Category Archives for Hotels.
Many limited service hotels offer free breakfast, from Hampton Inn to Residence Inn to Best Western and Holiday Inn Express. It’s very rare that I’ve ever seen a hotel actually verify that you’re a guest before giving you access.
I’m surprised that so few people show up at these hotels and have breakfast! Then again, maybe people do?
Marriott offers complimentary breakfast at most of its brands to Platinum elites and higher. Hoewver they don’t really say what breakfast means. And some hotels have figured out that the terms and conditions of the Bonvoy program don’t actually define ‘complimentary’ so they interpret it to mean “charged to the customer, but just for less money.” The Tribute Portfolio Royal Palm South Beach Miami is one of those hotels.
The Park Hyatt New York is a sublime property, and one of the most redeemed-for hotels in the Hyatt program. I’ve had some excellent stays there, including upgrades to suites, and I love that they allow Globalist members to take their elite breakfast as room service or in the restaurant.
Recently, however, they’ve told top tier elites that their benefits are far less than what the program promises.
An anonymous reader captures something in a guest post that I think is important, based on some pretty extensive experience on the road. Hyatt is great if you can stick to full service properties not owned or managed by bad actors, but there aren’t enough properties and too many limited service ones. So where you going to go? You’re stuck with Marriott, so Marriott can get away with failing to live up to promises and expectations. It’s still better than the alternatives.
My sense is that Hyatt clearly enforces the rules that it has, but there are loopholes a few properties drive a truck through. Marriott does have clear rules in its program guide for hotels, which largely exempts all-suite properties from minimum availability requirements. But they aren’t as strong on enforcement. And I’m trying to figure out the broader shift that seems to me to be happening at Hilton.
I asked Hyatt about the Andaz Scottsdale providing only complimentary water as their free minibar offering, and charging for other non-alcoholic beverages and for snacks. They told me that the brand is rethinking its minibar offering, and in the meantime “properties can determine what minibar selections are offered on a complimentary basis.”
However they’ve since followed up to clarify that – in fact – it turns out that this flexibility is only meant to apply to “the specific types of non-alcoholic beverages and snacks that reflect their destination” and they are still requiring “items beyond complimentary water.”
Hilton has announced its new promotion for the first third of 2023: double points plus 1000 bonus points per stay at each different brand.
Hyatt’s Andaz brand launched 15 years ago, and first gave us the Andaz Liverpool Street in London, the Andaz West Hollywood, and Andaz 5th Avenue in New York. One of the core elements of the brand has been that non-alcoholic beverages and snacks in the room are complimentary. That’s no longer the case.
Aloft isn’t one of my usual brands. In fact I hadn’t stayed at one in nearly six years. I needed a one night stay near Dallas Love Field for Southwest Airlines Media Day and the Aloft seemed like a reasonable choice at $144, while reacquainting myself with Marriott’s brand.
This one is a combined Aloft and Element in the same building, with separate entrances. Aloft is a limited service, lower-scale chain with modern aesthetic that was dubbed ‘a vision of W Hotels’. Element is an extended stay chain with Westin branding tie-in.
Marriott Bonvoy offers breakfast to Platinum members, but the benefit is confusing. At Courtyard hotels in North America and Europe it’s actually a choice between 500 points (total for the stay) or a $10 food and beverage credit (x2 for two guests registered to the room) that can be used any time of day – not just in the morning.
But as I’ve documented extensively, hotels seem to do what they want with impunity, published benefits of the Bonvoy program notwithstanding. One customer found this out when the hotel called the cops after they asked for their $10 credit – and when it was refused they invoked Marriott’s guarantee of $50 cash for having the benefit denied.
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 »
