Category Archives for Hotels.
Marriott hotels decide whether to honor Bonvoy elite benefits. If they choose not to, you can complain to Marriott. And usually the most they’ll do is refer you to the hotel, who will tell you to pound sand. One guest wasn’t going to accept that.
I’ve stayed at the Westin Arlington in the D.C. suburbs dozens of times over the years. It’s close to my office there. And the way this franchise treats guests is indicative, I think, of the larger problem with Marriott:.
Hyatt has reportedly laid off nearly all remaining U.S. phone customer service agents. Last week it appears that roughly 300 U.S. agents were terminated, and there seem to be just 35 left. The hotel chain is also said to have dismissed 18 managers and the bulk of the U.S. chat team, leaving about 36 U.S. chat agents left.
Each morning, staff bring one of the hotel’s four red pandas into guest rooms – and they wander around the room and even climb onto beds, spending a few minutes with guests.
Starting July 14 an AI will decide which rooms get assigned to guests at Marriott hotels – and who gets upgraded.
Gondola.ai is an AI-powered hotel search and booking platform that compares cash and points rates, provides personalized recommendations, and tracking loyalty program balances.
You earn rebates on booking hotel stays through them – even though they are just passing you through to the chain’s website to complete the reservation. And they do a nice job helping you compare hotel redemption options swiftly.
The Aria Las Vegas charges guests so much for water that it strikes down a fundamental precept in economics that has held for 150 years. As one guest writes to me, a bottle of water in the room there costs $26!
Marriott is eliminating single use plastics when it saves them money toiletries, but they’re placing larger plastic bottles of water that have been shipped using fossil fuels from literally Fiji in every room because those sell for $9. You didn’t believe any of this was really about the environment though, did you?
Recently, Hilton set standard fees for late checkout. The goal is to upsell guests – including elite guests – for something that used to be offered to all Honors members for free. Increasingly, the free benefit for elites is disappearing from Hilton’s promotional materials, too.
It appears that the EconoLodge Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina only honors award reservations for active duty military members and only for those active duty military age 80 or above. The hotel cancels points bookings without actually checking if members meet that criteria because, of course, with military retirement rules no one can.
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 »
