Category Archives for Hotels.
Despite adding the minimum spend requirement (which Starwood didn’t have) on top of staying 100 nights, Marriott has stopped providing an actual Ambassador to Ambassador members. They’ve said they’re going to make an investment in the program and they’re sending out emails asking for members to give stay preferences to an online form, instead of to an Ambassador agent.
IHG One Rewards is offering up to quadruple points on stays May 18 – August 31, 2022. There’s additional bonus points for credit card customers, too.
The new IHG One Rewards elite program offers a huge improvement in elite benefits.
Diamond breakfast doesn’t start until June, but some hotels are rolling it out early, giving us a window into what to expect. Benefit delivery is always tough, and some hotels are going to be more generous adhering to the spirit of the program than others.
The very first Caption by Hyatt, the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis, will open this summer as a category 3 redemption. Additional properties are planned in Shanghai, Osaka, Tokyo and Saigon.
Since the brand was launched, Hyatt has opened its first tommie hotels as well. And I’m not sure I understand how the concepts are really supposed to be different. Hopefully seeing a Caption property open will help explain this.
Hyatt’s elusive and excellent Alila Ventana Big Sur has quite a lot of free night availability all of a sudden for booking between February and May.
A Holiday Inn Express in Durango, Colorado charges a mandatory $5 fee that they describe as a “Colorado Green Energy Fee.”
By adding the state’s name to the fee, they make it sound as though it is imposed and required by the State of Colorado. They even go on to describe it as contributing to some sort of statewide environmental fund.
As part of Marriott’s move to dynamic pricing of free reward nights which raises award pricing, but will be worse next year, Bonvoy now allows you to add up to 15,000 points when redeeming a free night certificate.
This makes certificates fare more useful, but was done more for Marriott’s Chase and American Express relationships than for you.
Hotels frequently offer to store luggage when a guest arrives too early to check in, or when they aren’t leaving town until after check-out time. Some bigger hotels even charge for this. I’d never trust belongings that matter to a hotel’s luggage storage room, and you shouldn’t either.
Marriott should take the position that guests and their belongings are safe at their hotels and it isn’t appropriate for a hotel to dispute liability when giving away a guest’s belongings and the hotel’s own video demonstrates they did it.
I wouldn’t trust the Marriott Marquis San Francisco with my belongings, but I also wouldn’t trust them in my guestroom either.
Conrad Bora Nora Nui is one of Hilton’s most aspirational points redemptions, and free night awards can be extremely hard to get.
As of this writing though redemptions are available the first 10 days of December consecutively and the last 10 days of January And every day in March and April – as well as reasonable availability in other months.
The loyalty program for Shangri-La Hotels, the luxury Hong Kong-based chain with over 100 properties, is among the first of the major chains doing an across-the-board refresh as we emerge from the global pandemic.
I think the Shangri-La Circle program refresh gets a lot of things right. At the entry level, less frequent guests still get value out of the program by earning points that can be used in small amounts, and all spending (even online spend) earns. Even the first elite tier gets 11 a.m. check-in and breakfast while upper-tier elites get more special benefits. And the program’s treatment of the very top customers is just extraordinary.
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 »
