Category Archives for Hotels.
Business travelers are creatures of habit and develop certain preferences. I certainly do. When you’re a Senator running for President you have staff who enforce those preferences, and donors who will pay for them.
The ‘comfort memo’ Bernie Sanders’ staff put together outlining the Senator’s travel requirements when he was running for President has just come out.
Video is circulating of the owner of the Crown Choice Inn & Suites in Mackinaw City, Michigan kicking a woman out of his hotel with her family late at night, after she complains about flooding in her room. A police report is involved.
In video taken by the hotel guest, a man who identifies himself as part of the family that owns the property tells her she’s a “dumb Democrat” for not realizing she becomes responsible for her room’s plumbing once she stays there:
For years members have been able to take advantage of a very generous Marriott policy that allows locking in awards in unlimited quantity just in case you want them later. They’ve tamped down on this a little bit over time, but not a lot. And since booking awards at hotels where there’s limited space hurts other members by keeping them from redeeming awards, I don’t have a real problem with their clamping down further.
Here’s why you should always use the dead bolt on your hotel room door – and it protects you from mistaken entry, too. And here’s what this 15 year old woman had the presence of mind to say to scare her intruder away.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort was hitting customers with a 2% fee to pay by credit card. Marriott has rich credit card deals with Chase and American Express, but Bonvoy members were even being penalized at this hotel for paying with a Marriott credit card.
It took a couple of months after being exposed, but this hotel no longer imposes a credit card fee – and no Marriott hotel in the U.S. or Canada is supposed to, either thanks to a new brand standard.
There are people who are so against vaccines – not just for themselves that for others. We’ve seen bars ban vaccinated patrons, and even a school ban vaccinated teachers. There’s also an Airbnb listing that refuses to rent to vaccinated guests, out of some sort of crazy fear that they will spread the vaccine.
Hotel chains advertise prices that don’t include mandatory fees. The headline rate is what consumers compare when they’re searching. It’s only when they go to book that they see the price is higher than what was presented to them. That makes comparing prices difficult. And it puts hotels that are transparent, advertising the full cost of a stay, at a disadvantage.
At some point we have to ask, though, what does the room rate even cover if it doesn’t come with electricity?
Hyatt’s The Driskill hotel in Austin is old Texas. It first opened in 1886, owned by cattle baron Jesse Driskill. The next year the hotel in the state’s capitol hosted the inaugural ball for Governor Sul Ross, and subsequent governors’ balls have been held there since.
This week a 77 year old guest on the property, who had stayed for 16 days, set fire to his room before checkout. He then went to the airport, and caught his flight to Houston.
Hilton announced a new food and beverage benefit that replaces breakfast at U.S. hotels starting in July and running through the end of 2021. They will offer a food and beverage credit for use any time at the hotel, including in-restaurant, for grab and go, or for room service.
That sounds great in theory – you can take your meal as it’s most convenient to you. However the devil is in the detail of how much that credit is for.
Hilton actually is actually introducing an on property food and beverage credit for elites, to replace their breakfast benefit, for early July, 2021 through the end of the year.
This applies at full-service, lifestyle, and Hilton Garden Inn properties in the U.S. only.
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 »
