Category Archives for Hotels.
Marriott and Hyatt no longer require vaccinated guests to wear masks indoors at U.S. properties, except where required by law. Employees will still wear masks. Hilton, though, still requires indoor masking.
15 properties that were not included in Marriott’s list of changes for 2021 went up or down in category.
They went up some time between the list’s publication and now, with 11 of the 15 going up in category (charging more points for hotels despite the pandemic’s historic blow to travel) and 4 hotels going down in category.
At the beginning of the month I reported that Hilton had raised the top price of an award night to 150,000 points and that this applies only to the Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives. Some redemption nights there are 120,000 points, however.
When this was discovered there were no redemption nights available at all. Even with the higher pricing it wasn’t possible to spend Hilton points for a standard room, and could only use ‘points as money’ to book rooms based on the prevailing room rate (which can cost over a million points per night). All of a sudden that’s changed so act fast.
An employee at the Hilton Garden Inn El Paso University Hotel in Texas has been charged with 9 counts of ‘invasive visual recording’ after reportedly using his cell phone to record women in one of the hotel’s restrooms.
According to police the man “planted a hidden camera in a public restroom and recorded multiple women using the facilities” on February 21. The man, said to have previously been in prison for “hitting a woman over the head with a hammer,” was held on $45,000 bond.
A new hotel in that Maldives let you book overwater villas using Marriott points, and it starts at just 24,000 points per night and is eligible for credit card free night certificates.
One of the ways that Hilton Honors award prices can vary is based on the number of guests in a room. Extra person charges for paid rooms are common in Europe but not in the U.S.
At Marriott, award nights include the cost of extra person charges (except for a handful of all-inclusive properties, since extra guests would be eating, etc.). Not so with Hilton.
Hilton has confirmed 150,000 points as its new highest award level, but still seems to be charging 120,000 points by mistake for the Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives, when award nights are available.
Marriott free night awards, such as those awarded each year with their credit cards, won’t expire until January 2, 2022. They’ve also extended the pause on points expiration again through March 31, 2022.
Marriott’s top tier 100 night elite status is called Ambassador. The unique selling proposition is supposed to be a dedicated contact who takes care of all the member’s Marriott needs, ensuring a seamless experience.
Only they laid off these agents, and Ambassador members no longer get an Ambassador. Marriott is surveying how these top customers are managing under the new regime.
Last summer Hilton disavowed the government’s use of its hotels to house undocumented immigrants. Marriott declared that their hotels shouldn’t be used to temporarily house people picked up in immigration raids.
So you would be forgiven for thinking that Hilton hotels were no longer being used to detain migrants.
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 »
