Category Archives for Hotels.
Two Florida Congressmen – Bill Posey (R-FL) and Charlie Crist (D-FL) – have proposed legislation that would prevent the federal government from negotiating lower rates on lodging than what they paid based on 2019 rates. They want to make sure the government pays more than it has to for travel.
The plan is to be “encouraging customers to authorize tips at check-in to ensure staff were recognized for their hard work” and having these charged to credit cards, since customers are carrying less cash. They’re also “considering adding a minimum gratuity to restaurant checks.”
This is a tipping point, according to the chain’s CEO, for consumers deciding whether to retain the elevated tipping levels of the pandemic, when consumers felt bad for hotel workers serving customers or whether they’ll revert to pre-pandemic tipping practices. The chain’s task, he believes, is “to educate customers about how hard staff had been working,” and make sure they continue elevated tipping. Hard work shouldn’t be recognized by higher wages.
Hyatt has a partnership with SLH Hotels that lets you earn points and status at those properties (when booking paid rates through Hyatt) and redeem points at these same properties, though not all of the hotels are part of this arrangement.
Shortly before the pandemic the partnership had grown to include about half of the SLH hotels. We hadn’t seen any additions since then, which isn’t surprising since many hotels would have wanted to pause investment in integration during the pandemic.
Hilton may be planning to build a hotel in China over a bulldozed Uyghur mosque. The Chinese government has engaged in ethnic cleaning against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, detaining approximately a million people over the past 5 years and subjecting them to abuse and re-education, forcing them to denounce their religion.
The economy is recovering, states are opening up, and companies are looking for workers. But the number of people in the labor force – working or looking for work – hasn’t risen in a year. Unemployment numbers are down, but roughly the same number of people sitting out of the workforce early in the pandemic are still outside of it. That means it’s tough to find workers, whether you need people to clean Delta Skyclubs, push wheelchairs in airports, or take on any number of other roles.
Hotels are going to some interesting lengths to try to find new employees.
Tthe Hyatt Place Chicago has stopped adding 3.5% surcharges to guest folios for an ‘energy surcharge’.
A Hyatt spokesperson explained, “As soon as we were made aware of this situation, Hyatt worked with the hotel’s owners to look into the matter, and at this time, the hotel has removed this fee.”
The new Bilt Rewards program lets members earn points through their rental apartment, and even earn points for paying rent to any landlord. It has a credit card, and points transfer 1:1 into a variety of loyalty currencies.
At first blush it seemed surprising to see Hyatt as the only hotel points transfer partner. It makes sense for Bilt, it’s the only hotel program where a 1:1 points transfer offers value to members. But we haven’t seen Hyatt offer that many partnerships. Why add Bilt?
Some hotels offer rates that include breakfast. You need to figure out how likely to buy breakfast you are – and how much you’ll save. Sometimes the ‘breakfast included’ price is really just the room rate plus the cost of breakfast. And if you skip breakfast even one day, for instance you leave too early in the morning on the day you check out, you come out a loser on the deal.
But some hotels during the pandemic have been pulling a breakfast rate scam on guests.
Hilton has signed a deal for a new property in the Maldives which is expected to open in 2021, which means that hopefully it will open next year.
The Hilton Maldives Amingiri will be just a 15 minute speedboat ride rom the Male airport, located on ‘Amingiri Island’ within the Male Atoll, and feature 109 villas each with a private pool.
Hilton has dropped 11 partners including Alaska, Avianca LifeMiles, and Amtrak with zero notice. Shameful.
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 »
