Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

He Gave Us Bonvoy And Defended Resort Fees. Did Arne Sorenson ‘Stand Up For What Was Right?’

by Gary Leff on February 16, 2021

Feb 16 2021

I was sad to learn of the passing of Marriott’s long-time CEO Arne Sorenson, the first non-Marriott to hold the post. My sympathies go out to his family who lost him to pancreatic cancer way too early at 62. I wasn’t going to write about it because the news is well-covered. My reactions though center largely around what’s been said about him since his untimely passing.

His public legacy, I think, is more complicated than the tributes I’ve seen generally recognize. And that flows naturally from the role he filled at the helm of a global business in a very political industry.

Hotels Called Out For Price Gouging As Unprecedented Weather Event Hits Texas Electrical Grid

by Gary Leff on February 16, 2021

Feb 16 2021

Texas is experiencing a weather event it hasn’t seen in a generation. We don’t do single digit temperatures, negative wind chills, and significant snow. The problem compounded when the state’s electric grid couldn’t handle demand. Freezing temperatures took some power generation offline (due to frozen natural gas pipes) at a time when everyone cranked up their heat.

Local residents without power are complaining about hotel price gouging.

Video: Police Raid Florida Man’s Hotel Room, He Throws Knives And Trash Can At Them

by Gary Leff on February 13, 2021

Feb 13 2021

A hotel guests faces 6 counts of assaulting a police officer after calling the cops to his hotel room, saying he wanted to kill them “since his world was ending.” The cops didn’t end his world but did taser him several times.

The man, staying at the Plaza Resort on Atlantic Avenue in Daytona Beach, Florida, “threw knives, a trash can and other items at officers as they tried to get him to surrender.”

Man Drives Volkswagen Through Lobby Of Sheraton

by Gary Leff on February 8, 2021

Feb 08 2021

The Sheraton Atlanta Airport was liquidated, with all its furnishings sold off. Now the Sheraton Atlanta Downtown has been ransacked as well by a man driving through the hotel’s lobby. He parked in front of the elevators.

Marriott Vacations Buys Lawrence Welk Resorts, Will Rebrand Them As… Hyatts

by Gary Leff on February 6, 2021

Feb 06 2021

The hotel business can be strange in many ways. But timeshare brands are far, far stranger.

How about Marriott Vacations controlling Hyatt’s timeshare portfolio? That’s something not a lot of people realize but gets a big exclamation point from Marriott Vacations Worldwide spending $430 million to acquire Welk Resorts to turn them into Hyatt Residenes properties. And wait – there are Lawrence Welk hotels?

Marriott Hotels Change Award Category March 3, Here’s What’s Going Up And Down

by Gary Leff on February 4, 2021

Feb 04 2021

Any time Marriott doesn’t devalue its program that’s a good thing. Annual category creep has worked against you for many years, not just under Bonvoy but years earlier too. However as a result of the pandemic and how long it’s lasted we should see a majority of hotels dropping in category.

Marriott has around 7500 hotels in its portfolio. Only about 100 hotels are dropping in category – after the biggest drop in average daily room rate we’ve seen in history. Rooms cost less and Marriott’s revenue-based program should charge you fewer points. They shouldn’t just be offering ‘low season’ rates as a promotion, they should be offering those year round. And the base category of most hotels should be lower than when the hotel business was at its peak in 2019.

IHG Rebrands Itself With A New Program Name. Here’s Why You Don’t Care.

by Gary Leff on February 4, 2021

Feb 04 2021

IHG has rebranded as IHG Hotels & Resorts. And they’ve changed the name of their loyalty program from IHG Rewards Club to IHG Rewards.

Homeless Advocates Execute Coordinated Assault On Hotel, Attacks An Employee, Takes Over Two Floors

by Gary Leff on February 3, 2021

Feb 03 2021

Sunday morning an employee was assaulted at the Red Lion Suites Governor Hotel as at least a dozen armed people entered the property carrying axes, knives and batons. The rest of the hotel’s staff fled for the basement.

The coordinated assault was done by hotel guests with reservations. The group, Oly Housing Now, booked 17 rooms at the property and put homeless individuals into them – and physically occupied the 4th and 5th floors.

Hotels.com Will Send You Fictional Booking Confirmations For Valentine’s Day

by Gary Leff on February 2, 2021

Feb 02 2021

Hotels.com is offering fictional booking confirmations. If you’re not traveling anywhere, that doesn’t mean you can’t book a stay – without cost and without risk. And it doesn’t mean you can’t book a stay for someone else that they don’t have to travel for.

What Hotels.com wants you to do is send a fictional hotel booking to an ex- for a stay in a dumpster. Wait, what?

One Guest Booked A 446 Room Fairmont Hotel For 65 Days. They May Be Forced To Cancel.

by Gary Leff on January 31, 2021

Jan 31 2021

The 446 room Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge inside Alberta’s Jasper National Park, is booked out for 65 days by a single guest from February 23 through April 29.

In order to accommodate this big sale the hotel cancelled reservations of guests that already had bookings at the property.