Category Archives for Hotels.
After spending more than $200,000 and as many as 250 nights a year with Marriott, a longtime Ambassador finally walked away. Denied benefits, unchecked franchise abuse, and eroding standards forced a reset—now Hyatt comes first, IHG fills the gaps, and Marriott is points only.
A night at one of my go-to JFK hotels turned surreal when I arrived and was told my Hyatt reservation had been changed behind my back. From there it spiraled into broken door locks, lounge and billing issues, and “bogus” charges I had to deal with on the way out.
A reader spotted the Hyatt Place Phoenix Mesa rolling out housekeeping carts stocked with bulk toiletries poured into plastic condiment bottles — with a toilet brush sitting right next to the clean towels. It’s the latest in a string of Hyatts where the branding on the bottles doesn’t match what’s supposed to be used
Hilton has confirmed that a new invitation-only elite tier sits above its freshly launched Diamond Reserve level — an unpublished status called The Honors Society. The company isn’t sharing details yet, saying guidance will come in early Q1, but internal systems and prior leaks make clear this mirrors the secret super-elite tiers already offered by Hyatt, Marriott, and GHA. The Honors Society will be Hilton’s new top rung, available only by invitation.
GHA Discovery has grown to 50 brands, and their new multi-brand promo can be surprisingly lucrative. Register then complete 2–10 brand-direct stays of at least two nights between December 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026 to earn D$50–D$100 per stay on top of your usual rewards—OTAs and bank portals don’t count.
A housekeeping training video filmed at a Marriott-branded hotel shows one rag and one pair of gloves used for everything: the toilet, bathroom counter, coffee maker and more. This is how rooms are cleaned when management is watching.
A Holiday Inn clerk abandoned the front desk, came back furious, and told a Hawaiian couple to “go back to Mexico.” She then ended their prepaid stay on the spot, leaving them to find a room elsewhere late at night.
A front desk worker told a Black woman she did not look like a guest, then called police when she ate the free breakfast. She says she was staying on points and was singled out while white guests around her were left alone.
Marriott’s Japanese-language terms and customer service agents are indicating a shift to a less generous late checkout policy, with Platinum elites guaranteed only 2 p.m. instead of the long-promised 4 p.m. While the English terms haven’t changed, the discrepancy appears to stem from a translation error — though it highlights how vulnerable the benefit is to future devaluation.
A longtime reader who owned a hotel decided to test something most properties assume never happens: what old key cards can still open long after checkout. Across Marriott, Hyatt, and Westin—at airport and city hotels alike—his months-old cards kept unlocking lounges, gyms, and even elevator access. The results say far more about how these systems are actually configured than hotels would ever admit.
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 »
