, 2018

Jul 25 2018

Three months ago Marriott shared details on how they’d be bringing their three loyalty programs together with Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest all operating on a single platform and single set of rules starting in August.

The new Marriott program launches August 18. I spoke with David Flueck, Marriott’s Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty, on Tuesday to talk about the transition and get several more questions answers about what to expect.

Hyatt Introduces New Earn or Burn Points for Experiences Website

by Gary Leff on July 18, 2018

Jul 18 2018

For a company invested in being an experiential brand outside of hotel stays, trying to earn a revenue premium by ‘helping you be a better you’ through acquisitions live Miraval and Exhale Spas, Hyatt has been behind its competitors in offering experiences outside of its hotels through its loyalty program.

More options are better, and it’s worth giving these a scan. There isn’t the exceptional value, scale, or true scarcity to the bulk of these experiences. But some of them are going to be interesting, and the value per point is fair though not outsized.

Plutonium Stolen From the Parking Lot of the Marriott San Antonio Northwest

by Gary Leff on July 17, 2018

Jul 17 2018

On a mission to recover radioactive materials, two Department of Energy employees from the Idaho National Laboratory drove to San Antonio. Materials had been loaned to a private research lab, and their job was to get it back and transport it security to a government facility.

They brought with them specialized radiation detectors. And to calibrate the detectors they have to bring along some plutonium, too, and also cesium. These are the materials used in nuclear weapons or dirty bombs.