Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

How Big Hotel Chains Destroy Their Business When They Franchise

by Gary Leff

Apr 07 2023

When chains actually owned the hotels that they marketed, there was better alignment of incentives for maintaining and extending their brands (and they found it much easier to deliver promises to guests on-property). Managed hotels are usually though not always better than franchised properties. An ‘asset light’ model where the chain simply rents out the brand (franchised) can work – but needs a laser-like focus on defending and growing the value of the brand, not merely living off of and depreciating it.

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The Sheraton Damascus Is Now A Prison, Guests Must Pay Percentage Of Their Wealth To Check Out

by Gary Leff

Apr 05 2023

The Sheraton Damascus is being used as a prison for the country’s business elite where the government extracts payments in exchange for their freedom. This has been an ongoing use for the hotel property for the past two and a half years.

Hotel guests are told they have to “deposit US dollars into the central bank in order to help stabilise the Syrian lira, or they would not be released.”

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Tipflation: Why You Hate Tipping Housekeeping And Airport Vendors But Won’t Admit It

by Gary Leff

toiletries
Apr 02 2023

We’ve all experienced tipflation: an expectation that we tip more, and more often, than ever before. When you walk up to an iPad to pay for a purchase you know what’s coming next. You’re literally standing in line to pay for something you picked up from a shelf yourself, and you’re about to be asked to tip for it. How does this make sense?

And then you’re presented with choices, maybe 20%, 22% and 25%. When did tipping expectations go so high?

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Airport Hyatt Has New Trick To Limit Housekeeping Service

by Gary Leff

toilet
Apr 02 2023

With current service pretty limited – a ‘light refresh’ generally just includes emptying trash, replacing towels, and making the bed without changing linens – there’s not much left to take away. Yet somehow the Hyatt Regency John Wayne Airport manages to pull farther on both levers – add steps to the request process, and perform even less service than a light refresh.

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St. Regis Maldives Overwater Villa With Private Pool From Just 70,400 Points Per Night

by Gary Leff

fancy hotel
Mar 30 2023

Right now overwater villas with a private pool at the St. Regis Maldives – an aspirational property if there ever was one – can be redeemed starting at just 88,000 points with wide open availability.

Actually finding room nights here is what’s great, since Marriott doesn’t require ‘all suite’ properties to release a minimum number of their rooms for redemption. And fifth night is free, making the cost start at just over 70,000 points per night for a five night stay.

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10 Ways To Make World Of Hyatt Better

by Gary Leff

Mar 30 2023

World of Hyatt is a better program than peers, but it needs to be, because Hyatt still has a smaller footprint than similar efforts at Marriott, IHG, and Hilton. A customer has to choose Hyatt, and that takes effort, so they need to give customers a reason to do so. And that means finding ways to reduce pain points and deliver on promises. So I think it makes sense to prioritize items like these. What would be on your list?

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Marriott Key Bridge Site Has Been Condemned In Interest Of Public Safety

by Gary Leff

Mar 25 2023

The Marriott Key Bridge was the second Marriott hotel ever, and was the oldest Marriott hotel when it closed in July 2021.

Originally opened in 1959 as the Key Bridge Motor Inn, it was located in Rosslyn just across the river from Washington D.C. It featured a fantastic view, as a result, and in its history hosted both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. In recent times it played host to the homeless.

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Marriott Now Charges Up To 150,000 Points Per Night For Award Stays

by Gary Leff

Mar 25 2023

When Marriott launched the Bonvoy program in 2018 the most expensive redemption for any hotel was 60,000 points. Then they introduced ‘high and low season’ pricing and a new more expensive category 8, pushing up the most expensive reward to 100,000 points.

A year ago they abolished award charts altogether and promised only that price increases would be muted in the first year of the new system. Now that the first year has passed, gloves and constraints are off, and properties can cost up to 150,000 points per night.

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