Category Archives for Hotels.
New hotels often take awhile to build up a clientele. They’re frequently quite empty at the start. Paid rates are lower as a result too (often but not always) as properties try to put heads into empty beds. Take Hyatt’s brand new Regency in Conroe, Texas that’s just opened – they expect to average just 30% occupancy for the rest of the year. It makes sense to use a chain’s loyalty program to do this.
A couple tried to pick the lock of the hotel room door at Holiday Inn near the San Jose airport. The guest inside called the front desk, who confronted the couple.
They claimed to have been “looking for a friend” and that they’d “knocked on the wrong door.” Knocked, it seems, with a tool to break into the room? The guest videoed the attempt.
The owners of the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain Resort went to the Arizona Court of Appeals to get a refund on state taxes they paid for Marriott award nights that members redeemed. They argued that since they’re paying for points when members earn them, points redeemed are really a reimbursement not new taxable revenue.
One man is a hero to us all, making baby back ribs in his bathroom. He uses a towel to help strip and remove the membrane. He dumps the rib rub out over the meat at the sink. Then he cooks it with a hair dryer. For four hours. He then takes out the dish to add a honey glaze before returning the ribs to the “oven” for an additional three hours of cook time.
More hotels should simply state, as this one does, that the add-on fee doesn’t actually get you anything. They should stop pretending you get some bundle of value when you don’t.
I actually like that this hotel doesn’t bother displaying a list of bogus benefits like a once a week yoga class outdoors at 3 a.m. in winter and a free underwater basket weaving class with mandatory extra charge for snorkel gear.
You’re charged 18% more than the actual published price of what you order, and then likely assume it covers the tip. You should add another, say, 18% – 20% on top of the 18%. But since many won’t, not asking the question, this service charge almost certainly leads to lower tips even as it leads to higher profits. In other words, it’s not just the guest being cheated it’s the employees too.
The owner of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels in has chosen to stop making payments on $725 million in debt and turn the keys over to their lender, J.P. Morgan Chase.
Park Hotels and Resorts says San Francisco is too much of a mess and won’t be turned around any time soon.
The new brand is not yet named but internal project names are often revealing, and this one is “currently being referred to as Project MidX Studios.”
They literally tell you the new chain is mid.
There are four major hotel loyalty programs, at least for Americans: Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and IHG. Hyatt has the smallest footprint but the best benefits for frequent guests. Marriott is great on paper but most inconsistent at the property-level delivering promised benefits. IHG never had much in the way of benefits at all until last year when everything changed. And Hilton stands alone, promising almost nothing.
IHG now has, in my view, the second best elite upgrade program behind Hyatt – which allows confirmed upgrades at booking to suites, and allows them more often for their heaviest stay guests – but whose confirmed upgrade benefits only start after 50 nights. Marriott allows confirmed upgrades based on availability (and only into capacity controlled suite inventory) starting 5 days prior to check-in for elites after 50 nights. And Hilton doesn’t require hotels to upgrade elites to suites at all.
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 »
