Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

Will Hyatt Buy the Former Orient-Express Hotel Chain Belmond?

by Gary Leff on August 30, 2018

Aug 30 2018

Four years ago Orient-Express Hotels rebranded as Belmond. They had been licensing the name Orient-Express, and they found that while the name seemed familiar (because of the train) it wasn’t really associated with the chain and didn’t drive bookings. Although it’s not clear that Belmond served them better. Orient-Express is now an Accor brand. And Belmond is putting themselves up for sale. Accor could be a buyer, they’re trying to build the Orient-Express brand and could pick up twice as many hotels as their current 2025 goal and goodness knows they buy everything else. Hyatt is mentioned as a potential buyer, it’s hard to find too many hotel companies that have the resources to acquire a small luxury chain and for whom it would be worthwhile. Big players wouldn’t see three dozen hotels as moving…

Hilton’s Fourth Quarter Promo is Exactly What You’d Expect

by Gary Leff on August 28, 2018

Aug 28 2018

Hilton has been running double points since May 1. Hilton usually runs double points, for instance they basically ran it all of 2016.

For some reason they weren’t ready to announce what their next promotion would be so at the end of July they extended double points through September 9.

Hilton has just come out with their end of year promo. They’ve used the extra time from that last extension to come up with something new.

Marriott Explains What Systems Still Aren’t Working and When They’ll Be Fixed

by Gary Leff on August 27, 2018

Aug 27 2018

On a scale of travel company IT integrations, Marriott’s new program launch didn’t go nearly as well as the largest travel program merger — American Airlines-US Airways — nor nearly as badly as the biggest debacle United-Continental.

While Marriott managed to get functionality up quickly to book reservations, even now 9 days later there are several lingering issues.

I spoke with David Flueck, Marriott’s Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty, to get a sense for where things stand — what bugs are still outstanding, and when we can expect those to be resolved.f

Marriott Honors Mistake Award Rate at St. Regis Maldives – and How Much an Overwater Bungalow Should Now Cost

by Gary Leff on August 23, 2018

Aug 23 2018

The new Marriott program rollout has been riddled with glitches. There are members who still show the wrong elite status, wrong lifetime status, and who still cannot merge accounts.

One interesting quirk of the transition that benefited members was discounted overwater villa award availability at the St. Regis Maldives.

Today Only: Triple LifeMiles for Hotel Bookings

by Gary Leff on August 22, 2018

Aug 22 2018

The Star Alliance program Avianca LifeMiles has a hotel booking site that is really Rocketmiles. And they have a one-day triple miles offer (there’s only about 12 hours left). You can earn up to 36,000 miles per night.

Marriott Listened: Offering Limited Points Back on Travel Packages

by Gary Leff on August 20, 2018

Aug 20 2018

A lot of people are unhappy with how Marriott is handling travel packages. Over the weekend Marriott shared the new chart for how legacy travel package certificates work in the new program.

Marriott listened to the feedback that came in quickly over the weekend and is already making an adjustment.

New Marriott Program: Right Now Your Status is Whatever You Say it Is

by Gary Leff on August 20, 2018

Aug 20 2018

Starwood Preferred Guest has moved onto the Marriott IT platform. Marriott brought their system down on Saturday to transition everything over. (Loyalty programs always do these things on Saturdays for good reason.)

IT is hard, and things haven’t gone as smoothly as we would have hoped. Awards haven’t been redeemable at all properties, and for some it’s been sporadic. However for the most part systems are now largely functional on Monday afternoon. But not for members whose accounts have the wrong status.

Marriott-Starwood Merger Day: Quit Gnashing Teeth

by Gary Leff on August 18, 2018

Aug 18 2018

Marriott’s new loyalty program has launched, but as of this writing they’re still working through the IT. They told us to expect things to be down throughout Saturday. If things work on Sunday I’ll be impressed.

Compared to what might have happened I still think that the new Marriott program is about the best we could possibly have hoped for or expected. It’s stapling some version of the Starwood elite program onto some version of the Marriott redemption program (‘the best of both worlds’) along with some devaluation of each.

Who Knew? Hilton Non-Refundable Rates in the U.S. are Actually Changeable for a Fee

by Gary Leff on August 17, 2018

Aug 17 2018

I hate non-refundable hotel rates. Even when I think my plans are firm you’d be surprised how often something comes up and plans change. Plus I may want to stay somewhere else even if I”m going to be in the same city. Or rates will drop so I’d rather pocket savings rather than lock myself in.

Several years ago I wrote about tricks for getting out of a non-refundable hotel booking. But there’s something I didn’t know about Hilton reservations.

Free Alerts for Hotel Award Space and Confirmed Suites

by Gary Leff on August 12, 2018

Aug 12 2018

Say that you wanted to stay at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris over Christmas. The hotel has rooms for sale, but there are no award rooms available for December 22-26.

You can set an alert for a Park Queen or for the Twin which are bookable with points. Or perhaps you already have a room booked at the hotel and what you are looking to do is use points or a confirmed suite upgrade for a suite — but the standard suite isn’t available. Set an alert for the Park Suite King.