Category Archives for Hotels.
Like airlines, Marriott will now sell you points while making a booking, not just on a dedicated page. That way they have more opportunities to sell points. And they’ve increased the limit on the number of points you can buy. They’re also running a new points purchase bonus of up to 50% more points.
Hyatt is making annual hotel category changes – making some hotels to more expensive points redemptions, while making other hotels less expensive, based on the room rates those hotels are projected to achieve. These changes will go into effect at 146 hotels on March 22, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. Central time.
What’s significant here is that even though slightly more hotels will go down in category (76) versus going up in category (70), this should still be seen as a devaluation – and in some cases a big one. For the first time ever Hyatt will charge category 8 prices for hotels that have been in their own portfolio for years, not merely partner hotels or hotels that are part of newly acquired brands.
Hotel owners are grateful for one thing about the pandemic and that’s an opportunity for a ‘reset’ on something they call “amenity creep.” You might call it basic services like housekeeping, or the club lounges you’ve been promised access to in exchange for your loyalty and business with a brand.
The Attorney General of Michigan is getting involved with a family that owns around 20 hotels in Mackinaw City, Michigan and takes reservations for closed properties, moving guests to cheaper accommodations, and refusing refunds and cancellation. This family owns the hotel that went viral nationally last year after kicking a woman (“Dumb Democrat”) out late at night for complaining about leaking pipes in her room.
Marriott says they’ll be offering 20 Bonvoy points per dollar on bookings made through their Homes & Villas by Marriott International site from February 9th to February 11th. That’s four times the usual number of points.
These bookings qualify as Marriott spend for bonus earnings with their cobrand cards, too.
Marriott doesn’t let you book an award for someone else on the website. You have to call, wait on hold, an hope you get an agent that knows how to do it correctly – otherwise your guest may have a problem checking in. All of a sudden your good deed will turn out to be a travel nightmare.
I’ve reached out to Marriott for an explanation of this metaphysical mystery. Two years into the pandemic research scientists are still learning many new things about the way the virus spreads and the effects it has. But Covid-19’s effect on the intersection of points and elite status is uncharted ground.
Conservative opinion journalist Michelle Malkin reports that she and her husband have been banned by Airbnb for a speech that she gave to a white nationalist conference.
Marriott has been looking to reduce costs for hotels providing breakfast and they think they’ve found it for their extended stay brands.
There’s a common theme in all of this: taking care of guests, whether they’re infrequent (through use of small points to make stays better) to the most frequent (who have a truly seamless experience, and extending out into their air travel and not just hotels). That’s what I value most in a hotel chain, and something that I think all of them can aspire to. The new Shangri-La Circle, then, makes a nice leap forward.
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 »
