Category Archives for Hotels.
Westin Hotels revolutionized the industry with its “Heavenly Bed” marketing. People genuinely bought into their claim to being better in bed. Guests chose the brand for their beds, and bought the beds and bedding for their homes. And other hotel chains were forced to up their game with better, branded mattresses.
The Sydney Harbour Marriott at Circular Quay has many rooms with fantastic views, of the harbor and even the Sydney Opera House, though of course there are simply ‘skyline view’ rooms which are less desirable.
You can imagine how disconcerting it was for Marriott Bonvoy elites to hear from the hotel that if they were staying on property during the “festive season” they would not be entitled to room upgrades.
People complain that room service is too expensive, sometimes takes too long, and isn’t always good. Many people think, do I really want a mediocre hotel’s mediocre food when I have the miracle of choice delivered at my fingertips?
But when the hotel isn’t providing an experience that’s differentiated from Airbnb, there goes their competitive advantage.
She was leaving the property at 2:30 a.m., realized she’d left her phone in the guest room they were partying in, and her friends went back to get it for her. They left her alone, apparently for an hour and she stumbled into a kitchen and into a walk-in freezer at 3:32 a.m.
Marriott doesn’t appear to be complying with its legal settlement on resort fees. Depending on the property, they still show up as part of taxes which is deceptive. And while Marriott now supposedly lets you include resort fees as part of the total price shown on its website at first display, they are doing this only for paid rates and not for award nights (where they are even more deceptive).
Now at Hyatt housekeeping is supposed to be available at least on request at all of their brands, though full service hotels provide it by default. I’ve been to a franchise Hyatt Place that won’t provide this even when asked to do so.
Another one like this is the Hyatt Place at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Here’s what they tell guests: housekeeping is not an option but you can choose points, a drink at the bar, or to volunteer as a gardener for the hotel.
A man searches his hotel room and finds a hidden room – inside a hidden room – and it leads to a tunnel. This is the plot to everything M. Night Shyamalan produced after 2004.
The CEO of IHG Hotels and Resorts admits that they make only 1/10th as much off of their Chase credit cards as Hilton and Marriott make on their co-brands. Total fees form their card portfolio total $100 million a year All of this used to get passed through to hotels. Now one third is kept at the corporate level. A recent loss by Hyatt in tax court explains how hotel program economics work and they’re very different from airlines. For the most part the chains don’t own the hotels, and the programs are very different than airline frequent flyer offerings. The amount kept by the chain is almost all profit. And IHG wants Chase to pay more in a deal re-up. The current card agreement expires in 2025. Banks pay a lot more than you…
Hilton has released its first promotion of 2024, and registration is available. From January 1 to May 1, 2024, “Points Plus” offers: 2,000 bonus points per stay plus 500 bonus points for using digital key.
Often people have affairs during the day, to keep their spouses from knowing about it. They’re supposed to be at work, maybe they grab a hotel room over lunch?
But the logistics of it just don’t seem to work. Hotels clean their rooms precisely when people want to use those rooms for affairs.
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 »
