Category Archives for Hotels.
The general manager of a premium Los Angeles-area chain hotel writes to me, explaining why his hotel will not offer top tier elites to suites even though the chain requires them to do so.
A reader from Montana got a new drivers license. They were given a paper printout as a temporary license, and the state takes a couple of weeks to send out plastic ones. His passport is out of his hands, getting renewed in the long priority queue at the State Department. Fortunately you can fly domestically without ID and without too much difficulty.
Away from home, he turned up at the hotel he’d booked using the American Airlines Rocketmiles site on a prepaid rate for the Loyalty Points. But they would not check him in.
The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is an expansive luxury resort known as a top conference destination. One man stayed there on his own, for ten months, and the hotel has filed suit because they say he never paid for a single night. They’re trying to collect on a $185,000 bill. That’s over $600 per night, inclusive of tax.
I never ask for very much and I rarely ever complain. I certainly never ask for special treatment. I would rather experience hotels the same way everyone else does, at least the way other frequent travelers earning elite status do.
I am never rude to hospitality staff. When they’re having a bad day, I try to empathize and joke with them about it. I’m far more self-effacing than demanding. So I’ve never experienced this before.
Did you know that Hilton specifically says that 44% of its brands do not have to upgrade elite members at all?
Since I wrote about “parking recapture fees” readers have been sharing other hotels that do this. One sent me a folio from the Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld with a $2.13 charge. Another sent me a folio from Hampton Inn Philadelphia/King Of Prussia (Valley Forge) showing a $3.87 parking recapture fee.
A guest at the DoubleTree by Hilton Los Angeles – Norwalk says that she woke up from a nap to find an employee “standing at the foot of [her] bed.” She screamed and he offered the excuse, “I called, but you didn’t answer your phone.”
She reports that she called the hotel six times asking to speak to a manager but no one called her back. She called the police.
MGM’s relationship with Hyatt ends September 30. They were partners for 10 years, and MGM had recently groused about not seeing as much value as they could they could achieve from the partnership.
Now we know what they were working on as a replacement: Marriott Bonvoy members will earn and redeem points at 17 MGM resorts starting in October, and bookings of MGM properties will be available through Marriott channels by end of year.
Better hotels offer all sorts of amenities, and have been known to go above and beyond for guests. W Hotels have the ‘Whatever Whenever’ line, claiming they’ll get anything you need at any time (for a cost). But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hotel promote ‘farts’ as an amenity let alone offer them as an optional add-on for free?
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.
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 »
