Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

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.

Hyatt Credit Card Cardmembers Get Rebate on Award Redemptions Through September 30

by Gary Leff on July 16, 2018

Jul 16 2018

Like last year, 2016 and in 2015, Hyatt is offering co-brand credit card cardmembers a rebate on points redeemed.

Starwood Is Losing a Third of Its Dubai Portfolio in One Shot, Which Chain Will Get These Great Hotels?

by Gary Leff on July 10, 2018

Jul 10 2018

Marriott is losing the St. Regis, W, and Westin in Dubai all at once. That’s a one-third hit to the number of legacy Starwood rooms in Dubai, including the same owner pulling the St Regis Habtoor Polo Resort and Spa in recent days.

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.

A Lucrative Hotel Rewards Strategy is Hiding in Plain Sight

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2018

Jul 02 2018

A valuable rewards for hotel stays seem to me a function of where you book and how you pay rather than where you stay. That’s surprising to some because we’ve been taught to stay on the hotel loyalty program treadmill. And because hotels are trying so hard to get customers to ‘book direct’ you’d expect their loyalty programs to offer the best rewards for staying at their properties. But that isn’t always the case.

Fuzzy Math: Marriott Raises Redemption Prices in Order to Say They’re Lowering Prices

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2018

Jul 02 2018

Marriott increased points prices at a ton of hotels in March, only to lower their prices in August with the new program. This gave them a higher baseline from which to claim they’re lowering more redemption prices than they’re raising.

Even accounting for this, the number of hotels going up in price is roughly equal to the number going down in price. But comparing Marriott redemption prices in February to pricing in August is a more reasonable take than ‘reductions outnumber increases’.

When Does the New Marriott Program Really Begin? (It May Not Be When You Think)

by Gary Leff on July 1, 2018

Jul 01 2018

Yesterday writing about Marriott’s new list of hotel redemption pricing that will go into effect in August I mentioned the new Marriott program starting August 1.

A Marriott spokesman e-mailed quickly to correct me to say we don’t know when the new award chart will start, because we don’t know when the new program starts. But that’s not what their website says.

Marriott IT Failures Cost Them Money, Force Them to Blame the Customer

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2018

Jun 30 2018

Marriott is apparently cracking down on people booking hotels that haven’t yet opened — speculatively, hoping for compensation when the opening date inevitably delays — and in particular warning people trying to do this while using credit cards “that will not authorize the forfeiture amount.”

Rather than temporarily disabling customer accounts, Marriott needs to fix its IT and better manage construction projects.

Can You Book Rooms Now and Get a Marriott Points Refund in August?

by Gary Leff on June 28, 2018

Jun 28 2018

Despite some information out there to the contrary — you can book award rooms now to lock in availability, and then get any points price difference for the same room back in late summer or fall if the points price of the hotel drops. And that’s true even if the hotel is sold out or is sold out of standard rooms.

Marriott Guts Travel Package Redemptions