Category Archives for Hotels.
Marriott hotels were allowed to close down their club lounges and restaurants during the pandemic. Even where they re-opened restaurants they might not honor elite breakfast, claiming that they weren’t fully staffed or hadn’t fully re-opened.
The elite brown bag breakfast of apple or banana and granola was born. In some cases a credit was offered towards breakfast in the restaurant instead of covering the meal entirely. That “flexibility” ends July 1.
At Marriott’s Hotel Distil, an Autograph Collection property located in Louisville, Platinum elite members and above get a voucher for a ‘continental breakfast’ or $15 off anything on the breakfast menu. Only they don’t offer a “continental breakfast” on the menu. And nothing on the menu was $15 with coffee, fruit or juice, tip and tax.
The Hilo, Hawaii DoubleTree ownership says on video they went ahead and rented out all rooms at the property under an event contract instead, of honoring bookings, redemption or paid, calling it a “windfall.”
Hilton responded letting me know that the hotel “is an independently owned and operated property” so they “cannot speak on the hotel’s behalf.”
Hotels are collaborating with hospitals in India offering vaccine packages and India’s government is cracking down.
By working together with hotels to offer vaccines, Indian hospitals are creating an explicit price. They’re bundling the goods, and that makes it harder to separate how much you’re paying for an included bath robe versus for a life-saving jab.
The Last Hotel in St Louis abruptly left Hyatt on Monday. Customers with reservations were notified that future award reservations would not be honored. This is not unusual.
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.
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 »
