Category Archives for Hotels.
I’ve given a lot of thought to what makes a hotel great, and how simple design flaws can ruin a property. More often though great physical properties can be ruined by poor service execution or short-sighted cost cuts.
Hoteliers: ever wonder why a property with great facilities and a competitive room rate in a good location isn’t getting the level of midweek repeat business it might expect? It may come down to something simple.
Are expensive hotels “that much better” to justify their extra cost? A modest price over cheaper accommodations may buy you a better stay, but once you get past a few hundred dollars does the extra money really buy you very much?
I can’t rely on the order of placement of the bottles in hotel showers. I need to read the labels. But invariably, writing on the labels is always too small for me to read without glasses. I have to get in the shower with my glasses on, remember which bottle is where, get out to remove my glasses and get back in.
A guest at Marriott’s Courtyard Battle Creek in Michigan discovered a lewd drawing on the wall-mounted toiletries that was presumably left by a previous guest.
Housekeeping either doesn’t clean and refill the bottles, or saw it and didn’t care enough to change them out when turning the room. Since the guest reports that showing a photo to the front desk elicited a shrug, either option seems equally likely.
The hotel incentivizes giving 9s and 10s. A hotel that actually wants to be better would incentivize providing constructive feedback. Here they incentivize helping them skirt Marriott brand standards. That’s the most franchised Marriott thing ever.
Marriott Bonvoy is looking to make a couple of hires that suggest changes coming to the program.
A reader was checking into the Hyatt Union Square and asked prior to arrival about possible suite upgrades. They were told a standard suite was available, it would be provided if they wanted to use a confirmed suite upgrade, but they would not honor a complimentary elite upgrade to a suite.
The guest reports that hotel’s direct phone number was disconnected. After about ten minutes, someone emerged from the open front door stating that the hotel was closed and that canceling the reservation—even late—would incur no charge. How could it possibly incur a charge? Eventually they found a room at a Residence Inn in Port Arthur, stuck with a rate of $300 per night.
The Hyatt Centric brand can be expected to deliver inferior stays. It’s for hotels that don’t want to conform to brand standards, so there aren’t many standards. That’s the sine qua non of cheap owners.
Still, it seems to me that there’s an increasing sense in which Hyatt hotels are not abiding by program terms, or rather Hyatt’s rules seem to have changed for some hotels and customers just aren’t being informed.
A Marriott employee recently warned on social media that Bonvoy has been pushing hotels to report guests who try to share loyalty accounts. If your spouse is staying under your account to use your benefits, and let you earn the points, this could get you audited.
However, he adds not to be a jerk to the front desk – the reservation might not be honored, but they probably won’t waste their time reporting you.
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 »
