Category Archives for Hotels.
A limited-service hotel’s self-serve continental breakfast had a tip jar beside the cereal tower, and even pre-seeded the jar with cash to imply that other guests are offering tips.
At the end of last year, I shared a guest post by a reader who racked up 250 nights with chain hotel programs in 2022. It was helpful to see his perspective on the best hotel program for someone who often stays in small towns without full-service hotels, so the footprint of a hotel chain matters – not just its benefits.
Halfway through 2023 this anonymous contributor shared an update. His travel has slowed down this year and he doesn’t expect to log more than 150 nights on the road. He gave up on Hyatt, which doesn’t have enough self-managed full-service hotels where he travels, and maybe he regrets it?
A guest checking in at Caesars Palace Las Vegas gave up when faced at a 3 to 4 hour long line at the desk. They left, with their luggage, and enjoyed Vegas returning shortly before 2 a.m.
Still faced with impossible check-in queues, they report giving up – and managing to get into a different hotel at 4:30 in the morning.
Caesars had been overbooked, and there were no more rooms left by the time they got to the front of the line. Altogether, venture capitalist Benjamin Lee notes, “it took..9.5 hours” to get a bed.
Hyatt and MGM will end their relationship September 30, 2023. Hyatt members will no longer be able to redeem points for MGM stays after that date or match their status to MGM Rewards. Status matching is expected to end July 14.
Hyatt consumer co-brand credit card customers can receive a 20% rebate on award nights for stays at 3 brands completed between July 11 and September 17, 2023: JdV by Hyatt; Destination by Hyatt; and The Unbound Collection.
Within North America, Autograph Collection hotels are required to offer an amenity choice of restaurant breakfast (resorts) or a food and beverage credit (hotels). And Marriott has a cash guarantee that hotels will honor this.
The Muir Autograph Collection in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada says no elite breakfast, and that Marriott corporate has exempted them from the elite benefits guarantee. According to Marriott customer service there are no standards, “each hotel has its own policies and offerings.”
Marriott partners with UNICEF in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in a program where hotels can add donations to guest folios on an opt-out basis. Generally $1 is added per night automatically, but guests can tell the front desk to remove the charge.
Autopilot opt out is the opposite of thoughtful philanthropy, so I was sympathetic to a reader who complained about feeling shamed by hotels that do this.
New York’s mayor says half of the city’s hotel rooms are being used to house asylum seekers. Los Angeles said: hold my beer.
In March, voters in LA will consider an ordinance requiring hotels to report their number of vacant rooms each day, and make those rooms available to the homeless.
An interesting twitter thread asks for the ‘cheapest thing you do’ and a business broker makes the claim that “points cards” for hotel chains “usually give you lobby privileges.” That’s simply not true, although people use hotel lobbies for meetings and to work all the time having nothing to do with their loyalty program memberships or co-brand rewards cards.
A senior citizen – an Airbnb Superhost himself – booked a house for 8 siblings to stay in for their brother’s funeral. A total of 5 of them actually stayed at the property. Over the course of the week several people came over to pay condolences and care for the family.
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 »
