Category Archives for Hotels.
Hotels are ignoring chain rules. Guests book properties assuming they’ll get what the brand promises, and then the individual property doesn’t deliver, choosing to cut costs instead. That devalues the brand, while helping the bottom line of the individual hotel.
This often manifests in properties skimping on or ignoring elite benefits like breakfast. But it also covers housekeeping. And it’s certainly not limited to the best-known offender, Marriott.
Three guests staying at a La Quinta in Nashville found themselves running the hotel when staff abandoned the front desk. They answered the phones and even set up the hotel’s free breakfast for the rest of the guests.
Chatting through the Marriott app with the Residence Inn at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center, a guest says they requested a king bed but their reservation showed they were booked into a queen room.
Hyatt is out with their fall promotion and it’s for a very limited period of less than two months.
Hyatt “is adjusting how it markets its loyalty program to reflect new realities” of reduced business travel and increased leisure travel. Hyatt’s CEO says that experiences now matter, with leisure, more than points. But that isn’t correct.
American Airlines AAdvantage status members can register for 90 days of elite status with Hyatt, with an expedited path towards keeping or increasing that status next year.
A manager at MGM’s Aria hotel in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with generating $770,000 in reservation refunds – that he put on his own personal credit card.
The 10 year operations manager with MGM Resorts spent the money “at Louis Vuitton and Versace, flying on private jets, doing spa visits, going to shows and even purchasing a home.”
Hilton and Tesla have entered into a deal to add up to 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connectors to 2,000 U.S., Canada, and Mexico properties, with a minimum of 6 per hotel. These charging stations will work with other electric vehicles as well, though consumers will need to download the Tesla app to use them. This project will begin next year and take several years to complete.
Anyone could have put something in those bottles that shouldn’t have been there. Housekeeping clearly didn’t clean them, either.
And what in the world are they thinking using Marriott’s own 39 Degrees North branded shampoo and conditioner at a Westin?
A wedding planner wanted a full length photo of the bride’s dress, and so she hung the dress on the sprinkler head in a hotel room. The sprinkler head broke, spraying water, and this “ruined hair and makeup for the entire bridal party, the wedding dress” as well as $3,000 worth of the makeup artist’s equipment – not to mention damage to the room.
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 »
