Category Archives for Hotels.
Hilton’s tagline is “For the stay.” That implies that you check-in, and aren’t going anywhere. Your car though? Not so much. At the Conrad Orlando it harkens back to an older slogan: “travel should take you places.”
A Marriott Bonvoy lifetime Platinum member’s reservation for a stay during the solar eclipse was cancelled by the Residence Inn in Akron, Ohio without offering the compensation guaranteed by Marriott’s “Ultimate Reservation Guarantee,” highlighting a broader issue of hotel chains not enforcing standards, especially during high-demand events.
Points are the great equalizer in travel, giving the proletariat access to luxury accommodations previously reserved for the bourgeoisie. Yet The Socialist hotel in Copenhagen will not be honoring Marriott Bonvoy points reservations. Guests are being moved to the far less interesting Copenhagen Marriott.
Hyatt is offering double elite nights at two of its brands – Dream Hotels and Thompson Hotels – for stays completed between March 22, 2024, and June 10, 2024. Registration required by May 22.
It’s possible to open over 3 million hotel doors worldwide with just two taps. One of the people that figured out how to do it is the founder of airline award search tool Seats.aero.
Two years ago a group was invited to hack a brand of hotel door lock in Las Vegas. What one team found was flaws in the RFID-based keycard locks by Dormakaba, a leading Swiss lock manufacturer. This vulnerability affects Saflok systems installed in doors across 131 countries. There’s a fix rolling out, but it’ll take months or even years to be in place worldwide.
The Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles has a hole in its front wall. Someone stole a city Metro bus, hijacking it with a BB gun late last night, ordering the driver to go to several locations. Inside the wall of the Ritz-Carlton may have been one of them?
The Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero owner has defaulted on its property loans. The hotel was acquired for $126.6 million in 2019 or ~ $816,000 per key. They owe $72.5 million, are over $3 million behind in making payments, and have defaulted.
The Graduate Hotels brand is a 10-year old chain with 33 hotels (all but two in the United States) with a focus on acquiring and remodeling properties in college towns such as Annapolis, Ann Arbor, Berkeley and Bloomington. Expansion is planned near UT Austin, Auburn, SMU and Princeton.
The loss of these options for redemption is disappointing, however Mr. and Mrs. Smith should bring incredibly exciting hotels, too.
The Detroit Metro Airport Marriott sees a lot of distressed passengers stuck overnight, like any airport hotel would. Often they’re without luggage. One reader shared a story of what interacting with this hotel is like, when needing a bit of help.
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 »
