Category Archives for Hotels.
Expedia spends a lot to acquire one-off customers. They’re realizing it can be cheaper to sell subsequent trips to people that have already purchased from them (loyalty matters) and they’ve gutted their loyalty program throughout the years.
Meanwhile if Accor is ‘early in’ with this partnership they may gain higher purchase likelihood from Expedia’s eyeballs than other chains.
Marriott has the most exclusive top elite tier with published earning criteria. The Ambassador level requires not just 100 nights in hotels but also a minimum of $20,000 in spend, nearly impossible to achieve in many parts of the world with low hotel rates. Marriott is keeping the 100-night level, but increasing the spend requirement to $23,000 for 2023.
With that they are bringing back dedicated Ambassadors.
A review of Marriott’s Autograph Collection Watermark Baton Rouge flagged an interesting issue. On a peak demand date – LSU football against Mississippi State, which LSU came from behind to win in the fourth quarter – the hotel was charging higher room rates than the posted maximum on the back of room doors.
Hotels.com does clearly say the rate is only ‘partially’ non-refundable. And 10% is partial, less than the whole (100%). No lies detected!
I’d have been fine with the reservations being cancelled within a few days of bookings, and not several weeks after those reservations have been made. Simply cancelling reservations after this much time without further accommodation is unacceptable. At a minimum offer a discount rate at the hotel for a standard room or suite, or some points by way of apology – and find a way to address costs that customers are actually incurring as a result of the property’s long wait to decide to cancel the bookings.
Hotels really stretch to list amenities of value that are included in their resort fee, like the Hyatt which claimed it gave you access to the bathroom mirror or the Hilton which included use of the in-room TV.
These backflips are disingenuous at best. So it’s refreshing when a hotel is honest that the resort fee is nothing but an add-on, and provides literally no value to the guest.
Surcharges have exploded at Marriott hotels, as well as other chains. Whether it’s fees to cover the light bulbs in your room, extra charges to cover a hotel’s property tax or gotcha charges for paying a bill by credit card (even Marriott’s own credit card).
Still a fee per night that guests now have to pay to protect housekeepers at the Marriott LAX still surprised me.
Airbnb makes sense in towns where there aren’t suitable hotels. It makes sense to rent a full house for a large family or when traveling with a group of friend. But the current homesharing model is very broken, and as a result choosing Airbnb makes no sense for most stays.
The company understands that and wants to change that. It’s updating how prices are shown, and shaming hosts that impose bizarre conditions on guests. In fact, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb is shaming owners who make guests do laundry before they leave.
I’ve only seen one hotel ever claim that your room rate doesn’t cover use of the bathroom mirror or TV in the room, and that this was covered by a resort fee instead. But when I flagged the stupidity, the hotel addressed it.
Maybe the second-most egregious resort fee I’ve come across belongs to Hilton’s Hotel Del Coronado
In 2013 the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley found its own way of remembering 9/11: 30 minutes of free mini-muffins for guests. I remember thinking at the time at least it wasn’t a Marriott in Manhattan. Context matters, and surely New Yorkers wouldn’t trivialize the event.
Only the Marriott New York Downtown now takes the memory of 9/11 and sells it back to us – at a hefty markup – in the form of a 9/11 Remembrance Package for weekend stays.
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 »
