Category Archives for Hotels.
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.
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.
Early in the pandemic there was concern about people entering hotel rooms. If you were traveling you either weren’t concerned about Covid-19, or you wanted to isolate yourself as much as possible from others.
Hotels stick with the line that guests want choice in whether or not to have daily servicing of their room, so they ask guests to request it if they want it.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was recently held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, and one conference goer reported on TripAdvisor that they failed to pay a bar tab. Oops!
How they report the hotel handled it, though, is concerning.
Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration says they will revoke the alcohol license of the Hyatt Regency Miami over a “‘sexually explicit’ show with children” held on the premises.
Hotels want guests to give tips to workers, so they can pay lower wages. The CEO of one hotel ownership group actually said the quiet part out loud.
In 2019 Hilton’s CEO said that even he didn’t tip housekeeping. But now hotels are pushing it, and we face a collective action problem. The practice pushes down housekeeper wages, but if an individual guest doesn’t do it that’s less money in a given housekeeper’s pocket on that given day.
In the fall former President Donald Trump had dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Several Republicans denounced the meeting. The white supemacist views of Fuentes are so outside the mainstream of conservatism that he was denied a platform at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), so he set up his own meeting around the corner… at the Residence Inn by Marriott National Harbor.
Airbnb takes a Minority Report approach to pre-crime profiling, banning people from renting who they deem likely to engage in prohibited activities like house parties before they’ve done anything improper.
And, it turns out, they ban people who are associated with people ineligible to rent.
I’ve seen horror story after horror story, from requiring guests to mow the lawn to losing a day of their long weekend having to wait for plumbers. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like the listing from Corpus Christi, Texas that includes a charge of $50 per minute for late check-out and $50 per minute for early check-in (something usually offered free, if a unit is available). The property owner likes $50 charges, adding that much if guests wear shoes in the house. also
Hyatt has announced its annual redemption category changes which will go into effect March 28 at 8 a.m. Central time. Overall 372 properties are changing category, with 214 going up and 158 going down.
Overall U.S. hotels are going up, while Europe and Asia should get less expensive. In general the best and most luxurious hotels are going up, even in regions where redemption categories are falling generally. And all-inclusives get more expensive.
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 »
