Category Archives for Hotels.
Resort fees are infuriating. The price of a hotel room isn’t the price. You book a room advertised at one price, but the hotel charges you that plus an additional fee. And since that ‘resort’ or ‘destination fee’ is mandatory, the room rate is deceptive because it doesn’t tell you how much it costs to stay at the hotel. But what if it turned out htat paying it was optional, after all?
A reader shares his experience checking in at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg. He presented his ID and credit card. The associated thanked him for being a Bonvoy Platinum member. And then “summoned security over” and told him he was being walked.
When a guest at Marriott’s Courtyard Crystal City/Washington National airport complained about the property’s upgrade policies, the hotel general manager responded – and laid out why he prefers not to make upgrades available to elite members.
The Westin Tempe narrowly avoided foreclosure. Now it’s hawking condoms to guests, as well as paid upgrades and late check-out, even to elite members of Marriott’s Bonvoy program.
Resort fees usually include collections of useless items, or small discounts or credits that the hotel benefits from when you spend more than the allotted amount. In the case of a $15 food and beverage credit, much of the time the hotel comes out ahead if you use it. Denying it to the guest is a mistake. But it’s also a scam layered on top of the resort/destination fee scam itself, because the hotel is getting compensated for it – and has to provide the same benefits to redemption guests as cash ones.
It’s a 41-room 1930s-era motor lodge with neon sign that attracts locals to its pool with day passes. And, since Austin really isn’t centered around a downtown, it’s actually quite a good location for tourists. The property maintains the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ vibe of the early-2010s (from long before the Californians arrived during the pandemic).
Last fall Hyatt launched a short-term rental booking platform called Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt. It’s similar to Marriott Homes & Villas.
Glass windows – or no separation at all – between bedroom and bathroom was a trend in hotels for awhile. It was stylish, but awkward. No privacy at all! But there’s a hotel that has a room with all glass to the outside where people can see in! If you stay there, it’s free – but you’re the entertainment.
You can’t even turn off the lights, since there’s basically a spotlight on you.
When you unlock the door it will close without slamming. Now you leave your room quietly. Use this whenever you leave, if you don’t like the loud slam reverberating down the hall.
Once I started doing this a few years ago, I stopped waking my daughter up when I headed out for coffee.
Long check-in lines are de rigueur in Las Vegas. People go to Vegas for a break, and the start of their trip is a queue – probably first for the ride from the airport to their hotel, and then to get into their room. What could be more of a mass experience, and what could make an upscale hotel feel more like Circus Circus than this?
This is reportedly a bigger problem at Caesars hotel properties like Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood than at MGM hotels, and something that really began in earnest over the last couple of years due to insufficient staffing.
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 »
